- Mar 13, 2009
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I find it pretty interesting to read about the races and racers of times past. It's fascinating to think that these people lived in completely different times than us, had a completely different reality, and yet shared with us one thing that still holds true today, the love of the bicycle.
The idea of this thread is that people who know interesting stories from the history of cycling can share them with others. I searched through the forum a bit to see if a similar thread existed already, but couldn't find anything. If there is, please feel free to merge them.
To start things off, please allow me to share with you the story of François Faber, "The Giant", winner of the Tour de France in 1909 and Paris - Roubaix in 1913, who died on the battlefield of WWI almost exactly 100 years ago, on the 9th of May 1915.
François Faber (1887 - 1915)
François Faber was a true european, "avant la lettre" as the French say, that is to say before there was such a thing as a political concept of Europe. He was born on 26 January 1887 in France to Luxembourgish parents. At his birth, he receives French citizenship, but then changes it at age 22 to adopt Luxembourg citizenship, out of love for his father as he says, but most likely also to avoid the French mandatory 2 year military service.
François grows up in the parisian suburb of Colombes, Rue de la Seine - today, Rue François Faber. He leaves school at the age of 13 and joins the work force. Indeed, François does not shy away from hard labour: he first joins a local factory, then becomes a waiter, then works at a ship construction company, then the sewage plant, finally at the dock where he helps unload the ships carrying sand, stones and cement for the metropolis.
François spends his free time at the local bar, "Café de l'Usine", where cycling is discussed frequently and passionately. Many cycling races are created around the turn of the century: Paris – Rouen in 1869, Milano - Torino in 1876, Paris – Brest and Paris – Bordeaux in 1891, Liège – Bastogne – Liège in 1892, Paris – Tours in 1893, Paris – Roubaix and Paris – Bruxelles in 1896, finally Tour de Lombardie in 1905. The race that fascinates people the most though is the crazy project of Henri Desgrange, director of the newspaper "L'Auto": an epic, multi-stage race through France. François is fascinated of the sporting exploits of heroes such as Garin, Aucouturier, Georget, Garrigou and Petit-Breton, and decides that he only has one goal: join the peloton of the Tour de France as fast as possible.
In 1909, François Faber fulfills his dream: he is the first non-frenchman to win the Tour de France. In that year, France knows two heroes: Louis Blériot, who flies over the English channel on July 25th, and François Faber, winner of the Tour de France. Thanks to his impressive statue and his seemingly insatiable appetite, he receives the nicknames "Le Géant de la Route" (The Giant of the Road), "Le Colosse" (The Colossus), or even "Le Gargantua".
But François Faber is also a "bon vivant" - eating and drinking as he pleases, often entering races unprepared. His fame is on the decline, when he surprises the public with an astonishing victory at the 1913 Paris-Roubaix. His average winning speed of 35,333 km/h was to remain unparalleled for 18 years. Later that year, Faber achieves a respectable 4th place overall at the Tour de France. Faber also maries his longtime fiancée Eugénie Terrier, and moves with her to a villa in his hometown of Colombes. He names their home "Pour elle" - for her.
After his return to success in 1913, many people are excited to see what François will be able to do at the 1914 Tour de France. That year, the Tour is supposed to start on 28 June - a date that was to remain forever engraved in history. It was indeed on that very same date that the arch duke Franz Ferdinand is shot in Sarajevo, and World War I begins. For the following four years, cycling comes to a halt. Many sportsmen change their gear for a soldier's uniform - among them the Giant, François Faber.
After the stage Le Havre - Cherbourg of the 1914 Tour de France, Faber steps out of the shower in his hotel and walks back to his room, completely naked. He encounters a bearded man, who makes a comment about his nudity. Faber, never one to be at a loss for a good comeback, tells the man that he should lend him his beard to cover his shame. At dinner, Faber is reintroduced to the bearded man: it is famous french pacifist Jean Jaurès, the last man to keep France from entering the mass slaughter. On 31 July, Jaurès is assassinated. The war begins.
On 26 July, François Faber ends his last Tour de France, indeed his last cycling race ever, in 9th place overall. On 22 August, François walks over to the local recruiting center of the "Légion Etrangère", the foreign legion. He joins the long line of volunteers waiting to sign up, and finally signs a contract "for the duration of the war". Many are surpised to learn this - after all, Faber had been accused of denying his French citizenship just years earlier to avoid military service. To this, he responds: "La France a fait ma fortune. Il est normal que je la défende" - France has made me rich. It is normal that I should defend her.
