round his neck. The journalist Jock Wadley, who visited him at Malakoff, said: "M. Christophe had a tidy mind. That is why his workshop is tidy, with every tool clean and in its place. His home is equally in order. I had merely to mention some subject and he would go to a drawer, take out an envelope or a file, marked 'Tour 1912' or 'Paris–Roubaix 1920' or ' cross-cyclo pédèstre '. Every photograph had a neatly written caption on the back." His race diary dated from the start of the 1920s. A neat, small hand described every race, stage by stage, his impressions, results and expenses. Christophe said that every night in the race hotel he laid out his kit like a fireman, "so that the moment I was called in the morning I didn't waste time looking for my clothes and equipment. Shoes, jersey, goggles, shorts and the rest of it were laid out neatly." Wadley added: He said not the first time during my visit that he was not a rich man in the monetary sense but had a wealth of happy memories and good health to show from his racing exertions. He still rides a lot, is at most of the touring rallies in the Parisian area, but likes to take it easy. 'I have suffered enough on a vélo,' he said, but last year he did 115 miles in 8½ hours, with 12lb of luggage, stopping 10 minutes every two hours to eat biscuits, pears and grapes and drink a glass of Vichy water. Death Eugène Christophe died in the Hôpital Broussais in Paris. He lived in Malakoff, near Paris, all his life. He was a member of the L'Étoile Sportive de Malakoff cycling club from his first races until his death. Jacques Anquetil awarded him the Tour de France medal at the end of the 1965 race. Christophe was 81. Reputation Christophe never won the Tour, but his stories have become part of the race's mythology. Christophe (like René Vietto and Raymond Poulidor after him) is celebrated as an eternal second, more famous for his near-misses than his more successful rivals. Major results 1909 French cyclo-cross champion 1910 1st Milan–San Remo 3rd Paris–Roubaix French cyclo-cross champion 1911 2nd Tour of Belgium French cyclo-cross champion 1912 3 stage wins and 2nd overall Tour de France French cyclo-cross champion 1913 French cyclo-cross champion 1914 French cyclo-cross