00:00He is undoubtedly Saint-Malegrand's most famous son,
00:10Louisan Bobet, the first rider to win the Tour de France three times in a row.
00:19The Frenchman's biggest exploits on the Tour came in the mountains.
00:23In 1953, at the start of stage 18, Bobet was lying third overall
00:27when he decided to go on the attack between Gap and Briencon.
00:31He went solo on the Col de Vasse and joined up with a teammate from the breakaway,
00:35Adolphe de Leda, before blasting his way at the Col de Lisois.
00:43Defending champion Fausto Coppi had decided to skip the Tour that year,
00:47but still came along with his camera to immortalise Bobet's achievements.
00:51The man from Brittany building a huge overall lead as he won the stage by more than five minutes.
01:01He took the yellow jersey that day and would keep it until the finish in Paris.
01:06A year later, Bobet was in even more sparkling form.
01:21This time, he began stage 18 with an overall lead of nearly ten minutes,
01:25and it was once again on the Isawa that he put his rivals to the sword.
01:29Bobet would become the first man to win back-to-back tours since the 1920s,
01:33finishing nearly 16 minutes clear of his nearest rival, Ferdi Kubler,
01:37one of the first to congratulate him at the finish line in Briencon.
01:44In 1955, therefore, Bobet was looking to become the first man
01:48to win three consecutive editions of the Tour.
01:51One of the key moments came on stage 11,
01:53which featured a climb of the Mont Ventoux in searing heat.
01:56Bobet attacked ten kilometres from the summit,
01:59on a day where Kubler famously cracked,
02:02and Charlie Gore was also suffering.
02:04Bobet went on to win the stage,
02:06gaining almost six minutes on the race leader, Antonin Roland.
02:10He would overhaul his compatriot later in the Pyrenees,
02:13taking yellow on stage 17.
02:16On July 30th, in Paris, he secured his third straight win,
02:20and guaranteed himself a place in Tour de France folklore.
