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@bracestower
Eugène Christophe's story was pretty insane:
In 1913 Christophe was well placed to win the tour when a mechanical failure cost him the race. The incident happened on stage 6, Bayonne to Luchon in the Pyrenees. The overnight leader was the 1912 champion, Odile Defraye but he had dropped behind on the climb of the Col du Tourmalet. At the top of the Tourmalet, Christophe was the leader on the road, leading by five minutes from a group containing most of his main rivals. On the descent, however, he crashed after his fork snapped. He ran several miles to a forge in the village of Ste. Marie de Campan. Once there he lit the fire and repaired his bicycle observed by race judges. The rules forbade outside help, so when Christophe asked a boy to work the bellows, the judges fined him 10 minutes. Christophe had already lost about four hours. He eventually finished seventh overall in Paris. The building on the site of the forge has a plaque on its wall commemorating the episode.
(from Wikipedia)