Death of Raphaël Géminiani at 99, a legend of the Tour de France

Raphaël Géminiani died this Friday, July 5 at the age of 99, we learned from one of his friends, while the Tour du France was in full swing. The cyclist, born in Clermont-Ferrand, marked the history of cycling and particularly that of the Grande Boucle. He was always very attached to his native Auvergne.

A great name in cycling has just passed away. Raphaël Géminiani died this Friday, July 5, at the age of 99, in his retirement home in Pont-du-Château, we learned from one of his friends. The big gun “, as his elder Louison Bobet had nicknamed him, for his repeated accelerations. Raphaël Géminiani, son of immigrants, born in Clermont-Ferrand in 1925, had participated in 12 Tours de France.

His last public appearance was last year, in 2023, in this video from France 3 Auvergne, when the Tour de France was about to arrive at the summit of the Puy de Dôme.

He was a die-hard fan of the great Fausto Coppi, the untouchable champion of the 1952 Tour de France. That year, Géminiani won a memorable stage in the Pyrenees, in Bagnères-de-Bigorre. The French public had seen in him a possible winner of the Tour, two years earlier, in 1950. That year, the Clermontois failed to reach the podium, more than half an hour behind the inaccessible Ferdi Kübler, but he won two stages, including the 19th, on August 3, in Saint-Etienne.

This video tells the story of this prestigious victory.

The following year, it was again a Swiss who dictated his law in the Grande Boucle, Hugo Koblet. But this time, Géminiani finished second, 22 minutes behind the final winner. He was still happy to have won at home, in Clermont-Ferrand, on the eve of July 14. He would end up winning a total of 7 stage victories in the Tour de France but would have to wait until 1958 to finally wear the yellow jersey. In this edition, Géminiani would keep it for four days, without being able to prevent the victory of the legendary Luxembourg climber Charly Gaul.

In this video, we see the runner wearing the famous yellow tunic.

The runner then remembered: “ I had the whole French team on my coat and they made me pay dearly for my language lapses. I had them all against me. I had to let go of Bobet on one side, Bauvin on the other, come back to Anquetil and let go of him, and then I stayed there. That’s where Gaul had his festival “.

Coppi, the idol, became a friend. In December 1959, the two champions took a trip to Africa. They contracted malaria, which would take the great Fausto on January 2, 1960. Géminiani, for his part, would barely escape. At the time, still bedridden, he declared: ” After 12 days of fever, I think I got out of a bad situation. I learned of the death of Fausto Coppi. This terrible thing terrified me. It gave me a nervous breakdown. I could not imagine such a horrible thing. “.
At 35, “ the big gun ” will hang up his boots without ever having won a major Tour de France. He will also have shone on the Tours of Spain and Italy. A new career awaits him, still in cycling. After having had Jacques Anquetil as a rival, he will be the sports director, in the mid-60s.

Then comes the time for retirement, first on the Côte d’Azur, and finally in Auvergne: it is time to return to one’s roots. At the time, he said: ” I end where I began. The Allier River is a symbol for me, a whole youth. All of Clermont came here, to bathe at Cournon. The Allier was for us the beach, where we learned to swim. There is no one more attached to Auvergne than me. I love it in all its forms because it is varied, it is rich. In addition, the people of Auvergne are sincere and healthy. The more I go through life, the more I appreciate nature. Because it is the refuge that one can have from all that is bad in life. “. Everything good in Raphaël Géminiani’s life was found in cycling, especially in this Tour de France that he never won. The champion recalled with a smile: ” I would give 10 years of my life to do another one. Sure. If I were a centenarian, I would be happier with 10 years less and with one more Tour. “.