Henri Cornet
Henri Cornet (born Henri Jardry 4 August 1884 - 18 March 1941) was a French cyclist who won the second Tour de France in 1904.
Born in Desvres, Pas-de-Calais, France, he was 18 years old when he raced in the Tour de France. The race was spoiled by many problems including irate spectators throwing nails on the road in the final stage that forced Henri Cornet to ride the last 40 kilometres with two flat tyres. There were a lot of complaints about cheating, the top four finishers were disqualified by a special committee of the French cycling union. Although his overall time was three hours behind the first place rider, race officials declared Henri Cornet the winner in November 1903, when he was 19 years and 3 months old. He is the youngest ever winner.
Such was the commotion over the 1904 race that Tour founder Henri Desgrange said it was probably the last time the race would ever be run. The race winner Maurice Garin was suspended from competition for two years (he retired), and the second place finisher was banned for life. In all nine cyclists were excluded because of illegal use of cars or trains and all of the stage winners were disqualified because of illegal agreements about allowing people to win.
After 1904 Cornet never again had any great success in any race. He abandoned the 1905 Tour de France in the 4th stage. He won the 1906 Paris-Roubaix race, but could not start the 1906 Tour de France, and had to abandon it again in 1907, but did manage 8th place finish in 1908. Extremely fast in what today are called time trials, he won the final leg of the 1908 race. A special timed lap run at a velodrome racetrack in Paris, the event was not counted as an official stage or towards the overall classification. Cornet competed in his last Tour de France in 1912, finishing 28th.
He died in 1941 at the age of 56 in Prunay-le-Gillon, Eure-et-Loir.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Maurice Garin |
Winner of the Tour de France 1904 |
Succeeded by Louis Trousselier |
|
1903 Maurice Garin · 1904 Henri Cornet · 1905 Louis Trousselier · 1906 René Pottier · 1907-1908 Lucien Petit-Breton · 1909 François Faber · 1910 Octave Lapize · 1911 Gustave Garrigou · 1912 Odile Defraye · 1913-1914 Philippe Thys · 1915-1918 World War I · 1919 Firmin Lambot · 1920 Philippe Thys · 1921 Léon Scieur · 1922 Firmin Lambot · 1923 Henri Pélissier · 1924-1925 Ottavio Bottecchia · 1926 Lucien Buysse · 1927-1928 Nicolas Frantz · 1929 Maurice De Waele · 1930 André Leducq · 1931 Antonin Magne · 1932 André Leducq · 1933 Georges Speicher · 1934 Antonin Magne · 1935 Romain Maes · 1936 Sylvère Maes · 1937 Roger Lapébie · 1938 Gino Bartali · 1939 Sylvère Maes · 1940-1946 World War II · 1947 Jean Robic · 1948 Gino Bartali · 1949 Fausto Coppi · 1950 Ferdinand Kübler · 1951 Hugo Koblet · 1952 Fausto Coppi · 1953-1955 Louison Bobet · 1956 Roger Walkowiak · 1957 Jacques Anquetil · 1958 Charly Gaul · 1959 Federico Bahamontes · 1960 Gastone Nencini · 1961-1964 Jacques Anquetil · 1965 Felice Gimondi · 1966 Lucien Aimar · 1967 Roger Pingeon · 1968 Jan Janssen · 1969-1972 Eddy Merckx · 1973 Luis Ocaña · 1974 Eddy Merckx · 1975 Bernard Thévenet · 1976 Lucien Van Impe · 1977 Bernard Thévenet · 1978-1979 Bernard Hinault · 1980 Joop Zoetemelk · 1981-1982 Bernard Hinault · 1983-1984 Laurent Fignon · 1985 Bernard Hinault · 1986 Greg LeMond · 1987 Stephen Roche · 1988 Pedro Delgado · 1989-1990 Greg LeMond · 1991-1995 Miguel Indurain · 1996 Bjarne Riis · 1997 Jan Ullrich · 1998 Marco Pantani · 1999-2005 Lance Armstrong, disqualified · 2006 Óscar Pereiro (Floyd Landis, disqualified) · 2007 Alberto Contador · 2008 Carlos Sastre · 2009–10 Alberto Contador · 2011 Cadel Evans · 2012 Bradley Wiggins · 2013 Chris Froome · 2014 Vincenzo Nibali |