René Vietto and the Missing Toe

Originally published at rouleur.cc.

October 1988. A crowd of 500 people waits on the 1,002m Col de Braus as Jean Vietto, only son of one of the best grimpeurs of all time, rides a yellow René Vietto-branded bike to the top. This remote col outside Nice was where René sealed his first ever victory and it was his wish that his ashes be scattered up here. Jean arrives and takes his bidon from the cage on his frame. He walks to a small patch of wild flowers by the road, unscrews the lid with ceremony and the contents come billowing out. A photographer standing downwind is covered in grey powder.

Apart from the bit about the photographer, the corporeal remains of René Vietto had been disposed of according to the great man’s wishes. All but one tiny part.

During the 1947 Tour de France, or so the story goes, one of René’s toes went septic. Since the Tour stopped in Nice, close to his home, he arranged for his doctor to come and cut it off on the rest day. Then he got on his bike the next day and continued.

In other words, instead of abandoning the race, he abandoned the toe. He’d lugged it through the Alps but jettisoned the excess ballast ahead of the Pyrenees.

Further: René then coerced his protégé and domestique, Apô Lazaridès to cut off his own toe, the better to understand the suffering a…