Andre Darrigade, Signed Postal Card, Champion of France 1955, Green Jersey Winner 1959 & 61, World Champion 1959

Andre Darigade Signed Postal Card, 1959 World Champion

At the Tour de France Darrigade wore 19 yellow jerseys and won 22 stages. He won the Points Classification in 1959 & 1961. He won the opening stage of the Tour in 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, and 1961. Darrigade lost time in the mountains and his best final positions were 16th in 1956, 1959, and 1960.

Raphaël Géminiani said: “Darrigade was the greatest French sprinter of all time and he’ll stay that way for a long time. The mold has been broken. But he wasn’t just a sprinter. He was an animateur who could start decisive breaks; he destroyed the image of sprinters who just sit on wheels.” He began his sprints from a long distance from the line, challenging others to pass him.

In single-day races, he won the national championship in 1955 on the famous Boucles de l’Aulne in Châteaulin, beating a Louison Bobet at the top of his career (reigning world champion and winner of the Tour de France 1953, 1954, and 1955). He won the 1956 Giro di Lombardia, beating the Campionissimo Fausto Coppi in front of his home crowd at the Milan velodrome. Two weeks later he beat Coppi again to win the Trofeo Baracchi with Rolf Graf. He won the world championship in Zandvoort on 16 August 1959, dominating a breakaway of eight riders, ahead of the Italian Michele Gismondi and the Belgian Noël Foré.