Bernard Thévenet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bernard Thévenet, born January 10, 1948, in Saint-Julien-de-Civry, France, is a retired bicycle racer. He is a two-time champion of the Tour de France and is perhaps best known for ending the reign of five-time Tour champion Eddy Merckx. He also won the Dauphiné Libéré twice, in 1976 and 1977.
Thévenet was born to a farming family in Burgundy and became a French junior cycling champion. He entered the Tour de France for the first time in 1970, winning a mountain stage ending at the resort of La Mongie. In the 1972 Tour he crashed badly on a descent and was temporarily amnesic. As he began to regain his memory, he looked down at his own Peugeot jersey and wondered whether he might be a cyclist. On recognizing the team car, he exclaimed, “I’m riding the Tour de France!” He refused to abandon the race and four days later won a stage over Mont Ventoux. In the 1973 Tour, he finished second, behind Luis Ocaña, but in 1974 he did not enter the Tour due to illness.
In the 1975 Tour, Thévenet famously attacked Eddy Merckx on the Col d’Izoard. Merckx, who was suffering from chronic back pain and the effects of a vicious punch from an angry fan, fought back desperately but lost the lead and never regained it. Thévenet went on to win the Tour, which finished on the Champs-Élysées that year for the first time. Merckx finished second, three minutes behind Thévenet.
Thévenet won his second and last Tour in 1977. In the same year he tested positive for doping after the Paris-Nice race, and that winter he was hospitalized with a liver ailment attributed to the long-term use of steroids. He retired from cycling, made a public admission of his steroid use and called for an end to the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the sport. He was once asked whether it was hard being a racing cyclist; his reply was that being a French farmer was harder.
| Preceded by Eddy Merckx |
Winner of the Tour de France 1975 |
Succeeded by Lucien Van Impe |
| Preceded by Lucien Van Impe |
Winner of the Tour de France 1977 |
Succeeded by Bernard Hinault |
