a gap of a few lengths, Brambilla made a terrific effort to get back, and it seemed that was that. Then, from the bunch behind, that great rider, Fachleitner, sprinted past them both. Robic bounded on his wheel; Brambilla failed—and lost the Tour. A group of riders were ahead of Robic and Fachleitner. They had lost too much time during the month that the Tour had lasted to challenge for race victory and so Léo Veron of the French national team told Lucien Teisseire to drop back and help Fachleitner. The three joined up 100 km from the finish and Fachleitner attacked several times. Robic countered him each time and then Teisseire took over. Robic took no notice because Teisseire was no danger. It was then, Fachleitner said, that Robic told him: That seemed straightforward (C'était honnête) to Fachleitner, "So I rode. In my head I was thinking: 'If he cracks or if he crashes, it'll be me who wins the Tour...' But he didn't crack and he didn't crash. He paid the 100,000 francs, not to me but to the French national team [for which Fachleitner was riding], which was the rule. Which brought me another outburst from René Vietto. 'You poor fool [fada],' he said to me, 'you should have asked for a lot more! What's this going to be worth once we've shared it between us?' Right up until his death, he kept saying to me 'You didn't ask enough.'" Robic, who until then had never led the race, reached the finish at the Parc des Princes 13 minutes ahead of Brambilla. The stage was so fast that it finished an hour ahead of schedule. Legend has it that Brambilla buried his bike in his garden in disgust. More certain is that Robic gave his only yellow jersey to the Sainte-Anne-d'Auray basilica, where it still is, in thanks to Anne, patron saint of Bretons. The twist to Robic's victory is that he wasn't the fastest rider in the race. Fachleitner had taken 3m 32s less to complete the Tour. It was the time bonuses that Robic picked up in the Pyrenees that made the difference. Other successes Robic also won the Rome-Naples-Rome in 1950, the world cyclo-cross championship in 1950, and the Tour de Haute-Savoie and Polymultipliée in 1952. Personality and appearance Robic was one of the shortest riders; 1m 61 in 1947 and 1m 59 in