Roger Pingeon (1967)

Although Roger Pingeon would cross the finish line first during stage 5a, and ultimately go on to win the general classification in the 1967 Tour de France, that year’s competition is perhaps most often recalled in association with the tragic death of fellow Peugeot-BP-Michelin team rider Tom Simpson who collapsed from diuretic induced heart failure during the stage 13 ascent on the slopes of Mount Ventoux (...please note, that while both men rode for Peugeot-BP-Michelin, participant teams in the 1967 Tour were not grouped by trade teams or commercial sponsors, but rather nationality, and as such, Simpson from Great Britain and Pingeon from France were not considered "teammates" for this event). Seen here taking a victory lap at the Parc des Princes velodrome (...finishing point in Paris for the Tour de France from 1904 through 1967), Pingeon would place a distant second behind a dominating performance by former Peugeot-BP-Michelin teammate Eddy Merckx in the 1969 edition of the Tour de France, and it would not be until Bernard Thevenet bested none other than the great Merckx himself in 1975 that a Frenchman would once again prevail in arguably the most famous of the Grand Tours.