Émile Pagie
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Émile Louis Pagie |
| Born | January 8, 1883 Wervicq-Sud, France |
| Died | August 1, 1937 (aged 54) Nogent-sur-Marne, France |
| Height | 175 cm (5 ft 9 in) |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Professional teams | |
| 1899–1902 | Individual |
| 1903 | Pagie Cycles |
| 1903 | La Française |
| 1904 | Individual |
Émile Louis Pagie (8 January 1883 – 1 August 1937) was a French road cyclist of Belgian origin. He became a naturalized French citizen in 1915 after retiring from professional cycling. He was a main competitor in the inaugural 1903 Tour de France.
Biography
Émile Louis Pagie was born on 8 January 1883 (though officially registered on the 9th) in Wervicq-Sud, a French town on the border with Belgium, to Belgian parents. He was the younger brother of cyclist Paul Pagie.[1]
In 1903, he rode in the first-ever Tour de France. During the opening stage from Paris to Lyon, Pagie escaped alongside Maurice Garin and Léon Georget.[2] Georget suffered a puncture before reaching Nevers, leaving Garin and Pagie alone at the front. The two pushed a hard pace and gradually increased their lead, passing through all checkpoints together, including the Col du Pin-Bouchain, before racing toward Lyon. Near the finish, Garin took advantage of a crash by Pagie just 200 metres (220 yd) from the line to win the stage in a time of 17h 45m 13s.[3] Pagie finished less than a minute behind, while third-placed Georget arrived with a delay of nearly 35 minutes.[4][5]
He also competed in other main cycling races and won Paris-Valenciennes in 1903 and had three times a top-10 finish at Paris–Roubaix.[6]
On the morning of 1 August 1937 in Neuilly-sur-Marne, after breaking off a relationship with his partner Lucie Cloarec, a 41-year-old nurse at the Ville-Évrard asylum, Pagie shot her multiple times, seriously wounding her, before taking his own life with a shot to the heart.[1]
Major results
- 1899
- Winner of Tourcoing–Armentières–Roubaix
- Winner of Tourcoing–Quesnoy–Tourcoing
- 1900
- 9th place, 1900 Paris–Roubaix
- 1902
- 8th place, 1902 Paris–Roubaix
- 1903
- Winner of Paris-Valenciennes
- 1903 Tour de France
- 2nd, stage 1
- 1904
- 9th place, 1904 Paris–Roubaix
See also
References
- ^ a b "Relation de son décès par La Dépêche du Berry du 2 août 1937". La Dépêche du Berry (in French). 2 August 1937. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
- ^ Vespini 2013, p. 57
- ^ Vespini 2013, pp. 69–73
- ^ Vespini 2013, p. 268
- ^ "De eerste Tour, 101 jaar geleden begonnen: "Sabotage? Niets van. Geloven? Hij is toc toc geworden"". Knack (in Dutch). 18 July 2024. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
- ^ "Émile Pagie". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
Further reading
- Vespini, Jean-Paul (2013). 1903: Le Premier Tour de France (in French). Paris: Jacob-Duvernet. p. 278. ISBN 978-2-84724-466-3.
External links
- Émile Pagie at Cycling Archives
- Émile Pagie at ProCyclingStats