Pierre Cogan, 1914-2013

Pierre Cogan
10.01.1914 - 05.01.2013

Pierre Cogan - who had, for several years, been the oldest living person to have competed in the Tour de France - died in Auray, Brittany during the night of January 4th/5th, reports L'Equipe.

Born in the same town on the 10th of January in 1914, Cogan turned professional with the Roold-Wolber team in 1935 before switching to the famous F. Pelissier-Mercier-Hutchinson team a year later and remaining with them through various sponsorship and name changes until 1943. He then raced with various top teams until 1952, when he continued as an Individual for one year before retiring.

He enjoyed a career that spanned two great eras in the history of professional cycling - in the early days, he raced against Georges Speicher, Charles Pelissier and Romain Maes; at the end he raced against Jean Robic, Hugo Koblet and  Raphaël Geminiani. Remarkably, he was able to remain competitive throughout - he was eleventh in the General Classification at the 1935 Tour de France, fifteen years later in 1950 he was seventh (the victorious rider in 1950, Ferdy Kübler, is the oldest living Tour winner) and a year later he took third place on Stage 21 and was 19th overall at his seventh and final Tour. Had he not have been one of the generation of riders to lose his best years to the Second World War, he might now be remembered as a Tour champion.

Among his other victories, Cogan won Stage 1 at Paris-Nice and the GP Ouest France in 1936, the GP des Nations in 1937, the Military National Road Race Championship in 1938 and Stage 4 at the Critérium du Dauphiné in 1948 in addition to numerous smaller races; he also picked up an impressive selection of second and third place results.

Cogan, along with every living rider to have completed a Tour, was due to attend the final stage of the 2013 race as a guest of honour to celebrate the 100th edition. The title of oldest living Tour rider now passes to Albert Bourlon, born on the 23rd of November 1916 - Cogan's team mate at Mercier-Hutchinson in 1937.

Pierre Cogan's Tour palmares
1935: 11th
1936: 16th
1947: 12th
1948: abandoned in Stage 12
1949: 10th
1950: 7th
1951: 19th

Richard Nye wants you dead

So the editor of some shitty lifestyle magazine for herd animals who believe their worth as human beings is equal to the sum of what they consume and need to be told what to buy because they're too dull to develop personalities of their own has got himself in a spot of bother by saying that in all his opinion the only good cyclist is a dead one. (Chances are it'll vanish off the magazine's website pretty sharpish; fortunately it's been preserved for posterity.)

Richard Nye, editor of the magazine and author of what is really little more than a hate speech, went on Twitter a short while after the news went round...

The Richmond Mag ‏@TheRichmondMag I am astonished at the reaction to my blog, which had nothing to do with cyclists being killed. I would never joke…

The Richmond Mag ‏@TheRichmondMag …about such a thing. People have misunderstood my use of phrase. I will respond fully shortly.

No, sorry mate - I think it's you who misunderstands the phrase, if you truly didn't mean what we all think you mean (and you admit you weren't joking). It doesn't matter what excuses you come up with; saying that you think "the only good cyclist is a dead one" can only have one meaning - that you think "the only good cyclist is a dead one." You can look between the lines for some other meaning as much you like, but there's just blank space there. A bit like in your head if you thought writing what you wrote was a good idea. Don't try to wriggle out of it - just apologise and admit you've been a bit of an idiot, because then we'll know you didn't really mean it. If you try to justify it, people will have their doubts.

Still, what does it matter? If Mr. Nye didn't have his head shoved so far up his own arse, he'd be able to look out of the window while driving around Richmond - bikes are trendy now, so it probably wouldn't take him long to figure out that he's just told a large percentage of his rag's readership that he believes the world would be a better place if they (and - by implication - their kids, if they cycle to school) were dead. Chances are, a good few of them have the sense not to bother reading it in future.

You can let him know what you think via Twitter. Do try to send your messages to @TheRichmondMag though, because the good folks at @RichmondMag in Virginia, USA are probably getting a bit fed up with being told off by now.

Dane Searls dead at 23

Dane Searls, 1988-2011
(image credit: BMX Main)

Australian BMX star Dane Searls, who was left in a comatose state after he tried to jump from a nightclub balcony into a swimming pool, has died in hospital according to reports.

Searls was celebrating a new world record in which rode a series of ramps - 9m, 12m, 15m and 18m, each said to have been two storeys high - when the accident happened. Witnesses said that he misjudged the distance between the balcony and the pool, diving head-first onto concrete. He suffered serious head and spinal injuries.

More at the Sydney Morning Herald (including video).