1909 Paris - Roubaix
14th edition: Sunday, April 19, 1908
Complete results
Paris-Roubaix podium history | 1908 edition | 1910 edition
Les Woodland's book Paris-Roubaix: The Inside Story - all the bumps of cycling's cobbled classic is available as an audiobook here. For the print and Kindle eBook versions, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
The race:
The 1909 Paris-Roubaix was 276 km long and raced at an average speed of 30.47 km/hr.
105 riders started and there were 46 classified finishers
Three riders came in to the Roubaix velodrome together: Louis Trouselier, Jules Masselis and newcomer to professional racing Octave Lapize.
In the velodrome Trousselier led out the sprint and was dumbfounded to see young Lapize beat him.
Octave Lapize is probably most remembered for what he said in 1910 to Tour de France officials Alphonse Steinès and Victor Breyer as he pushed his bike up the Col d'Aubisque, glassy-eyed and exhausted, "You are murderers, yes, murderers [Vous êtes des assassins! Oui, des assassins!]"
He did win the Tour de France that year.
Lapize licensed his name not only to a line of bicycles (made by La Française) but also to accessories such as toe clips and straps. The straps had a long life. I sold them (along with Christophe toe clips) in my bike shop in the 1980s.
His career was cut short by the Great War. He became a fighter pilot and was shot down over the western front.
Content continues below the ads
Octave Lapize in an undated photo
Content continues below the ads
Complete results:
- Octave Lapize (Biguet-Dunlop) 9hr 3min 30sec.
- Louis Trousselier (Alcyon-Dunlop) s.t.
- Jules Masselis (Alcyon-Dunlop) s.t.
- Cyrille Van Houwaert (Alcyon-Dunlop) @ 30sec
- François Faber (Alcyon-Dunlop) @ 1min 20sec
- Marcel Godiver @ 15min 30sec
- Gustave Garrigou (Alcyon-Dunlop) @ 16min 45sec
- Henri Hanlet (Royal Sarolea) @ 16min 46sec
- Edouard Léonard @ 20min 30sec
- Paul Duboc (Alcyon-Dunlop) @ 22min 30sec
- Jean Alavoine (Alcyon-Dunlop) @ 24min 30sec
- Eugène Christophe (Alcyon-Dunlop) @ 24min 32sec
- Charles Cruchon (Biguet-Dunlop) @ 25min 30sec
- Odile Defraye @ 25min 45sec
- Henri Cornet (Nil-Supra) @ 40min 30sec
- Guido Devoghelaere @ 40min 31sec
- Aubin Dochain @ 40min 32sec
- Jules Beyens @ 46min 30sec
- Frédéric Saillot (Biguet-Dunlop) @ 49min 30sec
- Georges Fleury (Le Globe) s.t.
- Constant Ménager (Le Globe) @ 50min 30sec
- Adrien Kranskens (Royal-Aigle) @ 1hr 4min 30sec
- Victor Debaets @ 1hr 7min 30sec
- Antoine Wattelier @ 1hr 56min 30sec
- Jean-Baptiste Gauthier @ 2hr 2min 30sec
- Lucien Pagès @ 2hr 3min 30sec
- William F. Ivy @ 2hr 31min 0sec
- René Chaudé (Persan) @ 2hr 37min 0sec
- Hyppolite Desmons @ 3hr 11min 30sec
- Cassan @ 3hr 11min 31sec
- François Delpirou @ 3hr 11min 32sec
- Jules Nempon @ 3hr 13min 4sec
- François Lafourcade (Biguet-Dunlop) @ 3hr 19min 30sec
- Charles Ponson (Indiana) @ 3hr 19min 31sec
- Jules Girardin @ 3hr 19min 32sec
- Ernest Fraisse (Porcher) @ 3hr 25min 30sec
- Maurice Petit (Le Globe) @ 5hr 8min 30sec
- August Charpentier (Colibri Cycles) @ 5hr 8min 31sec
- Fernand Charlon @ 5hr 8min 32sec
- Léon Girault @ 5hr 8min 3sec
- André Herbelin @ 5hr 36min 30sec
- Victor Cathera @ 6hr 23min 30sec
- Léon Rusch @ 6hr 23min 31sec
- Henri Moisy @ 6hr 50min 31sec
- Louis Delcampe s.t.
- Henri Ory (Femina Cycles) @ 6hr 50min 32sec
Content continues below the ads
Peter Joffe Nye, author of Heart of Lions: The History of American Bicycle Racing, sent me a note about the rider who finished 27th, William F. Ivy. He was an African-American racer from New York.
Ivy had earlier won a 30-mile amateur handicap race on Long Island. So, as Mr. Nye noted, his Paris-Roubaix ride was a giant leap in his career. Later that same season he was fourth in a Parisian 24-hour race. That earned him enough money to sail home.
An American would not finish Paris-Roubaix again until Jonathan Boyer did it in 1981. Then came Greg LeMond's fourth place in 1985.