On 23 August, Henri Desgrange, director of "L'Auto" and organizer of the Tour de France, writes about a march of the foreign legion in Paris: "... at the head of this procession that gravely saluted France before going to die for her, in the first row, I saw François Faber. He walked like a young god (...). Yes indeed, he was there, like the other comrades, well decided to go beat the Germans. And he found that he owed that to France, him, the Luxembourger, celebrated, just a month earlier, by thousands of people on France's roads...".
In the spring of 1915, the French army goes on the offensive in the Artois region. It is one of the episodes with the biggest losses of the entire war, which begins on a Sunday, 9th May. Of 3.600 soldiers, only 800 remain at the end of the day. Among the 1.800 dead legionnaires, unceremoniously buried in a mass grave, is The Giant, François Faber. Faber dies a hero's death. In cycling, he had only ever known one strategy: attack. Go forward as fast as possible, without restraint, courageously, passionately. Same when he had been a docker, tiredlessly unloading ships in Paris' harbour. Same as he had eaten and drank in Paris' bistrots: Gargantua, the insatiable.
Just like during the Tour de France, François storms forward on this day on the battlefield in Carency, close to Mont Saint-Eloi, never to return again. He is hit by ennemy bullets while trying to help a comrade. François Faber is 28 years old. He died, like many sportsmen after him: 425 French champions die during World War I, among them cyclists like Octave Lapize and Lucien Petit-Breton.
One day before his death, François had received a letter from his beloved Eugénie: she has given birth to a baby girl. Overjoyed, François responds: "You are going to laugh, my two sargents are argueing who will be the godfather. They will have to a complete athletic competition to decide who is the winner. We were just discussing the the different tasks to do, and had emptied five bottles of champagne, and without knowing it, we had drank to the health of my daughter. (...) I leave you now, my beloved, you will have given me all the joys of life. I cover you in kisses, just as little Raymonde. Your man who adores you. François".
The body of François Faber was never found. But in 2010, Michel Merckel, a passionate historian from Faber's hometown of Colombes, who even grew up in the Rue François Faber, made an incredible discovery: ina box full of World War I memorabilia that a friend brought him from a garage sale, he finds a pair of trousers belonging to a French World War I uniform. It bears the number 18837, as well as a name - Faber. The archives of the Foreign Legion in Aubagne bring confirmation: they are the trousers of The Giant, François Faber.
This is a partial translation of an article by Luxembourg historian Marc Thill published on: http://www.wort.lu/de/sport/francois-faber-1887-1915-er-drehte-sich-nicht-mehr-um-nie-mehr-554d015c0c88b46a8ce58e76
The idea of this thread is that people who know interesting stories from the history of cycling can share them with others. I searched through the forum a bit to see if a similar thread existed already, but couldn't find anything. If there is, please feel free to merge them.
To start things off, please allow me to share with you the story of François Faber, "The Giant", winner of the Tour de France in 1909 and Paris - Roubaix in 1913, who died on the battlefield of WWI almost exactly 100 years ago, on the 9th of May 1915.
François Faber (1887 - 1915)
François Faber was a true european, "avant la lettre" as the French say, that is to say before there was such a thing as a political concept of Europe. He was born on 26 January 1887 in France to Luxembourgish parents. At his birth, he receives French citizenship, but then changes it at age 22 to adopt Luxembourg citizenship, out of love for his father as he says, but most likely also to avoid the French mandatory 2 year military service.
François grows up in the parisian suburb of Colombes, Rue de la Seine - today, Rue François Faber. He leaves school at the age of 13 and joins the work force. Indeed, François does not shy away from hard labour: he first joins a local factory, then becomes a waiter, then works at a ship construction company, then the sewage plant, finally at the dock where he helps unload the ships carrying sand, stones and cement for the metropolis.
François spends his free time at the local bar, "Café de l'Usine", where cycling is discussed frequently and passionately. Many cycling races are created around the turn of the century: Paris – Rouen in 1869, Milano - Torino in 1876, Paris – Brest and Paris – Bordeaux in 1891, Liège – Bastogne – Liège in 1892, Paris – Tours in 1893, Paris – Roubaix and Paris – Bruxelles in 1896, finally Tour de Lombardie in 1905. The race that fascinates people the most though is the crazy project of Henri Desgrange, director of the newspaper "L'Auto": an epic, multi-stage race through France. François is fascinated of the sporting exploits of heroes such as Garin, Aucouturier, Georget, Garrigou and Petit-Breton, and decides that he only has one goal: join the peloton of the Tour de France as fast as possible.
In 1909, François Faber fulfills his dream: he is the first non-frenchman to win the Tour de France. In that year, France knows two heroes: Louis Blériot, who flies over the English channel on July 25th, and François Faber, winner of the Tour de France. Thanks to his impressive statue and his seemingly insatiable appetite, he receives the nicknames "Le Géant de la Route" (The Giant of the Road), "Le Colosse" (The Colossus), or even "Le Gargantua".
