13 Facts About Jacques Augendre

Jacques Augendre was a French journalist and the first to have followed fifty Tours de France.

Jacques Augendre missed the 1947,1952,1954 and 1959 Tours, when he was kept in Paris to supervise other reporters' accounts.

Jacques Augendre began as a journalist in 1944 at Temoignage Chretien, a weekly, and began writing for the national sports daily, L'Equipe, in February 1946.

Jacques Augendre stayed at the paper, on the staff or as a freelance, until 1965.

Jacques Augendre worked for Le Monde, a general news daily, from 1965 to 1990, writing about cycling, expanding the general sports coverage.

Jacques Augendre wrote for Midi Libre for 40 years and for the magazines, Miroir du Cyclisme and Miroir Sprint before becoming editor of the monthly, Le Cycle.

Jacques Augendre died on 18 February 2025, at the age of 99.

The pre-war organiser, Jacques Augendre Goddet, was still the organiser but his former employer, L'Auto, had been closed after the war for collaboration with the Germans.

In 1947 and 1948, Jacques Augendre stayed in Paris to supervise reports sent by correspondents and by press agencies.

Jacques Augendre followed his first Tour in 1949, when Fausto Coppi overcame another Italian, Gino Bartali, after a Frenchman in a regional team, Jacques Marinelli, had profited from the battle between them to wear the yellow jersey of leadership.

Jacques Augendre said all Tours are exciting but that the most enjoyable was 1953, when Louison Bobet won after finishing fourth in 1948 and third in 1950.

Jacques Augendre said Eddy Merckx was the greatest rider he had seen, that Bernard Hinault was the most gifted, and Bobet the most courageous.

Jacques Augendre became the Tour de France's historian and archivist in 1991.