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1896 Paris–Roubaix

Field	Value
name	1st Paris–Roubaix
date	19 April 1896
stages	1
distance	280
unit	km
time	9h 17' 00"
first	Josef Fischer
first_nat	GER
first_natvar	empire
second	Charles Meyer
second_nat	DEN
third	Maurice Garin
third_nat	ITA
third_natvar	1861
next	1897

The first edition of Paris–Roubaix, a classic one-day cycle race in France, was held on 19 April 1896. The event covered 280 km from Paris to the velodrome in Roubaix. The winner was German Josef Fischer who received 1.000 francs for the win, a considerable sum of money at the time. The race, as were all editions until 1909, was motorpaced.

Origin

The race was created by two Roubaix textile manufacturers, Théodore Vienne and Maurice Perez, who had built a velodrome in Roubaix and wished to promote the track. Before its first running, it was first presented to the sponsor, Le Vélo, as a training race for the then well-established, now defunct, Bordeaux–Paris. As Roubaix was a small provincial town at the time, a professional bike race finishing there would be very good for business.

Paul Rousseau, the director of Le Vélo, agreed to start the race outside the paper's offices in Paris. He designed a route and sent out Victor Breyer, in order to test the route. Breyer drove to Amiens by car, before continuing by bike the following day. When he reached Roubaix, he was cold and covered in mud. He was miserable enough to suggest the race be called off, but a shower and a meal changed his mind.

Race overview

As many as half the riders who were supposed to ride stayed in bed, including Henri Desgrange, who later organised the first Tour de France. Notably, the winner of that first Tour de France, Maurice Garin, did start the race, finished third and went on to win the following two editions in subsequent years.

The race was full of incidents, Welshman Arthur Linton, who finished fourth, crashed six times, once after hitting a dog. The winner, Josef Fischer, had a lead of 23 minutes until he was almost knocked off by a horse and was then halted by cows. When Fischer entered the velodrome in Roubaix he was covered in filth and blood. Only three other riders finished within an hour, all in similar conditions.

Results

A man posing while sitting on a bike. — Josef Fischer]] won the first ever [[Paris–Roubaix]].

Rank	Cyclist	Time
1	Josef Fischer	9h 17' 00″
2	Charles Meyer	+25' 00″
3	Maurice Garin	+28' 00″
4	Arthur Linton	+45' 00″
5	Lucien Stein	+1h 01' 00″
6	Boinet	+1h 01' 50″
7	Emile Van Berendonck	+1h 07' 50″
8	Henri Aries	+1h 43' 00″
9	Gaston Pachot	+2h 02' 00″
10	Pierre Mercier	+2h 16' 00″

Final results (11–26)	Rank	Cyclist
11	Gouff	+2h 29' 00″
12	Eugène Faiteau	+2h 44' 00″
13	Liermi	+4h 03' 00″
14	Gaston Vart	+4h 05' 00″
15	Amédée Naert	+4h 16' 00″
16	Fritz Vanderstuyft	+4h 17' 00″
17	Vendredi	+4h 22' 00″
18	Emile Taquet	+5h 22' 00″
19	Arsène Millocheau	+6h 01' 00″
20	Lecornu	+7h 23' 00″
21	Revilio Norsath	+8h 01' 00″
22	Vautrelle	+8h 02' 00″
23	Georges Aymard	s.t.
24	Sagre	+8h 11' 00″
25	Feys	+8h 39' 00″
26	Guillochin	s.t.
27	Theron	s.t.
28	Albert Dumas	s.t.

Footnotes

References

(19 April 1896). "Vélocipédie". Gallica Bibliothèque Numérique.
(20 April 1896). "Vélocipédie". Gallica Bibliothèque Numérique.
Janna Trevisanut. (9 April 2004). "102nd Paris Roubaix Preview". [[Amaury Sport Organisation]].
"Race winners since 1896". [[Amaury Sport Organisation]].
Lionel Birnie. (9 April 2004). "Paris-Roubaix preview". IPC Media.
(1989). "Chronique d'une légende: Paris–Roubaix". Flandria Nostra.
Staff. (10 April 2009). "Paris–Roubaix - A History". Info Média Conseil Inc..
(2004-04-18). "The real Hell of the North". [[Future plc]].
{{usurped
"Cycling - Paris–Roubaix - 1896". Info Média Conseil Inc..

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

paris–roubaix 1896-in-road-cycling 1896-in-french-sport 1896-in-cycle-racing april-1896

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