Roger Lapebie, 1911-1996Roger Lapebie, the oldest surviving winner of the Tour de France, died in the Pessac clinic in a Bordeaux suburb on Friday (11 October).This was reported soon after it happened. Refer back to the October news. Now, from a picture spread in the December 1996 Cycle Sport on Lapebie, just published: "In early September our editor Andrew Sutcliffe was taking part in the Bike Events Bordeaux to Barcelona bike ride, when he ran into an elderly cyclist. As they rode along together, they fell into conversation, and the old man asked Andy if he raced. 'I used to,' said the editor, 'and how about you?' 'Well, yes, I won the Tour de France,' said Lapebie, still riding his bike a few weeks before his death, and still as modest and friendly as in the days when he drove race guests at frightening speeds on Paris--Nice." |