Grand Prix des Nations

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The Grand Prix des Nations (short: GP des Nations ) was one of the most important time trials in road cycling until it was last held in 2004 .

The GP des Nations, held for the first time in 1932 by the French sports journalist Gaston Bénac and then annually thereafter, took place over several decades in Val de Chevreuse , west of Paris , and initially had a length of 140 km until 1955. From 1956 to 1964 the distance was 100 kilometers, from 1965 to 1968 73 kilometers were driven. Since the mid-1970s, the venue has changed several times within France , including from 1977 to 1990 to Cannes and from 1993 to 1999 to Lac du Madine and most recently to Normandy . The length of the route was gradually shortened over the years and in the end was still around 70 km. The GP des Nations remained the longest time trial in professional cycling throughout its existence.

After its 68th event in 2004, the race belonging to the French sports marketing company ASO (which also organizes the Tour de France ) was discontinued on the grounds that such a long time trial was no longer appropriate. The GP des Nations thus shared the fate of other increasingly anachronistic classics such as the Paris-Brest-Paris or Bordeaux-Paris endurance races , which were abolished in the 60s and 80s. From 2006, the smaller French time trial "Chrono des Herbiers" will be renamed " Chrono des Nations " in order to continue the tradition of the "Grand Prix des Nations".

Until the introduction of a time trial at the road cycling world championship in 1994, the GP des Nations was considered the most important individual time trial outside of the big tours. This importance is also reflected in the list of winners: numerous Tour de France winners also triumphed at the GP des Nations, such as Antonin Magne (3 ×), Fausto Coppi (2 ×), Hugo Koblet , Louison Bobet , Felice Gimondi (2 ×) , Luis Ocaña Pernía , Eddy Merckx , Bernard Hinault (5 ×), and Laurent Fignon . By far the most successful was Jacques Anquetil , who lived up to his nickname "Monsieur Chrono" with a total of nine wins between 1953 (as a 19-year-old) and 1966. The first German victory in the race, which has long been dominated by French professional cyclists, went to Uwe Peschel in 1997 . The last four events were ultimately won by Germans without exception: After Jens Voigt in 2001 and again Uwe Peschel in 2002, time trial specialist Michael Rich was able to prevail in 2003 and 2004.

Winners list

FranceFrance Émile Idée
FranceFrance Louis Aimar

* There were two winners each in 1941 and 1942

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Association of German cyclists (ed.): Radsport . No. 41/1970 . Deutscher Sportverlag Kurt Stoof, Cologne 1970, p. 9 .
  2. ^ Zeit Online: Armstrong loses all seven tour titles , accessed on October 22, 2012