59 - Cycling / Bordeaux-Paris / V. Dupuy

Cycling / Bordeaux-Paris / V. Dupuy Participant’s medal from the second edition of the Bordeaux-Paris race, 1892 Obverse: A race between a cyclist and a locomotive framed by laurel leaves, signed A. Erdmann. A single-sided medallion with the same design, also signed A. Erdmann, is held at the Musée d’Orsay (inv. MEDOR 497) Reverse: Inscription “Bordeaux-Paris Race. May 14, 1892. Le Véloce-Sport newspaper” and “Presented to Mr. Dupuy.” With a palm frond and an oak wreath Bronze with a copper-colored patina, Monnaie de Paris hallmark. Diameter: 5 cm (wear on the patina) Dupuy, a native of Beaufort-en-Vallée (Anjou), was one of the pioneers who shaped the golden age of early cycling. A rider of modest stature (1.63 m and 58 kg), he completed the Bordeaux-Paris race in 37 h 44, compared to 25 h 37 for the winner. Ranked 11th at the 100-kilometer mark—while several favorites (Corre, Marius Allard, Huzelstein) had already dropped out—he finished 15th out of 30 finishers, without having had access to the coaches and support staff reserved for champions. He rode a 17.5 kg Peugeot at a time when French manufacturers were dominating the field: the winner and runner-up rode Clément bicycles, equipped with the new Michelin detachable tires. Dupuy also received a second medal, awarded by Mr. Busquet to the first rider to finish on a bicycle with solid tires, without inner tubes. This was the era when the bicycle definitively supplanted the high-wheel. On July 4, 1892, he raced the Paris-Nantes-Paris (over 1,000 km) among 67 entrants. He finished 8th in a race marked by the withdrawals of Stéphane and Jules Dubois, and won by Marius Allard. More than just a memento of participation, this medal belongs to a true racer, a witness to the heroic early days of bicycle racing. This edition of the Bordeaux-Paris race is also chronicled in the first issue of the magazine *La Bicyclette*, published almost to the day.