![]() Achille Germain, November 26, 1910 | |
Personal information | |
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Born | May 5, 1884 Beaupréau |
Died | April 12, 1938 (aged 53) La Flèche |
Amateur team | |
1903 | UV Fléchoise |
Professional teams | |
1905–1908 | Alcyon |
1909–1910 | individual |
1911 | J.B. Louvet-Dunlop |
1912–1919 | individual |
Achille Germain was a French road and track cyclist.
A professional from 1905 to 1919, he won many local events but also shone on the velodromes of Paris, where he gained a great reputation in middle-distance races, notably taking third place in the French championship in 1914. Second in the Six Days of Toulouse in 1906, in partnership with Jean Gauban, he also participated twice in the Six Days of New York and took part in the first Six Days of Paris in 1913.
Germain, nicknamed “Germain de la Flèche” by his followers, also competed in road races, taking part in the 1908 Tour de France, where he placed 16th, achieving his best result with an eighth-place finish on the tenth stage to Bordeaux.
The following year, he won a stage in the Circuit de la Loire and finished second overall.
Mobilized as a corporal cyclist with the 317th Infantry regiment during the First World War, he retired from the sport in 1919 following an injury sustained during the conflict. He retired to La Flèche to run a cycle repair shop and became so involved in local life that he was elected town councilor in his final years.