La Sportive
| Team information | |
|---|---|
| Registered | France |
| Founded | 1918 |
| Disbanded | 1921 |
| Discipline | Road |
| Team name history | |
| 1919–1921 | La Sportive |
La Sportive is a former French professional cycling team from 1918 to 1921. It won the team classification in the Tour de France three times, in 1919–1921.[1]
History
Many bicycle factories that sponsored cycling teams in the early 20th century suffered and some were destroyed during World War I. There was little money to sponsor a team so several businesses ran a joint team called La Sportive.[2] to keep the sport alive. Alcyon, Armor, Automoto, Clément, La Française, Gladiator, Griffon, Hurtu, Labor, Liberator, Peugeot and Thomann are said to have equipped half the peloton and to have controlled the riders' salaries.[3] La Sportive won the Tour de France in 1919, 1920, and 1921 with Firmin Lambot, Philippe Thys and Léon Scieur.[4] Eugène Christophe was in a grey La Sportive jersey when, leading the 1919 Tour de France, Henri Desgrange gave him the Tour's first maillot jaune.[5]
The consortium disappeared in 1922 when the companies restarted their own teams. They included Peugeot, the Automoto and the Alycon. During the three years of the La Sportive consortium, the member companies were rebuilding their teams and it is possible these riders rode for these teams as well as La Sportive. In 1925, the old situation of cyclists riding in sponsored teams returned to the Tour de France.[6]
Selected victories
- Tour de France General classification 1919, 1920, 1921 Second overall 1920 and 1921
France Road Race championship 1919.svg.png)
Belgium Road Race Championship 1919- Paris–Roubaix 1919, 1920
- Liège–Bastogne–Liège 1920, 1921
- Giro di Lombardia 1920
- Bordeaux–Paris 1919
- Paris–Brussels 1919, 1920
- Tour of Belgium 1919, 1920
- Bordeaux–Paris-Bordeaux 1920
- Paris–Brest–Paris 1921
References
- ↑ Eddy van der Mark. "Tour Xtra - General Team Classification". CVCC. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
- ↑ McGann, Bill; McGann, Carol (2006). The Story of the Tour de France. Dog Ear Publishing. pp. 51–56. ISBN 1-59858-180-5. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
- ↑ "Cycles Automoto: Setting the Standard". EBykr. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
- ↑ "Norbert Peugeot: The inventor of the training camp". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
- ↑ "Firmin Lambot (Belgique)". Memoire du cyclisme.net. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
- ↑ Tom James (15 August 2003). "1925: Once again Bottecchia". Retrieved 10 June 2009.