Jean Bobet is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 former road bicycle racer. He is the younger brother of Louison Bobet

Louison Bobet

Louis 'Louison' Bobet was a French professional road racing cyclist. He was the first great French rider of the post-war period and the first rider to win the Tour de France in three successive years, from 1953 to 1955...

. Less talented, he did nevetheless win the world students' championship as an amateur and then, as a professional, Paris–Nice in 1955, Genoa-Nice in 1956 and the Circuit du Morbihan in 1953. He came third in Milan – San Remo in 1953. He rode from 1949 to 1959, including all three major Tours.

He and his brother retired from racing after a car carrying him and his brother crashed outside Paris in the autumn of 1960. Louison went into business ventures and Jean became a journalist. He became head of sport at Radio Luxembourg

Radio Luxembourg (French)

Radio Luxembourg - 1933-1939 and 1951- is the name of a Long Wave commercial radio station that began broadcasting from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in 1933 as a daytime and evening service in the French language from Monday to Saturday and until 12 Noon on Sundays.The station closed down at the...

, wrote for L'Équipe

L'Équipe

L'Équipe is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sports, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of football , rugby, motorsports and cycling...

 and then Le Monde

Le Monde

Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...

. He made occasional contributions to Miroir du Cyclisme and still appears on television, notably in retrospective programmes. He was instrumental in forming a museum in his brother's memory in Saint-Méen-le-Grand.

He has written several books, including "Louison Bobet, une vélobiographie" (Editions Gallimard, 1958), an account of life with his brother in "Demain on roule" (Editions de La Table Ronde, 2004), translated as "Tomorrow We Ride" (Mousehold Press, 2008), and a history of one of the first stars of the Tour de France

Tour de France

The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

: "Lapize, celui-là était un 'as'" (Editions de La Table Ronde, 2003).

Teams

• 1949-1951. Stella-Dunlop
• 1952 Stella-Huret
• 1953 Bottecchia and Stella-Wolber-Dunlop
• 1954 Stella-Wolber-Dunlop
• 1955 L. Bobet-BP-Hutchinson and Mercier-Hutchinson
• 1956 L. Bobet-BP-Hutchinson
• 1957 L. Bobet-BP-Hutchinson, Mercier-BP-Hutchinson and Velo Club Bustese
• 1958-1959 L. Bobet-BP-Hutchinson

Palmarès

1949

• World student champion
• World student team time-trial champion

1950

• University champion

1951

• 1st Tour de l'Orne
• 1st Lannion-Rennes
• 1st Circuit de la Vallée de Loire

1952

• 1st Dinan
• 1st Hautmont

1953

• 1st Circuit de Morbihan
• 1st Grand Prix d'Europe

1955

• 1st París-Nice and one stage win
• 1st Scaer

1956

• 1st Genova-Nice

1959

• 1st Lodève

External links