Championnat des Triporteurs

From La Pèdale (France), 15 Nov 1928:

Sunday will be held this traditional race which commands so much popular success each year. It is almost 40 kilometers which the competitors of the Championnat will have to cover: the Tour de Paris, by the fortifications, is almost 34 km. and the additional course from the Vel' d' Hiv to the fortifications and back is nearly 6 km.

Among the engaged racers, all the known "aces" of the speciality appear; Cognasson, the hot favorite, already twice victorious at the Championnat; Brissard, once champion in Paris; Durand, who was unlucky last year; de Dosy, etc.

Some details of the organization

The official car will be, as for all the great events of l'Auto, one of the sumptuous cars of whom Mr. Boutin, director of the République garage, rue Dieu, is a dealer. To follow the lead group of the Championnat des triporteurs is not an easy job and our friend Boutin is just the man who is needed for such a race.

The commissars, who will be MM. Robert Jolly, president of Gros-Cailluo Sportif; Pellerin, president of Halles Spotives, and Boutin, are requested to be at the Petit-Duc at exactly 8 a.m., to begin the official operations.

Let us recall that the clubs, which we listed, are requested to send to l'Auto, between 6 and 7:30 p.m. this evening, a representative to decide which control they will work, and to receive the necessary flags and arm-bands.

From Le Miroir des Sports (France), 20 Nov 1928:


Boulevard Lefebvre, Cognasson is away	Oltz, who finished 2nd, crosses the Pont de l'Ourcq	Well escorted, Cognasson passes Porte Maillot at his own pace

For the seventh time, the triporteurs have disputed, Sunday morning, their annual race called: championship.

From a strictly sporting point of view, it is a competition in which interest is strongly disputable, but without a doubt this Championnat des triporteurs is quite public. There is not a passer-by, some absolute layman, who does not cast an eye in interest or amusement on this caravan of multicolored, three-wheeled boxes jolting and tossing in all directions, turning on 2 wheels and passing with a deafening din.

The organizers were strongly advised to preserve a course like that of the Tour de Paris, tested last year: This same test, run in view of the Parisian public, has 10 times the success of the former routes of Paris-Versailles or Paris-Pontoise and return.

Fifty-eight competitors are reflected in the rows, obviously, the majority of them could not hold any hope, and had not come to have fun, or to give rest to their rigorous labors. In the least, they are useful to the picturesque nature of the race: in the first kilometers, they provided the inevitable repairs, the noisy collapse of nervous racers, and the herioc abandons in front of the cafes. Of course, some also found the narrow path left by the spectators and the imposing and dangerous escorts of the head of the field: we watch two brave cyclists, undoubtedly gifted with a strong pedal-stroke, holding company with the leaders through the major portion of the race!

If the Picturesque competitors were hoping for a heated sporting battle - the has-beens, perhaps? - then they were disappointed. Marcel Cognasson, the undisputed class a rider of this speciality, who could have no suitable adversary, was not challenged in the slightest. He took the head, so to speak, at the quai de Grenelle, and increased his lead bit by bit, and was never worried. He covered the 40 km course in 1h 29m 21s, which represents an average speed of 27 km/h. If one ponders that the competitors had to push a case with a load of 65 kg, one acknowledges the beutiful exploit of their success. A reflection comes quite naturally to mind: "Why not pit Cognasson in a race against a good bicycle racer? One cannot deny the exceptional strength of the push in this champion!" Obviously!

This experiment was tried last year, after Cognasson had won the race for the second time. he was put up against a good independant racer in a pursuit race at the Vel d'Hiv: the results were disasterous... for the triporteur! This tends to prove that Cognasson, who excels as a specialist of the "tri", is good only at this particular work: otherwise, he rides a little on the road, with no particular glory, with a little club in Billancourt.