1. Jean Robic's father having lived in Brittany before he moved.
42 Facts About Jean Robic
1. 2.
Jean Robic's father was a racing cyclist and passed the interest to his son.
3.
Jean Robic moved to Brittany when he was seven and lived at Radenac.
4.
Jean Robic moved to Paris In February 1940 and became a cycle mechanic for the Sausin company.
5.
Jean Robic started racing but made a poor impression on journalists.
6.
Jean Robic won a few races out in the villages but this did not mean much.
7.
Jean Robic rode cyclo-cross races and as many of the big road races that were still run.
8.
Jean Robic, recently married, told his wife Raymonde he would bring her the Tour's yellow jersey as a wedding present.
9.
Jean Robic won the stage on the fourth day, from Luxembourg to Strasbourg, then rode well through the Alps.
10.
We thought so more than ever when, the next day, the route included the great Galibier, and Jean Robic was out of the picture, with the Franco-Italian Camellini unapproachable up there in the snows.
11.
Jean Robic attacked at half-distance on the two-kilometre hill to the village of Bonsecours, outside Rouen.
12.
Jean Robic jumped away as if his life depended on it.
13.
When Jean Robic opened a gap of a few lengths, Brambilla made a terrific effort to get back, and it seemed that was that.
14.
Jean Robic countered him each time and then Teisseire took over.
15.
Jean Robic paid the 100,000 francs, not to me but to the French national team [for which Fachleitner was riding], which was the rule.
16.
The twist to Jean Robic's victory is that he wasn't the fastest rider in the race.
17.
Jean Robic won the Rome-Naples-Rome in 1950, the world cyclo-cross championship in 1950, and the Tour de Haute-Savoie and Polymultipliee in 1952.
18.
Jean Robic was one of the shortest riders; 1m 61 in 1947 and 1m 59 in 1959.
19.
Jean Robic wore a ring inscribed kenbeo kenmaro, 'to life, to death' in Breton.
20.
Jean Robic won few friends with his bad language and quick temper.
21.
Jean Robic was at war with everyone, said the journalist Jacques Augendre.
22.
In 1959, Jean Robic finished the Tour de France stage to Chalon-sur-Saone outside the time limit.
23.
Normally the judges would make an exception for a former winner but Jean Robic's personality is said to have gone against him and he was put out of the race.
24.
Jean Robic collected lead filled drinking bottles at the top of major climbs because his lightness led to his descending mountains slower than he wanted.
25.
The historian and television commentator, Jean-Paul Ollivier, wrote of the 1950 Tour de France in which he said Robic was deeply depressed, weeping abundantly.
26.
Jean Robic had a cold and went to bed shivering with a fever.
27.
Jean Robic was still weak at the start of the time trial from St-Etienne to Lyon.
28.
In 1943 Jean Robic met Raymonde Cornic, whose father owned the Rendez-vous des Bretons bar near the Gare Montparnasse in Paris.
29.
Jean Robic's father was killed in September 1945 by the branch of a tree he was sawing and Jean Robic acquired a house in Petit-Clamart for his mother.
30.
Jock Wadley wrote:Puteaux was where Jean Robic had scored an important cyclo-cross win at the beginning of his main career.
31.
Jean Robic fell again while in the running to win the Tour de France of 1953.
32.
Jean Robic rode the Tour again in 1954,1955 and 1959 without finishing.
33.
Jean Robic rode local races and lived from the start money he was offered.
34.
Jean Robic went back to cyclo-cross, riding throughout the winter.
35.
Jean Robic rode his last race in 1967, in the Puteaux suburb of Paris.
36.
Jean Robic was congratulated at the finish by his old rival, Louison Bobet.
37.
Jean Robic found it hard to fit into an ordinary life when his career ended.
38.
Jean Robic ran the family cafe but it failed, as did his marriage.
39.
Jean Robic sat on a bicycle in the publicity procession of the Tour de France.
40.
Jean Robic became depressed and wandered the streets, asking for work, until his friend, Eugene Letendre, took him into his business.
41.
Jean Robic died in a car accident near Claye-Souilly on his way home from a party at Germigny-l'Eveque in which Joop Zoetemelk was celebrating his own win in the Tour.
42.
Jean Robic is buried in the cemetery at Wissous A room in the town hall in Radenac is a museum in his memory.