 Firmin Lambot, c. 1920 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Firmin Lambot |
| Nickname | L'Homme de Florennes (The Man fromFlorennes) |
| Born | (1886-03-14)14 March 1886 Florennes, Belgium |
| Died | 19 January 1964(1964-01-19) (aged 77) Borgerhout, Belgium |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Firmin Lambot (pronounced[fiʁ.mɛ̃lɑ̃.bo]; 14 March 1886 – 19 January 1964) was aBelgianbicycle racer who twice won theTour de France.[1]
Born in the small town ofFlorennes,[2] Lambot worked as a saddler. He worked 12 hours a day, starting at 6am.[2] He bought his first bicycle at 17 and began riding 50 km a day to and from work. His first race was in a local village; he won five francs as first prize. He then bought a racing bike.
He began racing professionally in 1908. In that year he won the championships ofFlanders andBelgium. He rode the Tour de France from 1911 to 1913 but theFirst World War ended the race for the next five years.
When the Tour returned in1919, it was a miserable affair of war-torn roads, fractured logistics and former contenders no longer alive to compete. Only 11 riders finished. Lambot was approached at theBuffalo track in Paris, where he had ridden a 24-hour race, to ride the Tour in the Globe Cycles team. He was second for much of the race but took the lead whenEugène Christophe broke a fork. Observers felt Lambot owed his victory more to Christophe's bad luck than his own ability and a collection for Christophe surpassed the prize money Lambot received. His performance brought him a contract from the largerPeugeot team at 300 francs a month.[2] He was engaged to ride just the Tour de France.
In the1920 and1921 Tours, Lambot placed respectably and in1922 he won for the second time afterHector Heusghem was handed a one hour penalty for swapping his bicycle after breaking the frame. He became the first to win the Tour without winning a stage. Lambot was 36 when he won the 1922 Tour, the oldest winner of one of cycling'sgrand tours at that time. He kept the record for over 90 years, until it was broken by 41-year-old Vuelta winnerChris Horner in 2013. He remains the oldest Tour winner to date.[3]
By the end of his career he was paid 1 800 francs a month by his team.[2] In retirement, he returned to work as a saddler.
OverallTour de France OverallTour de France| 1911 | 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 | 1919 | 1920 | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giro d'Italia | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE |
| Stages won | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Tour de France | 11 | 18 | 4 | 8 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 1 | 3 | 9 | 1 | DNF-6 | DNF-8 |
| Stages won | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Vuelta a España | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Stages won |
| 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-x | Finished outside time limit (occurred on stage x) |
| DSQ | Disqualified |
| N/A | Race/classification not held |
| NR | Not ranked in this classification |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
