Pic of the Day 31 March, 2006
Seventy-one Years Ago - René Vietto in Tears
Paris-Nice, 1935. By placing sixth in the first two stages, René Vietto earned the Paris-Nice leader's jersey, with a comfortable margin. Winner of four stages in the 1934 Tour de France, the twenty-one-year-old from Rocheville held the jersey into stage 5A, a 71km team time trial in which he took second place behind teammate Raoul Lesueur, with fellow Helyett riders Adrien Buttafocchi and Léon Level finishing third and fourth. But just 1'34" behind was Belgian rider Antoine Dignef, who's Colin teammates were just getting into their stride. On stage 5B, just 125km from Toulon to Cannes, Vietto faltered disastrously, while Dignef finished second on the stage and moved to within 1'17" of Vietto with just one stage remaining. Here the young French rider cries uncontrollably in the arms of his Directeur, André Trialoux:
http://www.wooljersey.com/
But this story has a happy ending... Vietto and his teammates rallied on
the final stage, placing Vietto sixth at the finish, adding eight
seconds to his lead over Dignef, and securing René's victory.
>From "Match l'Intran" No.451, 2 April 1935.
Aldo Ross
Middletown, Ohio