Nicolas Frantz facts for kids

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Nicolas Frantz

Personal information
Full name	Nicolas Frantz
Nickname	Le Teinturier (The Dyer)
Born	(1899-11-04)4 November 1899 Mamer, Luxembourg
Died	8 November 1985(1985-11-08) (aged 86) Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Major wins
;Cyclo-cross National Championships (1923, 1924) Road Grand Tours Tour de France General classification (1927, 1928) 20 individual stages (1924–1929) Stage races Madrid–Santander (1913) One-day races and Classics National Road Race Championships (1923-1934) Paris–Tours (1929) Paris–Calais (1923) GP des Ardennes (1925) Paris–Nancy (1932)

Nicolas Frantz (Luxembourgish pronunciation: [nikoːlɑs ˈfʀɑnts]; 4 November 1899 – 8 November 1985) was a Luxembourgish bicycle racer with 60 professional racing victories over his 12-year career (1923 to 1934). He rode for the Thomann team in 1923 and then for Alcyon-Dunlop from 1924 to 1931. He won the Tour de France in 1927 and 1928.

Nicolas Frantz was the son of a prosperous farming family. Frantz could have taken over the farm but had no interest in it. In 1914 he rode his first race. He won. That convinced him that farming was not for him. He was close to unbeatable in Luxembourg until the start of the first world war.

Frantz, a well-built man weighing 80 kg, turned professional in 1923. He had immediate success, winning Paris-Lyon and the GP Faber. His advantage in stage races was his consistent health and fitness. He rode the Tour de France for the first time in 1924, won two stages and finished second just 35 minutes and 36 seconds behind Ottavio Bottecchia. In 1925 and 1926 he won another four stages and finished fourth and second respectively.

Frantz then dominated the race for two successive years. He won three stages in 1927 and won overall. He was seventeen minutes behind the race-leader Hector Martin before start of the stage to Luchon but finished in yellow. His second stage win was between Toulon and Nice and the final win was at Metz. He finished an hour and forty eight minutes ahead of second placed Maurice De Waele.

He wore the yellow jersey from the first to last day in 1928, the only rider since Ottavio Bottecchia to have done so. (Bottecchia however didn't wear the yellow jersey during the first stage in 1924). In that race, the frame of his bicycle broke on a level-crossing during the 19th stage with 100 km remaining. He borrowed an undersized, women’s bicycle and was helped back into the race by his Alcyon domestiques. He exchanged it for another Alcyon bicycle, which he rode to victory in Paris ahead of teammates Andre Leducq and De Waele.

After winning stage seven of the 1929 Tour in Bordeaux, Frantz was one of three yellow jerseys on the same time in general classification with Leducq and Victor Fontan. However, the following day, Gaston Rebry ended the embarrassment of multiple leaders. Despite leading the race at one point in stage 10, a puncture cost him the yellow jersey before the end of day and he eventually finished the Tour in fifth place. His last chance of a podium finish was gone and he entered the Tour only once more, in 1932 when he finished in a lowly 45th place.

Frantz won Paris–Brussels in 1927 and Paris–Tours in 1929. He twice finished in the first three of the world championship. He also won the championship of Luxembourg for 12 consecutive years (1923-1934). After racing, he became directeur sportif of the Luxembourg and Luxembourg Mixed teams in the Tour de France from 1949 to 1957. He was the first national team manager of Charly Gaul in the Tour de France. Frantz was succeeded by Jean Goldschmit.

Frantz was a taciturn man. He retired to the village of Mamer and died there in 1985.

Career achievements

Major results

Grand Tour results timeline

Literature

• François Guillaume, Du Tour de Frantz au Tour de Gaul (2nd ed.; Diekirch (Luxembourg): Editions APESS, 2006)

Tour de France Maillot jaune (Yellow jersey) winners

1903 Maurice Garin · 1904 Henri Cornet · 1905 Louis Trousselier · 1906 René Pottier · 1907-1908 Lucien Petit-Breton · 1909 François Faber · 1910 Octave Lapize · 1911 Gustave Garrigou · 1912 Odile Defraye · 1913-1914 Philippe Thys · 1915-1918 World War I · 1919 Firmin Lambot · 1920 Philippe Thys · 1921 Léon Scieur · 1922 Firmin Lambot · 1923 Henri Pélissier · 1924-1925 Ottavio Bottecchia · 1926 Lucien Buysse · 1927-1928 Nicolas Frantz · 1929 Maurice De Waele · 1930 André Leducq · 1931 Antonin Magne · 1932 André Leducq · 1933 Georges Speicher · 1934 Antonin Magne · 1935 Romain Maes · 1936 Sylvère Maes · 1937 Roger Lapébie · 1938 Gino Bartali · 1939 Sylvère Maes · 1940-1946 World War II · 1947 Jean Robic · 1948 Gino Bartali · 1949 Fausto Coppi · 1950 Ferdinand Kübler · 1951 Hugo Koblet · 1952 Fausto Coppi · 1953-1955 Louison Bobet · 1956 Roger Walkowiak · 1957 Jacques Anquetil · 1958 Charly Gaul · 1959 Federico Bahamontes · 1960 Gastone Nencini · 1961-1964 Jacques Anquetil · 1965 Felice Gimondi · 1966 Lucien Aimar · 1967 Roger Pingeon · 1968 Jan Janssen · 1969-1972 Eddy Merckx · 1973 Luis Ocaña · 1974 Eddy Merckx · 1975 Bernard Thévenet · 1976 Lucien Van Impe · 1977 Bernard Thévenet · 1978-1979 Bernard Hinault · 1980 Joop Zoetemelk · 1981-1982 Bernard Hinault · 1983-1984 Laurent Fignon · 1985 Bernard Hinault · 1986 Greg LeMond · 1987 Stephen Roche · 1988 Pedro Delgado · 1989-1990 Greg LeMond · 1991-1995 Miguel Indurain · 1996 Bjarne Riis · 1997 Jan Ullrich · 1998 Marco Pantani · 1999-2005 Lance Armstrong, disqualified · 2006 Óscar Pereiro (Floyd Landis, disqualified) · 2007 Alberto Contador · 2008 Carlos Sastre · 2009–10 Alberto Contador · 2011 Cadel Evans · 2012 Bradley Wiggins · 2013 Chris Froome · 2014 Vincenzo Nibali

See also

In Spanish: Nicolas Frantz para niños