Raymond Delisle (1969)

1969 proved to be quite a memorable year for Peugeot-BP-Michelin team member Raymond Delisle. After claiming early season victories at the Antibes criterium, the Tour de l’Herault, Saint-Brieuc criterium, and the Polymultiplée, Delisle added yet again to his impressive palmarès by winning the François le Championnat (...the French National Road Race Championship) at Soissons in June. Seen here competing in stage 16 (Revel – Castelnaudary – Luchon) of the 1969 Tour de France, Raymond Delisle also earned the distinction of becoming the only rider in the history of the Tour to this very day to have ever won a stage contest on the date of July 14th, which is to say Bastille Day or France's national day, while wearing the Maillot Tricolore jersey as French national champion.

I found the following anecdotal citation from Wikipedia to be quite insightful as to Delisle’s quick wit and good humor: At the finish, the television commentator Léon Zitrone asked Delisle, "How are you, Rouget?" Delisle laughed and answered, "Yes, I am in Rouget de Lisle's will and I get royalties every time they play the Marseillaise. Delisle had won as national champion on 14 July and Zitrone had punned by referring to him not as Raymond but Rouget, Rouget de Lisle being the composer of the Marseillaise, the national anthem.