Honoré Barthélémy, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetHonoré Barthélémy
French racing cyclist
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Paris, Île-de-France, France
About Honoré Barthélémy
- Honoré Barthélémy (25 September 1891 – 12 May 1964) was a French road bicycle racer who took part and finished fifth overall and won four stages in the 1919 Tour de France.
- He was born in Paris, France. In 1920, says the Yellow Jersey Guide to the Tour de France, he crashed on the stage to Aix-en-Provence and only slowly got back on his bike, dazed and bloody.
- He could not bend his back and had to turn his handlebars upside down to be able to continue.
- As his dizziness lessened, he realised that what he thought was concussion was blindness.
- A flint had gone into an eye. Despite that, he finished not only that day but the Tour, coming eighth despite half-blindness, a broken shoulder and a dislocated wrist.
- He was carried in triumph at the finish.
- Nor did he stop racing when he was fitted with a glass eye.
- Dusty roads made it uncomfortable and he often took it out.
- The socket would then become infected and he would plug it with cotton. "It makes no difference to my sight but it's more comfortable," he said.
- The glass eye often fell out and in 1924 he had to get down on his knees on the finish line to see where it had gone.
- He grumbled that he spent more on replacement eyes than he earned in prizes. At the 1921 Tour de France, he finished third overall and won stage 12.
- He last rode the Tour de France in 1927, abandoning on stage 9. He twice won the marathon Bol d'Or track race in 1925 and 1927.
Read more at Wikipedia