Iconic, dominant, legendary – such superlatives are often overused and undeserved in the world of cycling, but in Alcyon’s case, all of them hit the mark. This remarkable bike was built in the mid-twenties, a period as momentous as it was triumphant for the French brand.
Founded in a western suburb of Paris in 1903, the brand had established its own cycling team within two years. It would ‘own’ racing well into the thirties, winning the Tour de France seven times, Paris-Roubaix nine times, Paris-Tours nine times, and the Tour of Belgium 13 times. And that’s just for starters.
When, during the 1929 Tour, the team had the audacity to work, well, as a team in the Alps – shielding star rider Maurice De Waele from attack – race founder Henri Desgrange, in a fit of fury, responded by banning commercial teams. They wouldn’t be welcomed back for thirty-one years.
“They were winning across the board,” says current owner Richard Hoddinott of vintage specialists The Velo Pages. “Alcyon represented the pinnacle of that era of racing machines, and this particular bike is the best preserved 1920s racing bike I've ever seen. It took me eight years of negotiations to buy it from a collector in the south of France. It’s completely original, right down to the tyres.”
It’s uncertain whether this is a team bike, but its survival intact is intriguing, as is its livery. Blue was always associated with the brand, inspired by the colour of the kingfisher’s plumage in the Greek myth of Alcyone and Ceyx.
Alongside talented French riders, such as the impossibly suave André Leducq, the team also signed many Belgian stars, including De Waele, Romain Maes, and Sylvère Maes. Consequently, it’s alleged that blue was chosen for the Belgian national team jersey as a tribute to Alcyon.