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Roger Lapébie
Personal information
Full name	Roger Lapébie
Born	16 January 1911; Bayonne, France
Died	11 October 1996 (aged 85); Pessac, France
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Professional teams
1932-1936	La Française
1937-1939	Mercier
1947	Mercier
Major wins
	Grand Tours Tour de France General classification (1937) 9 individual stages (1932, 1934, 1937) Stage races Paris–Nice (1937) Critérium International (1934, 1937) Circuit du Morbihan (1933) One-day races and Classics National Road Race Championships (1933) Paris–Angers (1933) Paris–Vichy (1934) Paris–Saint-Etienne (1935) Paris–Sedan (1938)

Roger Lapébie (pronounced [ʁɔ.ʒe la.pe.bi]; 16 January 1911 – 11 October 1996) was a French racing cyclist who won the 1937 Tour de France. In addition, Lapébie won the 1934 and 1937 editions of the Critérium National. He was born at Bayonne, Aquitaine, and died in Pessac.

Early career

Lapébie made his debut in the Tour de France in 1932, as a member of the French national team. He won one stage in that Tour, and was selected again in 1933; that year he did not win any stage.

In 1934, Lapébie again rode the Tour de France as part of the national team. He won five stages, and finished in third place in the general classification. He would have been a contender for the victory in the 1935 Tour, had it not been for his difficult relation with Henri Desgrange, the Tour director. In the 1935 Tour de France, Lapébie was not selected to be part of the French national team, but had to start as a French individual cyclist. In the Tour of 1936, he did not even start.

1937 Tour de France

In 1937, Desgrange had retired, and Lapébie was back. In the month before the Tour started, Lapébie had undergone surgery for a lumbar hernia, and there were doubts about his form.^[1]

Lapébie won the 1937 Tour by riding 4,415 kilometers in 138 hours, 58 minutes and 31 seconds. His victory was controversial as he was the first rider to complete the race using a modern derailleur. This gave him the advantage of shifting gears without having to stop, dismount and flip the wheel as was customary of racing bicycles used at the time.^[2] Lapébie was also known to accept outside assistance in violation of the rules and was at one point penalized 90 seconds by race commissaires.^[3]

The advantages taken by Lapébie angered his Belgian rival, Sylvère Maes who had won the Tour the previous year. Maes had led the race through the Alps and Pyrenees but decided to quit in protest of Lapébie's tactics and derailleur use after the 16th stage to Bordeaux. Lapébie, in second place, took the yellow jersey in the absence of Maes and kept it until Paris. The victory delighted the French but angered the cycling-proud Belgians.

Following Lapébie's victory derailleurs became standard racing equipment in the Tour peloton.

After his victory, Lapébie wrote about his experiences during the Tour in left-wing socialist magazines. This did not sit well with Desgrange, who used his influence to prevent Lapébie from starting in the 1938 Tour, so he did not defend his title.

Career achievements

Major results

1932

Tour de France

Winner stage 12

1933

Circuit du Morbihan: winner stage 2 and winner overall classification

France National road race Championship

Paris-Saint-Etienne: winner stage 2

GP de l'Echo d'Alger

1934

Tour de France

Winner stages 3, 4, 12, 14 and 15

3rd place overall classification

Critérium International

Paris–Nice:Winner stage 2 and 5B

Paris-Saint-Etienne

Paris-Vichy

1935

Paris - Saint-Etienne

Paris Routiers, Six Days

Paris, Six Days

1937

Critérium International

Paris–Nice

Tour de France

Winner overall classification

Winner stages 9, 17C, 18A

1938: Paris - Sedan
1939: 1st stage Paris - Nice

Grand Tour results timeline

	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937
Giro d'Italia	DNE	DNE	DNE	DNE	DNE	DNE
Stages won	—	—	—	—	—	—
Mountains classification	—	—	—	—	—	—
Tour de France	23	29	3	DNF-12	DNE	1
Stages won	1	0	5	0	—	3
Mountains classification	NR	NR	NR	NR	—	NR
Vuelta a España	N/A	N/A	N/A	DNE	DNE	N/A
Stages won				—	—
Mountains classification				—	—

Legend
1	Winner
2–3	Top three-finish
4–10	Top ten-finish
11–	Other finish
DNE	Did not enter
DNF-x	Did not finish (retired on stage x)
DNS-x	Did not start (not started on stage x)
HD	Finished outside time limit (occurred on stage x)
DSQ	Disqualified
N/A	Race/classification not held
NR	Not ranked in this classification

References

^ McGann, Bill; McGann, Carol (2006). The Story of the Tour De France. dog ear publishing. pp. 132–139. ISBN 978-1-59858-180-5. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
^ History of the Tour de France: 1920–1939 - Les Forcats de la Route by Mitch Mueller
^ The Official Tour de France Centennial 1903-2003, pg. 124