Anatole Novak

Anatole Novak (born February 12, 1937 in La Mure ) is a former French cyclist and national champion in cycling .

Athletic career

As an amateur , he was only successful in regional races. With a height of 1.85 meters and a weight of 83 kilograms, he was one of the strongest appearances in the field of drivers of his time, which earned him the name "Giant of La Mure". Novak started as an independent from 1956 to 1958 . In this class he was also French champion before Rene Faure. From 1959 to 1972 he was active as a professional driver and was able to record a victory in the first year. Novak started as a professional in Team Helyett with Jacques Anquetil as captain and ended his career in Team BIC , where Luis Ocaña was his boss. He rode the Tour de France ten times and won a stage in 1961 . His best tour result was 50th in 1968 . He also won individual daily sections of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré , Paris – Nice and other stage races. In 1970 he won a stage of the Vuelta a España , which he competed seven times and in which he had his best result as 19th in 1963. The Giro d'Italia saw him at the start three times. He was able to record a total of 20 victories as a professional.

Grand Tour placements

Grand Tour	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972
Vuelta a España	-	-	19th	-	Yes	-	-	49	DNF	55	DNF	DNF
Giro d'Italia	-	-	-	63	-	70	DNF	-	-	-	-	-
Tour de France	DNF	76	59	81	66	DNF	DNF	50	DNF	DNF	-	-

Legend: DNF: did not finish , abandoned or withdrawn from the race due to timeout.

Web links

• Anatole Novak in the database of Radsportseiten.net

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Pascal Sergent: Encyclopédie illustrée des coureurs Française depuis 1869 . Editions Eecloonaar, Eeklo 1998, ISBN 90-74128-15-7 , pp. 557 (French).
2. ↑ Bürte Hoppe: Encyclopedia Tour de France . Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-89533-577-8 , p. 432 .