Louison Bobet

Louis "Louison" Bobet (12 March 1925 – 13 March 1983) was a French professional road racing cyclist and the first great French rider of the post-war period. He made history as the first cyclist to win the Tour de France three years in a row, from 1953 to 1955. Bobet was born above his father's bakery in Saint-Méen-le-Grand, near Rennes, one of three children. His father gave him a bicycle at age two, and within six months he could ride six kilometres. To avoid confusion with his father, also named Louis, the boy was called Louison—a diminutive meaning "little Louis"—though outside Brittany the name is more commonly used for a girl. In his early racing years he went by Louis, but the nickname Louison eventually caught on.

Bobet’s sister played table tennis, and his brother Jean played football before becoming a professional cyclist. Louison himself excelled at both sports, becoming Brittany champion in table tennis. It was his uncle Raymond, president of a Paris cycling club, who convinced him to focus on cycling. At age 13, Bobet entered his first race, a 30 km event, finishing second in a sprint. He won four races for unlicensed riders in 1941. In 1943, he qualified for the Premier Pas Dunlop youth championship final at Montluçon, placing sixth; the winner was Raphaël Géminiani, who later became both a teammate and rival. During World War II, Bobet is said to have carried messages for the Resistance. After D-Day, he joined the army and served in eastern France until his demobilisation in December 1945.

Upon leaving the army, Bobet applied for a racing licence but was mistakenly sent one for an independent (semi-professional), allowing him to compete against both amateurs and professionals. He finished second in the Brittany championship and then rode the national championship in Paris, where he faced veteran professional Marcel Bidot. Bobet caught two breakaway riders, dropped one, and outsprinted the other to become national champion. He turned fully professional for Stella, a bicycle factory in Nantes.

In May 1947, riding for Stella, he won the Boucles de la Seine race in Paris by six minutes solo, earning an invitation to the Tour de France, then contested by national and regional teams. The race’s unexpected difficulty forced him to abandon on the ninth day in the Alps, where he broke down crying. This earned him the nickname "cry-baby" in the peloton, and René Vietto mockingly called him La Bobette, a feminised version of his name. The press wrote him off, and he went home to heed his father’s advice.

In 1948, former rider Maurice Archambaud took over the team and gave Bobet another chance. He took the yellow jersey after the third stage, which finished near Stella’s factory in Nantes, lost it the next day, then regained it by winning the sixth stage to Biarritz. He held a 20-minute lead over Italian veteran Gino Bartali as the race entered the Alps. Then came one of the Tour’s most remarkable episodes: a political crisis in Italy threatened the government, and the prime minister asked Bartali to distract Italians by dominating the race. Bartali won three consecutive stages and the Tour by 14 minutes, turning Bobet’s 20-minute lead into a 32-minute deficit by Paris. Despite this, Bobet had worn yellow twice and won two stages. With the prize money, he moved to Paris and bought a drapery shop for his wife.

Bobet failed to finish the 1949 Tour, struggling from the start and dropping out on the first mountain day alongside four other national team members. In 1950, he won the national championship at Montlhéry a week before the Tour and rode with Géminiani in the national team. The two developed a rocky friendship—Géminiani rough and instinctive, Bobet quieter and more thoughtful. Géminiani called him Zonzon, a nickname Bobet hated but tolerated. Géminiani had the confidence Bobet lacked. Early in the race, both were second and third, hoping to capitalise on Fausto Coppi’s absence due to injury, but they faced an unbeatable Ferdinand Kübler. Bobet finished third and won the mountains classification.

In the 1951 Tour, Bobet again rode as national champion but cracked in the mountains. Manager Jean Bidot initially sent riders to help him but eventually abandoned him to focus on Géminiani, who was better placed. Bobet finished 20th, though he won a stage. On the final mountain day, with Hugo Koblet already unbeatable, Bobet lost 40 minutes even as the race eased off. According to historian Dick Yates, it was a terrible performance for a rider of his class, but Bobet had not given up—showing character, even if no one noticed.