Michel Frédérick

Who was Michel Frédérick?

Michel Frédérick was a Swiss professional road bicycle racer, who won the first stage of the 1904 Tour de France, and was leading the classification for one day, the second non-French person to do so after Charles Laeser in the 1903 Tour de France. Because the 1904 Tour de France was filled with many disqualifications because cyclists were accused of taking the train, his stage victory was not acknowledged until months after the race.

Frédérick was born in Zürich. Early in his career, he finished 3rd in the Paris–Roubaix and 2nd in the Bordeaux–Paris. He died, aged 39, at Nice.