Description
Alcyon Cycling Team
The Alcyon cycling team was a French professional road cycling team from 1905 to 1962. Sponsored by Alcyon, a French manufacturer of bicycles, it became one of the most successful teams in history. In total, Alcyon riders won 14 Tour de France titles (including 7 with national teams), 13 Paris-Roubaix, and 11 Bordeaux-Paris. The team began its activities in 1906, securing its first four Tour de France victories before World War I, with François Faber (1909), Octave Lapize (1910), Gustave Garrigou (1911), and Odile Defraye (1912). In 1909, Calais was the team’s manager, and Alphonse Baugé was the sporting director. Ludovic Feuillet took over as the sporting director in 1910.
Like many other bicycle manufacturers, Alcyon joined a consortium employing many cyclists under the name “La Sportive ” immediately after World War I. This consortium won the Tour de France from 1919 to 1921 before dissolving in 1922. The member companies – Automoto, Peugeot, and Alcyon – each restarted their own cycling teams.
Alcyon became one of the top teams and dominated the Tour de France between 1927 and 1929, with three more victories: Nicolas Frantz (1927 and 1928) and Maurice De Waele (1929). This dominance ended with the introduction of national teams, following the controversial victory of Maurice De Waele. Although De Waele was ill, he received assistance from fellow Alcyon riders who blocked the race to help him win, contrary to the rules. Isolated riders and competitors were also asked to help. De Waele won a stage in Malo-les-Bains and took the overall victory. The race’s outcome led Henri Desgrange to remark, “They made a corpse win! How could a Yellow Jersey so easily stripped of its position have kept the lead?” As a result, in 1930, the Tour de France was contested by national teams to break the dominance of commercial teams like Alcyon.
Despite this shift, Alcyon riders continued to win the Tour de France with their national teams. Frenchman André Leducq won the first national-team Tour in 1927, and again in 1932, while another Alcyon rider, Georges Speicher, triumphed in 1933. Belgian riders under Alcyon’s sponsorship, Romain Maes and Sylvère Maes, won the Tour de France in 1935, 1936, and 1939.
After World War II, the team was known as Alcyon-Dunlop (1922-1959). The team ceased its sponsorship after 1958 but remained active until 1961, led by former rider Georges Speicher and Paul Wiegant. In 1962, the team was renamed Gitane-Leroux for its final year, sponsored by the Leroux chicory company.
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