Achille Germain (May 5, 1884 – April 12, 1938) was a French road and track cyclist.
A professional from 1905 to 1919, he won many local events but also shone on the velodromes of Paris, where he gained a great reputation in middle-distance races, notably taking third place in the French championship in 1914. Second in the Six Days of Toulouse in 1906, in partnership with Jean Gauban, he also participated twice in the Six Days of New York and took part in the first Six Days of Paris in 1913.
Germain, nicknamed “Germain de la Flèche” by his followers, also competed in road races, taking part in the 1908 Tour de France, where he placed 16th, achieving his best result with an eighth-place finish on the tenth stage to Bordeaux.
The following year, he won a stage in the Circuit de la Loire and finished second overall.
Mobilized as a corporal cyclist with the 317th Infantry regiment during the First World War, he retired from the sport in 1919 following an injury sustained during the conflict. He retired to La Flèche to run a cycle repair shop and became so involved in local life that he was elected town councilor in his final years.
Biography
Early cycling career Achille Germain was born in Beaupréau, Maine-et-Loire, on May 5, 1884, but his family moved to La Flèche, Sarthe, when he was still very young. His beginnings in cycling were fairly modest. He took part in his first races in his adopted town in 1902, at the July 14th races held on the Promenade du Pré. He came second in the bonus race.
The following year, he joined the newly-formed Union vélocipédique fléchoise (UVF), and at the same July 14 meeting, came second in the speed final and third in the bonus race. On September 20, he finished second in the 100-kilometer UVF Cup behind Mareau from Mance, a member of the Union Auto-Cycliste de la Sarthe.
Like many racers of the time, Germain took part in both road and track events. On April 4, 1904, at the opening of the Fléchois velodrome on rue Belleborde, he scored his first victory in the middle-distance race, which he won by half a lap over his rivals. The same day, he reached the final of the sprint race, where he was narrowly beaten by Tubières from Mance. He went on to achieve good results on the Fléchoise track, finishing third in the Sarthe departmental championship and then in the La Flèche championship in June, and fourth in the regional final the following month, an event won by Nantes rider Hardy.
On July 31, Germain scored a prestigious success on the track of the Buffalo Velodrome in Neuilly, clearly dominating the 10-kilometer bonus race. During the event, he won the last five of the ten intermediate sprints, pocketing a ten-franc bonus each time. Back in La Flèche in September, he took second place in the UVF speed championship behind clubmate Albert Leroy, who had just taken part in the Tour de France.
Professional racer
A benchmark in track racing (1905–1907) In 1905, Germain, then a third category professional racer, established himself as one of the best cyclists in his region. On the Fléchois velodrome on March 26, he won the speed event, the 45-lap race behind the bike, and the bonus race, a domination he repeated on April 24, when he won the Sarthe departmental speed championship, held on the same track, as well as the 25 km race and the bonus race. At the end of the summer, he scored two further successes, with the Grand Prix de Tours on September 9 and the Grand Prix de Montluçon the following day, both in the middle-distance race. He also distinguished himself in more modest competitions, such as the 4-kilometer cantonal race he won in Verron in early October 5, or at folklore events: the Pinder Circus was visiting La Flèche, and Germain competed with several Fléchois amateurs on the “Canadian track”, a 6.5-meter-diameter construction of wooden rungs spaced ten centimeters apart and inclined at 75 degrees. After an unsuccessful first attempt, he achieved the best performance of the participants, completing eight laps of the track.
During the winter of 1905–1906, Germain trained alongside the best specialists of the day on the Vélodrome d'Hiver track in Paris. Though he could see the gap existing between him and those in the lead, Germain's persistence in training was noticed. Along with Georges Parent, he was chosen to join the coaching team of Henri Cornet, winner of the 1904 Tour de France, in a 50-kilometer tandem matchIn middle-distance events, each runner rides behind a human trainer, sometimes in tandem, or on a motorcycle. against Karl Ingold. Cornet won by nine laps. At the same meeting, Germain made his mark as an individual in the 15-kilometer race behind motorcycles. Third behind Paul Rugère and Anton Jaeck, his offensive behavior throughout the race was praised by the spectators. On February 18, he teamed up with Denmark's Axel Hansen in the American-style Twelve Hours race, in which the two competitors took turns at will. At the end of the race, fourteen teams were still classified in the same lap: victory was therefore decided over six laps between the best sprinters in each team. Hansen initially placed fourth, but the commissaries were slow to validate the results after a crash on the last lap. The race was eventually canceled. On March 4, a meeting was held at the La Flèche Velodrome, bringing together several well-known riders. On his home turf, Germain took third place in the bonus race behind Charles Vanoni and Victor Thuau, before losing out to César Simar, Olympic medalist two years earlier, in the 10-kilometer race behind the bike.
