Marianne Martin

Marianne Martin (born November 1, 1957 in Fenton, Michigan) is an American road racing cyclist. She won the first Tour de France for women in 1984 (now called the Grande Boucle), covering the 616-mile course in 29 hours, 39 minutes, and 2 seconds. The race was held in July and had 18 stages. The women's tour ran the same time as the men's and finished 2-3 hours before the men each day. [1][2]

The bicycle ridden by Marianne Martin in the 1984 Tour de France Féminin

Martin suffered from anemia earlier in the year and had been riding poorly, but she took the lead in the 14th stage when they encountered the climbs. Martin was a good climber and never gave up the lead after that into Paris. The streets were said to contain more two million spectators watching the race.

Martin, along with runners up Heleen Hage (Dutch) and Deborah Shumway (American), stood on the podium with male champions Laurent Fignon, Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond. Fignon's prizes were valued at over $225,000 (adjusted to 2016). Martin was awarded a trophy and $1,000.[3]

Martin was inducted into the 2012 Boulder (Colorado) Sports Hall of Fame.[4]

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-10-28. Retrieved 2010-10-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "The Argus-Press - Google News Archive Search".
  3. Mertens, Maggie (6 July 2016). "The forgotten story of ... Marianne Martin and the Tour de France Féminin". The Guardian.
  4. Levy, Michael (2017-05-18). "A part of it forever". Boulder Weekly. Retrieved 2020-03-03.


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