 Gitane–Leroux–Dunlop–R. Geminiani ridersGérard Thiélin,Anatole Novak,Bas Maliepaard andJean Forestier at the1962 Tour de France | ||
| Team information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Registered | France | |
| Founded | 1905 (1905) | |
| Disbanded | 1962 | |
| Discipline | Road | |
| Team name history | ||
1905–1912 1913–1914 1915–1921 1922–1931 1932 1933–1959 1961 1962 | Alcyon–Dunlop Alcyon–Soly Alcyon Alcyon–Dunlop Alcyon–Armor Alcyon–Dunlop Alcyon–Leroux Gitane–Leroux–Dunlop–R. Geminiani | |
| ||
Alcyon was a French professionalcycling team that was active from 1905 to 1959,[1][2] and returned in 1961 and 1962.[3][4] It was started byAlcyon, a French bicycle, automobile and motorcycle manufacturer.
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The team won theTour de France four times beforeWorld War I withFrançois Faber in1909,Octave Lapize in1910,Gustave Garrigou in1911 andOdile Defraye in1912. Alcyon won the team prize at theTour de France from 1909 to 1912 and then from 1927 to 1929.[5] In 1909, Calais is de manager of the team andAlphonse Baugé sports directeur.[6]Ludovic Feuillet takes over this position in 1910.
Immediately after the First World War, Alcyon like many other bicycle companies joined a Consortium that employed many riders under theLa Sportive name. This consortium would win theTour de France from 1919 to 1921. The Consortium stopped in 1922 and the member companies which included Automoto, Peugeot and Alcyon restarted up their separate cycling teams. Alcyon grew into a very strong team that dominated the Tour de France with three wins in withNicolas Frantz in1927 and in1928 andMaurice De Waele in1929.
Alcyon dominated the Tour de France during the 1920s. In the 1929 edition, Maurice Dewaele won the race despite the fact that he was sick when the race went through the Alps. This was because no one attacked the Alcyon rider there.[7] The organisers of theTour de France decided in 1930 that the race would be disputed by national teams. It has been said that this was done to break the domination of some of the commercial teams, most notably Alcyon[8] As a result, Alcyon was unable to continue to dominate the race. However Alycon-Dunlop riders riding for the French national team were able to dominate the race, such asAndré Leducq, an Alycon-Dunlop rider who won the very first Tour that was disputed by national teams.[9] Leducq would win the Tour again in 1932, while another Alycon rider, Georges Speicher won the Tour again in 1933.[10]BelgiansRomain Maes andSylvère Maes were riders of the team when they won theTour de France in1935,1936 and1939.
AfterWorld War II, the team name changed to Alcyon-BP (1946–1949), which was followed by Alcyon-Dunlop (1950–1954). Alcyon stopped sponsoring the team after 1958,[11] although a team existed for 1961 and 1962, managed by former riderGeorges Speicher.[3][4]
Media related toAlcyon cycling team at Wikimedia Commons
