All for the team leader

Usually in team sports there is always a leader to follow. It could be because he got the stripes or because of his persuasiveness to convince anyone to decide that he is the one to command the group. Sometimes it’s because of seniority.

In cycling teams, the leader is supervised by people who work together gradually so that, as the stages pass, the boss becomes stable at the table with options to win.

Unless you have an accident and everything goes to hell. René Vietto (Le Cannet, 02/17/1914) is an exemplary socialite who has earned him recognition through French public opinion and many cycling and sports fans. Tour like a folk hero who sacrifices his own sporting opportunities for success for the benefit of his leader. And he also escaped from the Nazis in World War II on a bicycle.

sneaky cycling

In 1931, at the age of 17 and without his parents’ consent, René Vietto signed his first cycling license at Etoile Sportive de Cannesyour friend’s club Charles Ceppi. He distinguished himself very quickly by taking fourth place in the department’s elimination race for Premier Country Dunlop. He then ranks first among those starting with Grand Prix Sigrandhe Walsdorff Grand Prix and the Saint-Raphael Grand Prix. He won Prix ​​de Vallauris and the EN Cannes Derbybefore getting his first big hit in the Boucles de Sospelahead of his peers Paul Bianchi and Charles Ceppi. This victory in one of the most important events in the region earned him praise from the local press for the first time.

My kingdom for a wheel

The journey of Pyrenees is the set of events that make René Vietto enter the legend of Tour de France. Vietto He climbed through the Tour’s Pyrenean ports with the yellow jersey within easy reach.

In the fifteenth stage of the 1934 Tour in between Perpignan and Ax-les-Thermes, Antonin Magne fell the Coll de Puymorens and his front wheel broke, while his most serious rival for the general classification, Martanotaking advantage of the situation to distance himself.

It was then that the steward informed him that his team leader had crashed, bent his front wheel and could not continue the race. Vietto He turned, climbed while the others dismounted (at that point, reversing course was legal), and looked for his team leader in the opposite direction. He offered him his wheel, Magna make up for lost time, led the chase to Martano and he finally kept the yellow jersey when he crossed the finish line.

But his resignation from the team and its leader does not end here. The next day, when he was leading the race, he again helped out Antonin Magne. The leader of the group stood at the descent of the Coll de Portet-d’Aspet due to broken chain and spokes. Vietto He turned around, walked in the opposite direction for two kilometers, and gave his bike to Magna which again saved his yellow jersey when he reached Luchon.

finally finished his first Tour de France in fifth place, almost an hour behind the winner, Antonin Magne. Together, the two cyclists completed a lap of honor in Parc des Princes during which Vietto has received public love and recognition.

Running away from the Nazis on a bicycle

Excluded from military service in 1934 due to suffering from ulnar claw, in 1939 he was declared eligible for verbal auxiliary service.

Facing the fall of Paris at the hands of the Germans, he tries to get south on a bicycle but is captured by Sully-sur-Loire. In this city where the bicycle manufacturer’s factory is located. Helyettthe brand that usually provides the goods Vietto and takes advantage of his popularity to be hired as a worker in the company. Of course, every night he must return to the prison camp. Under threat of transfer to Germany. After two months in prison, he escaped on a bicycle with another professional cyclist, Jules Sicilian and, at the age of 26, he returned home to Canneswhere the rest of the tournament is hidden.

In 1947, he developed sepsis (infection) in his toe and decided to amputate it. In the same year he participated in the Tour de France and won the 2nd and 9th stages, finished fifth in the general classification and wore the yellow jersey for 15 days. He retired from cycling squads in 1952 and died in 1988 after suffering a traffic accident in 1981 that seriously deteriorated his health.