Jean Dargassies

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Jean Dargassies (born July 15, 1872 in Grisolles ; † August 7, 1965 there ) was a French cyclist .

Athletic career

Dargassies (actually Dargaties, but this spelling got lost in cycling history) was considered by sport historians (long before the word found its way into cycling terminology) as the first domestics (French domestique, also called helper or water carrier) in cycling . The first use of the word domestics in the sense of a helper in cycling is attributed to Henri Desgranges (the founder of the Tour de France), who called the Belgian Maurice Brocco during the 1911 Tour in his magazine L'Auto .

In 1903 Dargassies contested his first Tour de France by chance . The owner of the local bicycle shop, who had a sturdy stature and occasionally rode a bike from his home town of Grisolles to the neighboring town of Montauban , had suggested to sign up for the tour. He did so and drove to the start of the tour without having received any feedback from Paris . There he met Géo Lefèvre (the organizer of the tour and right-hand man of Henri Desgranges ) and asked him how a bike race was going. He did not want to let him start at first, but since only a few registrations had been received by then, he agreed. Dargassies drove to Paris and finished the tour in 11th place. A year later he was even classified as fourth (after several drivers had been disqualified for cheating) and received 1,000 French francs bonus. On this tour he had met a driver named Henri Pépin (who called himself de Gontaud, which described his origins in the place of the same name, but led to his being considered a nobleman, but who was wealthy as a landowner). Pépin suggested he “work” for him on the next tour (with another driver), take care of him, “fetch the water” and accompany him at all times. So they denied the 1907 tour in this spirit. Dargassies received roughly the same amount for his services as the winner of the Tour Lucien Petit-Breton . Pépin had enough on the 5th stage and got out, Dargassies did the same and received the promised sum. After that he never drove the tour again, not even any other races. In addition to the tour, he appeared in 1904 as second in the Bordeaux – Paris race . In 1965 he died in his hometown at the age of 95.

Professional

He was initially a blacksmith in his home village. After his last tour, he himself opened a bike shop and took advantage of his acquired popularity.

Honors

His bike is exhibited in the local museum of Montauban. Three schools in his home country bear his name.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ralf Schröder, Hubert Dahlkamp: Not all heroes wear yellow . Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-89533-406-5 , p. 28 .
  2. ↑ a b c d procycling . No. 8/2008 . bede-Verlag, Ruhmannsfelden, p. 64-67 .
  3. ↑ L'Équipe (Ed.): Le Tour a 75 ans . Paris 1978, p. 44 (French).
  4. ↑ Hervé Paturle, Guillaume Rebière: Un siècle de cyclisme . Calmann- Lévy, Paris 1997, p. 57 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Dargassies, Jean
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dargaties, Jean
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Grisolles
DATE OF DEATH August 7, 1965
Place of death Grisolles