 Thys in 1913 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Philippe Thijs |
| Nickname | Le basset (The Basset Hound)[1] |
| Born | (1889-10-08)8 October 1889 Anderlecht, Belgium |
| Died | 16 January 1971(1971-01-16) (aged 81) Anderlecht, Belgium |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Professional teams | |
| 1912–1914 | Peugeot–Wolber |
| 1917–1918 | Peugeot–Wolber |
| 1919–1921 | La Sportive |
| 1922–1924 | Peugeot–Wolber |
| 1925 | Automoto–Hutchinson |
| 1927 | Opel–ZR III |
| Major wins | |
| |
Philippe Thys (pronounced[fi.liptis];Dutch:Philippe Thijs; 8 October 1889 – 16 January 1971) was aBelgiancyclist and three times winner of theTour de France.[2]
In 1910, Thys won Belgium's first nationalcyclo-cross championship. The following year he won the Circuit Français Peugeot, followed by stage races fromParis toToulouse and Paris toTurin. He then turned professional to ride the Tour de France.
Thys won the Tour in1913 despite breaking his bicycle fork, and needing to find a bicycle shop to mend it. The repair induced a 10-minute penalty, but he won with a lead of just under nine minutes.[3]
Thys took the stage and the race lead whenEugène Christophe broke his fork on the way toLuchon.Marcel Buysse overtook him in the results the following day. Another broken fork on the way toNice gave Thys the lead again but drama continued when he fell on the penultimate stage fromLongwy toDunkirk. Despite being knocked out and being penalised for help from teammates to repair his bike, he won 8 minutes and 37 seconds ahead ofGustave Garrigou, with Buysse third.
In1914, he took his first stage victory, toLe Havre, holding the race from start to finish despite a 30-minute penalty for an unauthorised wheel change on the penultimate stage. His victory looked uncertain, his lead cut to less than two minutes ahead ofHenri Pélissier.[4] Ironically, on the final stage from Dunkirk to Paris, the Frenchman's supporters along the route who were expecting victory over the Belgian were the reason he was prevented from launching a breakaway. He won the stage but Thys finished on his wheel to win the Tour.
In 1917, Thys wonParis–Tours and theGiro di Lombardia. In 1918, he also won the second and lastTours–Paris. AfterWorld War I, Thys won the Tour a third and final time in1920. He led from the second stage,Henri Desgrange writing "France is not unaware that, without the war, the crack rider from Anderlecht would be celebrating not his third Tour, but his fifth or sixth".
Not until 1955 didLouison Bobet equal Thys's record, and not until 1963 didJacques Anquetil break it with four wins. Thys also rode in the1922 Tour, winning five stages, and in the1924 Tour, winning two stages.
Thys was one of a generation of cyclists whose careers were disrupted by theFirst World War. After retiring, he recalled that he had been asked by his manager,Alphonse Baugé, to wear a yellow jersey as leader of the Tour, although that distinction is more commonly attributed to Eugène Christophe.[5]
National Cyclo-cross Championships
OverallTour de France| 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 | 1919 | 1920 | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giro d'Italia | DNE | DNE | DNE | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE |
| Stages won | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Tour de France | 6 | 1 | 1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | DNF-1 | 1 | DNF-2 | 14 | DNF-9 | 11 | DNF-9 |
| Stages won | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 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 | |
