The modern interpretations of the story of Fontan's loss of the yellow jersey vary wildly... broken fork, broken frame, crash, no crash, dog, no dog, lost 5 minutes, lost 20 minutes, lost 40 minutes, retirement, retirement then restart, borrowed bike from spectator, borrowed bike from child spectator, received replacement neutral bike, received replacement team bike, quit before finish, finished but quit race, finish outside the time limit, etc...
I have some original articles from 'Le Miroir des Sport' with coverage of that stage. I'll try to find time this weekend to translate and post a set of photos at "Pic of the Day".
Luckily there aren't any references to him being abducted by aliens or cursed by Elvis' love child... at least none so far :-)
Aldo Ross Middletown, Ohio, USA
----- Original Message Follows -----
From: "The Old Bicycle Co" <Tim@theoldbicycle.co.uk>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR]c. 1929/30 FONTAN BICYCLE OF PAU (TOUR DU
FRANCE).
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 11:01:27 -0000
> Hello to the CR list,
> I am new to the list but was a member a long time ago. I
> find all types of bicycles interesting & ride anything
> from a 1886 High Bicycle to a 1950's roadster. But my
> main interests lay with the 1890 to 1950's racing
> bicycles. I'm slowly building up a small collection of
> interesting racing bicycles with interesting provenance.
> My latest find was a bicycle I found while my new wife &
> I were on honeymoon in the Loire valley in France in the
> summer. Bought from a seller in a street market near to
> Sancerre (the famous wine region). The bicycle is a
> FONTAN & made in Pau which is a town in the Pyrenees,
> looks to be about 1929/ c1930'ish in date. Having done a
> search on Google for Fontan & came up with a Victor
> Fontan who was a tour rider in that period. According to
> the various documents on the web about the tour in that
> period, Victor Fontan was top tour rider & Won the Tour
> DuCatalogne in 1926 & 1927. He apparently was most
> famous though for being the rider that nearly won the the
> Tour in 1929, but during riding through the Pyrenees with
> the yellow jersey, his forks broke & had to knock on the
> doors of the villages houses to borrow a bicycle, the
> rules at that time stipulated that a rider had to finish
> the tour with the bicycle he started with. So he had to
> carry the brocken bicycle on his back for the remainder
> of the stage. He lost so much time that he lost the stage
> win & the tour. Desgrange; the tour organiser at that
> time apparently changed the rules for the 1930 tour so as
> back up bicycles could be used. I'm no expert on the
> Tour Du France, but this is the reason for asking the CR
> list if anyone out there knows more about Victor Fontan,
> his bicycles & this story. The bicycle i have is more or
> less identicle to the picture of Victor Fontan in the
> 1930 tour. You can see the picture here :
> http://photos.bravenet.com/
>
> The photo is very evocative of the tour in that period.
>
> If I get time today, I will take some detailed pics of the
> Fontan bicycle so the CR list can see it. The bicycle is
> very original with all decals. wooden sprint rims & all
> componants are engraved with Fontan. Decals read Fontan /
> Pau/ Tour Du France / Type, Hendaye Lucon. There is an
> very interesting oiler on the saddle tube for oiling the
> chain. While out at L'Eroica this year, i saw Bartali's
> bicycle from 1930 & it too was fitted with this type of
> oiler.
>
> Kind Regards, Tim
>
>
> Tim Gunn (Director)
> The Old Bicycle Co.
> Cut Elms Farm,
> Aythorpe Roding,
> Near Great Dunmow,
> Essex,
> CM6 1PQ.
> United Kingdom.