Lucien Lesna

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Lucien Lesna

Lucien Lesna (born October 11, 1863 in Le Locle ( Switzerland ), † July 11, 1932 in Evreux ) was a French cyclist who was successful on the road and track .

Lucien Lesna was born in Switzerland to French parents; he learned the trade of watchmaker. He didn't learn to ride a bike until he was 26, when he first bought a tricycle. The following year Lesna took part in the first road races and immediately became Swiss road champion. His first big success was the victory in the Bordeaux – Paris race in 1894 over 572 km in 25:11:07 hours (hourly average: 23.250 km).

The following year, Lucien Lesna turned to racing on the track. On June 29, 1895, he set a new world hour record behind Pacemaker in Dijon (45,700 km), became French champion over 100 km and won numerous important races in the following period. Lesna, who was fascinated by engines of all kinds, was the first continuous rider to use a (self-constructed) motor tandem as a pacemaker machine, behind which he successfully raced in the USA and Australia in the winter of 1898/1899 .

In 1901 Lesna went back on the road and again won the Bordeaux-Paris race , this time in 21:53:40 (hourly average 27 km); but he continued to drive on the train. In 1901 and 1902 he won at Paris-Roubaix and in 1902 came second at Bordeaux-Paris , behind his permanent rival Maurice Garin , the eventual winner of the first Tour de France . He also started at Paris – Brest – Paris , but had to give up because of a sunstroke; Garin won.

Particularly spectacular was Lesna's victory in the 938 km Marseille-Paris race in the same year, for which he had trained 6000 km in Algeria and Tunisia with the aim of beating Garin. (The race was organized by Tour de France inventor Henri Desgrange and took place only once. It is considered the forerunner of the Tour.) Lesna scored more than seven hours ahead of Italian Rodolfo Muller and French Pierre Chevalier 20,000 Spectators in the Prinzenparkstadion in Paris . To his great disappointment, Garin had not started because of alleged pain in his leg.

Lesna had a serious accident on the Paris-Madrid long-distance automobile trip in May 1903, after which his leg remained stiff. As a result, he had to end his racing career before the start of the first Tour de France , in which he had wanted to compete against Garin again. But in 1909 he took flight lessons from Louis Blériot , from whom Lesna also bought an airplane that was specially designed because of its stiff leg. In Paris he opened a massage institute together with the former pacemaker Pastaire.

Lucien Lesna died in 1932 as a result of a motorcycle accident.

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Commons : Lucien Lesna  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Lesna, Lucien
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH October 11, 1863
PLACE OF BIRTH Le Locle
DATE OF DEATH July 11, 1932
Place of death Evreux