Roger Walkowiak

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Roger Walkowiak (born March 2, 1927 in Montluçon, France) is a French former road bicycle racer who unexpectedly won the 1956 Tour de France. He was a professional rider from 1950 until 1960. From 1930 the Tour de France had been disputed by national and regional teams. Roger Walkowiak was recruited for the French regional Nord-Est-Centre team, representing the North-east and Centre of France, despite coming from Montluçon in the South-West. He was the only rider available at late notice to replace an original team member, Gilbert Bauvin, who had been promoted to France's main team. Walkowiak escaped on the 7th stage from Lorient to Angers in a group of 31 riders that won that day by over 18 minutes. The advantage was enough to give him the yellow jersey of the overall race lead. At this stage the race's stars did not consider this 'insignificant' rider to be a risk.