Sylvère Maes facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Sylvère Maes

Maes at the 1936 Tour de France
Personal information
Full name	Sylvère Maes
Born	(1909-08-27)27 August 1909 Zevekote, Belgium
Died	5 December 1966(1966-12-05) (aged 57) Ostend, Belgium
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France General classification (1936, 1939) Mountains classification (1939) 9 Individual Stages (1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1939) Paris–Roubaix (1933)

Sylvère Maes (born August 27, 1909 – died December 5, 1966) was a famous Belgian bicycle racer. He is best known for winning the tough Tour de France race two times, in 1936 and 1939. In 1937, something unusual happened: Maes and his Belgian team left the Tour de France even though he was in the lead. They did this because they felt unfairly treated by some French fans and race officials.

Sylvère Maes' Early Life and Career

Sylvère Maes was born in 1909. He was the youngest of ten children. He started his first bike race in 1928. Right away, he showed he was a very good young rider.

At the end of 1932, Maes became a professional cyclist. This means he started racing bikes for a living. Soon after, he won two races against other professional riders.

Maes was also talented at cyclo-cross, which is a type of bike racing that involves riding on different terrains like mud and grass. In 1933, he won the Critérium International de Cyclo-cross. This race was seen as the unofficial world championship for cyclo-cross at the time.

Later in 1933, Maes won his first big road race, Paris–Roubaix. This is a very famous and difficult one-day race. After this win, he decided to focus mostly on the Tour de France.

First Tour de France Races (1934-1935)

In 1934, Maes raced in the 1934 Tour de France for the first time. He raced as an individual, not part of a national team. Even so, he did better than the Belgian national team riders. He was the only Belgian to win a stage that year. A "stage" is one day's race in the Tour de France. Overall, he finished in eighth place.

Maes raced the 1935 Tour de France again as an individual. During the race, a spot opened up on the Belgian national team. Maes was then added to the team. He won a mountain stage in the Pyrenees, which are very high mountains. He finished the whole race in fourth place.

Winning the Tour de France (1936)

In 1936, Maes was part of the Belgian national team for the 1936 Tour de France. He rode very well from the start. In stage seven, he became the leader of the race. The leader wears a special yellow jersey.

His main rival was a French rider named Antonin Magne. They challenged each other in stage nine. Magne rode ahead on a tough climb called the Allos. He gained three minutes on Maes. But then, Magne fell because a fan tried to help him. This allowed Maes to catch up. Maes then gained more time in the next stages. He won two stages that were team time trials, where teams race against the clock together.

In stage 16, Maes broke away from the main group early on. Only two other riders could keep up at first. One rider fell behind, and the other had bike problems on the Tourmalet climb. So, Maes rode on his own. He gained a huge 15 minutes on Magne! After this, no one could seriously challenge his lead. Sylvère Maes won the 1936 Tour de France!

The Controversial 1937 Tour de France

Maes was the leader of the Belgian team in the 1937 Tour de France. In stage nine, he took the lead from Gino Bartali, who had crashed. When Bartali left the race later, it seemed the main fight for the win would be between Maes and French rider Roger Lapébie.

The race organizers then changed some rules. They reduced the number of team time trials. This hurt Maes's chances because the Belgian team was very strong in those races. The Belgian team also said that Lapébie was unfairly pulled by a car during a climb in the Alps. Before the Pyrenees stages, someone offered Maes a lot of money to let Lapébie win, but Maes refused.

In stage 15, in the Pyrenees mountains, Maes gained a lot of time on Lapébie. But then Maes got a flat tire. Lapébie was able to catch up. Lapébie won the sprint for second place at the end of the stage. This gave him 45 seconds of bonus time. However, the race directors then gave Lapébie a 90-second penalty for being pushed. This made Maes's lead over Lapébie more than three minutes. The Belgian team felt the penalty was too small, but the French team threatened to quit if it was increased. So, the penalty stayed the same.

In stage 16, Lapébie finished ahead of Maes. This cut Maes's lead to only 25 seconds. With only flat stages left, Maes thought this small lead might be enough. During stage 16, Maes had another flat tire. Two Belgian cyclists who were racing individually helped him. The race jury then fined Maes 15 seconds for getting help. Also, a train crossing was closed right after Lapébie passed, but just before Maes arrived. Maes felt very upset by all these events and unfair decisions. Because of this, he and the entire Belgian team quit the race.

Back in Belgium, fans were very angry. In just 24 hours, 20,000 protest letters were sent to a sports magazine. In ten days, over 100,000 Belgian Francs were sent to the national cycling organization to support the Belgian cyclists.

The 1938 and 1939 Tours

Maes was the team leader again in the 1938 Tour de France. However, he was not in good shape that year. Another Belgian rider, Felicien Vervaecke, took over as the main team captain. Maes finished in 14th place.

Outside the Tour de France, 1938 was a better year for him. He finished second in two important one-day races: La Flèche Wallonne and the Tour of Flanders. These were his best results in a one-day race, apart from his 1933 Paris–Roubaix win.

Winning His Second Tour (1939)

In 1939, Maes was once again the leader of the Belgian team in the 1939 Tour de France. The Italian team did not start the race, which made Maes the main favorite to win.

Another strong rider on the Belgian team was Edward Vissers. In stage nine, Vissers escaped from the main group. But Maes started to chase his own teammate! This meant the French rider René Vietto, who was leading the race, did not have to work hard to keep his lead.

In the Alps mountains, Maes was able to beat Vietto. In a time trial in stage 16B, Maes started ten minutes after Vietto. But Maes was so strong that he caught up to Vietto during the race! Maes's lead became more than 30 minutes. Vietto could no longer win. Maes's victory was complete because he also won the "mountains classification" (for being the best climber). His team also won the "team classification."

Later Career and Life

Sylvère Maes had hoped to win a third Tour de France. However, the Second World War started. Most professional races were canceled. To earn money, Maes became a bartender.

In 1947, Maes raced in the 1947 Giro d'Italia, a big race in Italy. He finished in fifth place. Maes had planned to race in the 1947 Tour de France. He would have been allowed to wear the yellow jersey in the first stage. This was a symbol that the 1947 Tour was a continuation of the 1939 Tour. But he decided not to race at the last minute. He rode his last professional season in 1948.

From 1949 to 1957, Sylvère Maes was the team director for the Belgian team in the Tour de France. After that, he opened a pub in Gistel, Belgium. He named his pub 'Au Tourmalet', after the famous mountain climb in the Tour de France. Sylvère Maes died from cancer in 1966, when he was 57 years old.

In 2011, a museum opened in Gistel to honor Maes and another famous cyclist, Johan Museeuw.

Career Achievements

Major Results

Grand Tour Results Timeline

Grand Tour	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1943	1946	1947
Vuelta a España	N/A	—	—	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	—	—	N/A	N/A	—	—	—
Giro d'Italia	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	—	5
Tour de France	8	4	1	DNF	14	1	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	—

See also

In Spanish: Sylvère Maes para niños