The outdoor season brought him many successes. On April 23, 1906, in La Flèche, he won the 15-kilometer race behind motorcycles ahead of Arthur Pasquier, then set the track record over 10 kilometers. The following week, in Tours, he won the 50-kilometer race behind motorcycles, again ahead of Pasquier, then shared victory with Jean Gougoltz in the Grand Prix du Conseil Général in Nantes on May 6. His performances attracted the goodwill of the newspaper L'Auto, which had already dubbed him “Germain de la Flèche”: “The middle-distance race went very easily to the Fléchois crack, Germain. This fellow is about to play a major role". On June 3, he discovered the Parc des Princes track and took third place in the 30-kilometer race behind Antoine Dussot and Henri Lautier, which earned him selection by the organizers of the Grand Prix de Paris. Thanks to the financial support of Viscount de Lesseville, head of the Union Vélocipédique Fléchoise, he was able to employ several trainers to compete in the one-hour race behind tandems. Competing against two of the best cyclists of the time, Henri Cornet and René Pottier, he was soundly beaten, but as with every one of his outings, his attitude was widely praised by the specialists, and Germain became one of the public's most popular riders. At the beginning of July, at the Vélodrome Buffalo, he failed in his attempt to beat the world record for 10 kilometers without trainers, held by Lucien Petit-Breton, but a few days later he scored a clear success over 15 kilometers behind motorcycles on the same track. On July 15, in La Flèche, in front of an enthusiastic crowd, he won two of the three events organized and took the overall victory. At the end of August, he was the only rider to hold off César Simar over 30 kilometers at Le Buffalo, then clearly dominated Émile Bouhours over the same distance at Tours in early September.
Germain then took part in the Six Jours de Toulouse, the first race of its kind in Europe, held on the Bazacle velodrome, where he teamed up with local rider Jean Gauban. The duo achieved a promising second place, second only to brothers Émile and Léon Georget. Throughout the event, the Fléchois rider was extremely active, winning numerous prizes, including those for the 47th and 49th hours. On his return, he was triumphantly welcomed back to La Flèche. A few days later, he was sent to Toul barracks, where he was to perform his military service with the 153rd infantry regiment.
Germain was rarely granted leave, but managed to take part in a few races in 1907: beaten by Arthur Pasquier over 40 kilometers in Tours on April 21, he took his revenge and beat him the following week in La Flèche at the Grand Prix du Printemps.
Participation in the Tour de France (1908)
Released from military service on March 1, 1908, Achille Germain wanted to take part in more road races: he considered taking part in Paris–Roubaix, but eventually had to give up18. On the velodrome track in La Flèche, in early April, he won the Sarthe speed championship, then finished second to Pasquier in the Grand Prix du Printemps. In May, on the same track, he won a 12-hour race by a clear 16-lap margin over his nearest rival. A few days later, he came second in the 40-kilometer Grand Prix d'Angers with trainers and announced his entry in the Tour de France. It was the only Tour he contested during his career.
He had a difficult start to the race: at best, he finished 22nd on the fifth stage from Lyon to Grenoble and was 25th overall on the evening of the sixth stage to Nice. However, race conditions were very tough at the start of the Tour, and only 45 of the 114 entries were still in contention. He went on to achieve some convincing results: 19th in Nîmes and 15th in Toulouse, 17th in Bayonne, and 8th in Bordeaux, having been among the frontrunners throughout the race. Germain finished the Tour de France with three 12th places and one 14th. In the end, he came 16th with 236 points, 200 behind the winner Lucien Petit-Breton. At that time, the general classification was determined by points, by adding up the places obtained in the stages, and not by race time. This encouraging participation earned him the congratulations of many specialists, such as L'Auto journalist Charles Ravaud, who considered him capable of achieving excellent results if he chose to devote himself even more to the road. His participation in the Grande Boucle further boosted his popularity: he was carried in triumph on his return to La Flèche station and welcomed into town by over 2,000 people.
Success on the Road and Six Days of New York (1909)
Resting during the winter, he made his comeback on April 25, 1909, at the La Flèche velodrome and retained his Sarthe speed champion title. Beaten in Angers by Daniel Lavalade over 40 kilometers behind motorcycles, he distinguished himself at the end of May by taking second place in the Circuit de la Loire road race, run over two stages, having won the first in Loudun. Invited to take part in the eighth stage of the Wolber Grand Prix, organized by Peugeot on June 13 between Paris and La Flèche, Germain placed sixth and, according to L'Auto, earned “his stripes as a great road racer”. He was also invited to take part in the ninth stage to Nantes, where he finished fourth before being downgraded for a course error.
During the summer, he opted out of the Tour de France to compete in a series of lucrative track races. Forced to retire from a 24-hour race in Marseille, he teamed up with Bouteiller for a 12-hour race in Toulouse, taking second place after a hard-fought battle with Jean-Baptiste Dortignacq. In September, he was one of the main favorites for the Bol d'or, held on the track of the Buffalo velodrome. In the lead after the first four hours of the race, run without trainers, he suffered a serious setback and lost contact: he was only in seventh and last place after seven hours. In the last quarter of the race, Germain overtook two rivals and finally finished fifth with a total of 681.6 kilometers, a long way from three-time winner Léon Georget.