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Concept
Jacques Anquetil
Summary
Jacques Anquetil (ʒak ɑ̃k.til; 8 January 1934 – 18 November 1987) was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964.
He stated before the 1961 Tour that he would gain the yellow jersey on day one and wear it all through the tour, a tall order with two previous winners in the field—Charly Gaul and Federico Bahamontes—but he did it. His victories in stage races such as the Tour were built on an exceptional ability to ride alone against the clock in individual time trial stages, which lent him the name "Monsieur Chrono".
He won eight Grand Tours in his career, which was a record when he retired and has only since been surpassed by Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault.
Anquetil was born on 8 January 1934 in a clinic in Mont-Saint-Aignan, a suburb of Rouen in Normandy situated next to Bois-Guillaume, where his parents had a house at the time. His father Ernest was the grandson of a Prussian soldier called Ernst, who died in the Franco-Prussian War after having an affair with Melanie Grouh, Ernest's grandmother. Melanie later married Frédéric Anquetil, who adopted her son Ernest Victor, Jacques' grandfather, who would later die in World War I, leaving Jacques' father Ernest as the head of the family at the age of 11. On 25 May 1929, Ernest married Jacques' mother Marie, who had been orphaned since the age of 2 and been raised by nuns in an orphanage. Jacques had a younger brother, Philippe.
Anquetil received his first bike from his father at the age of 4. When Jacques was seven, his father Ernest returned from his service in World War II and, unable to find building work except for the German occupying forces, moved with the family to Le Bourguet close to Quincampoix to become a strawberry farmer. It was here that the young Anquetil attended school, receiving good grades, particularly in mathematics. Ernest Anquetil often became violent after excess alcohol consumption, and Jacques' mother eventually moved into an apartment in Paris, leaving her sons with their father.
Official source
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