Maurice Brocco

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Maurice Brocco

Maurice Brocco (born January 28, 1885 in Fismes , † June 26, 1965 in Mûrs-Erigné ) was a French cyclist .

In 1907, Maurice Brocco, a trained butcher, took third place in the amateurs' standing race at the UCI World Track Championships in Paris . In the same year he was third in the French championship in the road race of amateurs and won the race from Paris to Dieppe . He then moved to the pros and won the first stage of the Wolber Grand Prix in 1908 . In 1910 he was French runner-up in road racing, behind Émile Georget and in front of Lucien Petit-Breton , and won Paris-Brussels . In 1912 he set a new world hour record when he drove 51.378 kilometers behind Pacemaker . In the same year he was third on the Tour of Lombardy , and second the following year.

By 1914, the versatile Brocco started six times in the Tour de France , but only reached Paris on his last start and was 23rd in the overall standings . In 1911 he won a stage. There are numerous anecdotes about participating in this tour and winning the stage. After Brocco realized that he could not win the overall standings, he offered the 1909 Tour de France winner, François Faber , his services as a pacemaker , presumably for a fee. When the tour boss Henri Desgrange noticed this, he disqualified Brocco, because he believed that the tour should be the fight of every individual; there weren't any teams back then. The rider called the jury of the French cycling association Union Vélocipédique de France and drove on the next day as the decision had not yet been made. At the beginning of the stage he repeatedly drove next to other drivers and mockingly called to Desgrange: “I'm sure I'm not allowed to drive next to this one either.” He won the stage with a 21-minute lead over eventual winner Gustave Garrigou . His stage win was still valid, but since the jury decided that he was no longer allowed to drive for the overall standings, he then ended the tour.

Desgrange then criticized Brocco's behavior in L'Auto magazine , of which he was editor-in-chief, saying: “He is unworthy. He's just a domestics . ”This established the term“ domestics ”for racing cyclists who race for someone else's victory, which is not frowned upon today, but normal practice. Brocco is considered to be the first domestics in cycling.

From 1910, “Coco” also drove 36 six-day races , initially in Europe. After the First World War he went to the United States , where he won four six-day races, three times that of New York : 1920 with Willy Coburn , 1921 with Alfred Goullet and 1923 with Marcel Buysse . In 1923 he won in Chicago with Oscar Egg . In 1924, at the age of 39, he drove his last race in Paris.

References and comments

  1. ↑ The sources give two different dates, 1883 or 1885.
  2. ^ Pascal Sergent: Encyclopédie illustrée des coureurs Française depuis 1869 . Editions Eecloonaar, Eeklo 1998, ISBN 90-74128-15-7 , pp. 116 (French).
  3. ↑ editionslequipe.fr  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 685 kB)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.editionslequipe.fr  
  4. ↑ It was the stage on which Garrigous' competitor Paul Duboc drank from a poisoned drinking bottle and therefore lost all chances of overall victory.
  5. ↑ Who was the first domestique? on irishherault.wordpress.com (English)

literature

  • Wheel world. Sports album. A cycling yearbook. 8th year, 1909, ZDB -ID 749618-7 , p. 32 f.
  • Roger de Maertelaere: De Mannen van de Nacht . 100 years of zesdaagsen. Eecloonaar, Eeklo 2000, ISBN 90-74128-67-X , p. 202.

Web links

Commons : Maurice Brocco  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Brocco, Maurice
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Fismes
DATE OF DEATH June 26, 1965
Place of death Mûrs-Erigné