The oldest Tour de France stage winner Émile Idée passes away at age 104
Cycling
A tragic 24 hours for the cycling world. After the passing of Italian manager Gianni Savio, we have also learn about the passing of Émile Idée, a man who has won a stage at the 1949 Tour de France and lived to tell the story until the end of 2024.
Emile Idée, the oldest stage winner in the Tour de France, passed away yesterday at the age of 104," the Tour de France social media page wrote in honour of the Frenchman. "French road champion in 1942 and 1947, he won a stage of the Tour de France in Nîmes in 1949. The Tour family sends its condolences to his loved ones".
Idée turned professional in the middle of World War 2 that heavily affected France, in 1940, and joined the Alcyon - Dunlop team. He was a Tour stage winner in 1949 into Nimes; won the Critérium Internacional on three occasions, was a national champion of France on two occasions and even came close to winning Paris-Roubaix in 1948, where he was only beaten by Rik van Steenbergen. He was the longest living Tour stage winner, a day that has already happened 75 years ago.
CyclingUpToDate would like to extend it's condolences to friends and family of Émile.
Emile Idée, le doyen des vainqueurs d’étape sur le Tour de France s’est éteint hier à l’âge de 104 ans.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) December 31, 2024
Champion de France sur route en 1942 et 1947, il avait remporté une étape du Tour de France, à Nîmes, en 1949. La famille du Tour adresse toutes ses condoléances à ses… pic.twitter.com/GHwDZZ5q6D
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- I agree with your explanation as to why Jonas won when he may not yet have been the better Tour rider .... but for sure Jonas and Visma will already have planned how to win the yellow jersey back. Visma said a couple of months ago that their problem would be simply making sure Jonas did not peak too soon.Hill3303-01-2025
- This bet for Lidl-Trek will not doubt pay off handsomely. :|verve82503-01-2025
- Jonas is good but his wins were due to Visma team tactics and Pogacar riding naively, in one case, and Pogacar not being fully prepared, on the second occasion. Pogacar (and UAE) have become smarter tactically - far less wasted energy and more protection for the team leader - since 2022, and barring further injury or illness for Tadej it's hard to see Jonas winning another Tour.Renz03-01-2025
- Not sure we can say that UAE isn't good at developing riders. Their young ones have achieved impressive results (Ayuso, del Toro, Morgado, Christen, etc) and at the same time some veterans have done really well with a move to UAE (Yates, Wellens, Pollitt)mobk03-01-2025
- Unfair assessment to Jonas. Sure Tadej is awesome, but until last year he often had tough days in grand Tours. Jonas meanwhile was a model of consistency. In 2022 he took a minute or more on Tadej twice, while Tadej never managed the same on Jonas. In 2023 Jonas took a minute or more three times against a Tadej recovering from injury. In 2024 Tadej was definitely untouchable. If both of them are healthy in 2025 we will see how much of the 2024 difference was due to Tadej upping his game and how much was due to Jonas's injury. Should be a good one!mobk03-01-2025
- Plenty of pros still do very long rides with mortal friends.Veganpotter03-01-2025
- Jonas shouldn't have won the 2022 Tour, Tadej made mistakes that cost him that Tour. Jonas earned his 2023 Tour hands down. Jonas and Tadej are very close in capability when they are both healthy.awp03-01-2025
- We haven’t had healthy vs healthymij03-01-2025
- This numpty mustn't have been paying attention in 2023 when Jonas won by over 7 minutes. Not exactly close.joebloggs03-01-2025
- i think you’d accept that the oil money is still in service of an agenda that ends with profit. it may not require profit from the team itself, but it’s still part of a MARKETING strategy that ultimately is profit driven.OCexile02-01-2025