But François Faber is also a "bon vivant" - eating and drinking as he pleases, often entering races unprepared. His fame is on the decline, when he surprises the public with an astonishing victory at the 1913 Paris-Roubaix. His average winning speed of 35,333 km/h was to remain unparalleled for 18 years. Later that year, Faber achieves a respectable 4th place overall at the Tour de France. Faber also maries his longtime fiancée Eugénie Terrier, and moves with her to a villa in his hometown of Colombes. He names their home "Pour elle" - for her.
After his return to success in 1913, many people are excited to see what François will be able to do at the 1914 Tour de France. That year, the Tour is supposed to start on 28 June - a date that was to remain forever engraved in history. It was indeed on that very same date that the arch duke Franz Ferdinand is shot in Sarajevo, and World War I begins. For the following four years, cycling comes to a halt. Many sportsmen change their gear for a soldier's uniform - among them the Giant, François Faber.
After the stage Le Havre - Cherbourg of the 1914 Tour de France, Faber steps out of the shower in his hotel and walks back to his room, completely naked. He encounters a bearded man, who makes a comment about his nudity. Faber, never one to be at a loss for a good comeback, tells the man that he should lend him his beard to cover his shame. At dinner, Faber is reintroduced to the bearded man: it is famous french pacifist Jean Jaurès, the last man to keep France from entering the mass slaughter. On 31 July, Jaurès is assassinated. The war begins.
On 26 July, François Faber ends his last Tour de France, indeed his last cycling race ever, in 9th place overall. On 22 August, François walks over to the local recruiting center of the "Légion Etrangère", the foreign legion. He joins the long line of volunteers waiting to sign up, and finally signs a contract "for the duration of the war". Many are surpised to learn this - after all, Faber had been accused of denying his French citizenship just years earlier to avoid military service. To this, he responds: "La France a fait ma fortune. Il est normal que je la défende" - France has made me rich. It is normal that I should defend her.
On 23 August, Henri Desgrange, director of "L'Auto" and organizer of the Tour de France, writes about a march of the foreign legion in Paris: "... at the head of this procession that gravely saluted France before going to die for her, in the first row, I saw François Faber. He walked like a young god (...). Yes indeed, he was there, like the other comrades, well decided to go beat the Germans. And he found that he owed that to France, him, the Luxembourger, celebrated, just a month earlier, by thousands of people on France's roads...".
In the spring of 1915, the French army goes on the offensive in the Artois region. It is one of the episodes with the biggest losses of the entire war, which begins on a Sunday, 9th May. Of 3.600 soldiers, only 800 remain at the end of the day. Among the 1.800 dead legionnaires, unceremoniously buried in a mass grave, is The Giant, François Faber. Faber dies a hero's death. In cycling, he had only ever known one strategy: attack. Go forward as fast as possible, without restraint, courageously, passionately. Same when he had been a docker, tiredlessly unloading ships in Paris' harbour. Same as he had eaten and drank in Paris' bistrots: Gargantua, the insatiable.
Just like during the Tour de France, François storms forward on this day on the battlefield in Carency, close to Mont Saint-Eloi, never to return again. He is hit by ennemy bullets while trying to help a comrade. François Faber is 28 years old. He died, like many sportsmen after him: 425 French champions die during World War I, among them cyclists like Octave Lapize and Lucien Petit-Breton.
One day before his death, François had received a letter from his beloved Eugénie: she has given birth to a baby girl. Overjoyed, François responds: "You are going to laugh, my two sargents are argueing who will be the godfather. They will have to a complete athletic competition to decide who is the winner. We were just discussing the the different tasks to do, and had emptied five bottles of champagne, and without knowing it, we had drank to the health of my daughter. (...) I leave you now, my beloved, you will have given me all the joys of life. I cover you in kisses, just as little Raymonde. Your man who adores you. François".
The body of François Faber was never found. But in 2010, Michel Merckel, a passionate historian from Faber's hometown of Colombes, who even grew up in the Rue François Faber, made an incredible discovery: ina box full of World War I memorabilia that a friend brought him from a garage sale, he finds a pair of trousers belonging to a French World War I uniform. It bears the number 18837, as well as a name - Faber. The archives of the Foreign Legion in Aubagne bring confirmation: they are the trousers of The Giant, François Faber.
This is a partial translation of an article by Luxembourg historian Marc Thill published on: http://www.wort.lu/de/sport/francois-faber-1887-1915-er-drehte-sich-nicht-mehr-um-nie-mehr-554d015c0c88b46a8ce58e76
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