Roger Pingeon, French racing cyclist, Died at 76

  Sports

Roger Pingeon was born on August 28, 1940 and died on March 19, 2017.

He was a professional road bicycle racer from France.

He was raised up near the Jura Mountains, he was a cross-country skier as a teenager before taking up bicycle racing.

Pingeon spent two years in Algeria on military service before starting his professional cycling career relatively late.

Pingeon raced as a professional from 1964 to 1974.

In 1967, he won the Tour de France.

In 1969, he won the Vuelta a España and finished second behind Eddy Merckx in the Tour de France.

Pingeon took a total of four Tour de France stage wins and finished in the top five of the race’s general classification three times during his career.

When he retired from competition he worked as a consultant for Radio Télévision Suisse between 1979 and 1998.

He died at his home in the village of Beaupont in the Ain department, about 100km away from his hometown of Hauteville-Lompnes, after suffering a heart attack.

Roger Pingeon passed away at 76 years old.