Paris – Roubaix 1949

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Race result
winner ItalyItaly Serse Coppi André Mahé
France 1946Fourth French Republic 		6h 11 '59 "
3. France 1946Fourth French Republic Frans Leenen equal time
3. BelgiumBelgium Jacques Moujica equal time
3. France 1946Fourth French Republic Georges Martin equal time
6th France 1946Fourth French Republic André Declercq equal time
7th BelgiumBelgium Florent Mathieu equal time
8th. BelgiumBelgium Roger Gyselinck equal time
9. BelgiumBelgium Achiel Buysse equal time
10. BelgiumBelgium Albert Anciaux equal time
Paving stone in honor of Serse Coppi on the Allée Charles Crupelandt in Roubaix

The one-day race Paris – Roubaix 1949 was the 47th edition of the cycling classic and took place on Sunday, April 17th, 1949. Only more than half a year later and after numerous controversies, two cyclists, the Italian Serse Coppi and the French André Mahé , were declared joint winners.

The race led from Saint-Denis , north of Paris , to Roubaix , where it ended in the Vélodrome André-Pétrieux . The route was 246 kilometers long. The number of starters and those who arrived at the finish is unknown, and only the times of the first eight have been recorded. The race was completed at an average speed of 39.356 km / h .

A leading trio consisting of André Mahe, Frans Leenen and Jacques Moujica was on his arrival at the cycling track erroneously steered by a police officer in a street; however, this route was intended for the escort vehicles. The three drivers found themselves sandwiched between vehicles and people. Moujica tried to turn, fell in the process and broke off a pedal on his bike. With the help of spectators, Mahé found his way onto the track itself through a small side gate, but on the opposite side of the actual entrance, and he was the first to cross the finish line. Mahé was honored as the winner and sent on the lap of honor with flowers , Leenen came in second and Moujica in third. Serse Coppi, brother of Fausto Coppi , won the sprint of the main field.

However, Coppi protested against the ranking: Mahé, Leenen and Moujica did not drive the official route and would have to be disqualified, regardless of the fact that the three drivers had ultimately covered a longer distance. The driving force behind this was his older brother Fausto, who was much more successful than Serse. He really wanted a win for his little brother. Mahé in an interview decades later: "A champion shouldn't be so degraded." As a result, Serse Coppi was declared the winner by the jury. Five days later, the French cycling federation Fédération Française de Cyclisme (FFC) revised this decision and declared Mahé the winner again. The Italian association Federazione Ciclistica Italiana appealed against this decision to the World Cycling Federation UCI . In August 1949, the UCI announced that it would make a decision in November after initially considering annulling the result of the race. Achille Joinard , president of the UCI and FFC at the same time, was cursed as a “traitor” by his compatriots and accused of being indulgent because he did not want to spoil his chances of being re-elected president of the UCI. Finally, in November 1949, Coppi and Mahé were declared joint winners. One of the officials commented on the months of tug-of-war with relief: "Thank heavens, the next Paris-Roubaix will take place in four months ."

For Serse Coppi, this win was the greatest success of his short career. Two years later he had a fatal accident during the Piedmont Tour .

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ The Paris-Roubaix expert Pascal Sergent names Albert Anciaux as ninth.
  2. ↑ Sergent names Josef Verhaert Anciaux as tithing.
  3. ^ Paris - Roubaix 1949. In: radsportseiten.net. Retrieved June 5, 2015 .
  4. ^ 1949 Paris - Roubaix bicycle race complete results. In: BikeRaceInfo. Retrieved June 5, 2015 .
  5. ^ A b c d Les Woodland: Why the 1949 Paris-Roubaix Has Two Winners. In: Cycling's 50 Craziest Stories. Retrieved June 5, 2015 .