DISRAELI DOCUMENTS
Georges Speicher, French, 1907 - 1978
Georges Speicher was one of the superstars of French cycling in the 1930s. Handsome, fit and impeccably groomed, he seems to have loved the camera - and it seems to have loved him.
But he was not just a fashion plate. His palmares include the Overall Classification of the Tour de France (1933) and the World Road Race Championships (also in 1933).
Georges Speicher was an early advocate of the use of derailleurs in professional racing, using one himself from 1931 (I have yet to identify the model). He won his 1933 World Road Race Championships using a Huret Centrix Course. Later in his career he turned to various Super Champion models.
This photo shows Georges holding his bouquet after winning the 1933 Tour de France. The text includes a comment that goes something like: 'the disorder in his hairstyle shows the effort he made..". If that is disorder, god save us from order.
This is one of four photos of Georges Speicher on this site, the others are here, here and here.
(Source gallica.bnf.fr/ Bibliothèque nationale de France)