Octave Lapize

Octave Lapize (1910)

A typical scene at the Col du Tourmalet . Hobby cyclists stand under the Géant du Tourmalet for a souvenir photo .

Octave Lapize (born October 24, 1887 in Montrouge , † July 14, 1917 in Toul ) was a French cyclist .

He was already successful as an amateur, including winning the Bol d'Or race for amateurs. His greatest success was the overall victory in the Tour de France in 1910 . In this edition of the Tour de France, the Col du Tourmalet was crossed for the first time and Lapize was the lead rider in the crossing. At the top of the pass there is a sculpture that symbolizes this first crossing and is officially called “ Le Géant du Tourmalet ” (the giant of the Tourmalet). In recognition of Lapize, she was given the nickname “Octave le Géant”. In the further course of the 326 km long stage, which led from Luchon to Bayonne and included the Col du Tourmalet as well as the Col de Peyresourde , Col d'Aspin and Col d'Aubisque , the exhausted Lapize insulted the organizers of the tour with “Vous êtes des assassins. Oui, des assassins! ”(You are murderer, yes murderer!).

More Achievements:

• 3rd place Olympic Summer Games 1908 (100 km track cycling)
• French road master (1911, 1912, 1913)
• Victory at Paris – Roubaix (1909, 1910, 1911)
• Victory at Paris-Brussels (1911, 1912, 1913)
• Victory at Paris – Tours (1911)
• Stage victories at the Tour de France : 1910 (four times), 1912 and 1914 (once each)

In 1909 and from 1911 to 1914 he took part in the Tour de France, but had to give up the race every time.

At the beginning of the First World War , Octave Lapize volunteered for military service. On July 14, 1917, he died in a hospital in Toul after being seriously injured in the crash of his plane.

Web links

Commons : Octave Lapize  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Palmarès - List of achievements and placements
• Octave Lapize in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Octave Lapize in the Tour de France database(French / English )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Verlag der Radwelt (ed.): Sport album of the Rad world . Strauss-Verlag, Berlin 1911, p. 53 .
2. ↑ Le Géant ou Octave Lapize (French) . Retrieved July 14, 2015.
3. ↑ Tourmalet: l'hommage au géant - LaRepubliquedesPyrenees.fr (French) . Retrieved July 13, 2015.
4. ^ "Vous êtes des assassins" - Tour de France 1910 (French) . Retrieved July 14, 2015.