View source for Nicolas Frantz

{{Short description|Luxembourgish cyclist}}
{{Infobox cyclist
| name          = Nicolas Frantz
| image         = Nicolas Frantz (1899-1985).jpg
| fullname      = Nicolas Frantz
| nickname      = ''Le Teinturier'' (The Dyer)
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1899|11|04|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Mamer]], [[Luxembourg]]
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1985|11|08|1899|11|04|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Luxembourg City|Luxembourg]], [[Luxembourg]]
| height        =
| weight        =
| currentteam   =
| discipline    = Road
| role          = Rider
| ridertype     =
| amateuryears1 =
| amateurteam1  =
| proyears1     = 1923
| proteam1      = Thomann
| proyears2     = 1924&ndash;1934
| proteam2      = Alcyon
| majorwins     = ;Cyclo-cross
:[[Luxembourgish National Cyclo-cross Championships|National Championships]] (1923, 1924)
;Road
'''[[Grand Tour (cycling)|Grand Tours]]'''
:'''[[Tour de France]]'''
::'''[[General classification in the Tour de France|General classification]]''' ([[1927 Tour de France|1927]], [[1928 Tour de France|1928]])
::20 individual stages ([[1924 Tour de France|1924]]–[[1929 Tour de France|1929]])
'''[[Race stage|Stage races]]'''
:Madrid–Santander (1913)
'''[[Classic cycle races|One-day races and Classics]]'''
:[[Luxembourgish National Road Race Championships|National Road Race Championships]] (1923-1934)
:[[Paris–Tours]] (1929)
:Paris–Calais (1923)
:GP des Ardennes (1925)
:Paris–Nancy (1932)

| medaltemplates =  
{{MedalCountry| {{LUX}} }}
{{MedalSport| Men's [[road bicycle racing]] }}
{{MedalCompetition|World Championships}}
{{MedalSilver |[[UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race|1929 Zürich]]|Elite Men's Road Race}}
{{MedalBronze |[[UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race|1932 Rome]]|Elite Men's Road Race}}
}}

'''Nikolas Frantz''' ({{IPA|lb|nikoːlɑs ˈfʀɑnts}};{{fix|text=stress of the first name?|date=July 2017}} 4 November 1899 – 8 November 1985) was a [[Luxembourg]]ish bicycle racer with 60 professional racing victories over his 12-year career (1923 to 1934). He rode for the Thomann team in 1923 and then for [[Alcyon]]-[[Dunlop Rubber|Dunlop]] from 1924 to 1931. He won the [[Tour de France]] in 1927 and 1928.

== Life and career ==

Nicolas Frantz was the son of a prosperous farming family. Frantz could have taken over the farm but had no interest in it. In 1914 he rode his first race. He won. That convinced him that farming was not for him. He was close to unbeatable in Luxembourg until the start of the first world war.

Frantz, a well-built man weighing 80&nbsp;kg, turned professional in 1923. He had immediate success, winning Paris-Lyon and the GP Faber. His advantage in stage races was his consistent health and fitness. He rode the Tour de France for the first time in 1924, won two stages and finished second just 35 minutes and 36 seconds behind [[Ottavio Bottecchia]]. In 1925 and 1926 he won another four stages and finished fourth and second respectively.
[[File:Bike of Nicolas Frantz (1927), Luxembourg National Museum.jpg|thumb|left|Frantz's bicycle from the year 1927, exhibited in the [[:en:National Museum of History and Art|National Museum of Luxembourg]]. In the background hangs [[:en:Joseph Kutter|Joseph Kutter]]'s well-known portrait of Frantz, titled "Le Champion".]]
Frantz then dominated the race for two successive years. He won three stages in 1927 and won overall. He was seventeen minutes behind the race-leader [[Hector Martin (cyclist)|Hector Martin]] before start of the stage to [[Luchon]] but finished in yellow. His second stage win was between [[Toulon]] and [[Nice]] and the final win was at [[Metz]]. He finished an hour and forty eight minutes ahead of second placed [[Maurice De Waele]].

He wore the yellow jersey from the first to last day in 1928, the only rider since [[Ottavio Bottecchia]] to have done so. (Bottecchia however didn't wear the yellow jersey during the first stage in 1924). In that race, the frame of his bicycle broke on a level-crossing during the 19th stage with 100&nbsp;km remaining. He borrowed an undersized, women’s bicycle and was helped back into the race by his [[Alcyon]] domestiques. He exchanged it for another Alcyon bicycle, which he rode to victory in [[Paris]] ahead of teammates [[Andre Leducq]] and De Waele.

After winning stage seven of the 1929 Tour in [[Bordeaux]], Frantz was one of three yellow jerseys on the same time in general classification with Leducq and [[Victor Fontan]]. However, the following day, Gaston Rebry ended the embarrassment of multiple leaders. Despite leading the race at one point in stage 10, a puncture cost him the yellow jersey before the end of day and he eventually finished the Tour in fifth place. His last chance of a podium finish was gone and he entered the Tour only once more, in 1932 when he finished in a lowly 45th place.

Frantz won Paris–Brussels in 1927 and Paris–Tours in 1929. He twice finished in the first three of the world championship. He also won the championship of Luxembourg for 12 consecutive years (1923-1934). After racing, he became directeur sportif of the Luxembourg and Luxembourg Mixed teams in the Tour de France from 1949 to 1957. He was the first national team manager of [[Charly Gaul]] in the Tour de France. Frantz was succeeded by [[Jean Goldschmit]].

Frantz was a taciturn man. He retired to the village of Mamer and died there in 1985.

==Career achievements==
===Major results===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
;1923
:{{LUX}} National road race champion
;1924
:[[1924 Tour de France|Tour de France]]
::2nd place overall classification
::Winner 2 stages
:{{LUX}} National road race champion
;1925
:[[1925 Tour de France|Tour de France]]
::4th place overall classification
::Winner 4 stages
:{{LUX}} National road race champion
;1926
:[[1926 Tour de France|Tour de France]]
::2nd place overall classification
::Winner 4 stages
:{{LUX}} National road race champion
: [[Tour of the Basque Country]]
;1927
:[[1927 Tour de France|Tour de France]]
::[[File:Jersey yellow.svg|20px]]Winner overall classification
::Winner 3 stages
::14 days in [[yellow jersey]]
:{{LUX}} National road race champion
;1928
:[[1928 Tour de France|Tour de France]]
::[[File:Jersey yellow.svg|20px]]Winner overall classification
::Winner 5 stages
::22 days in yellow jersey (entire Tour)
:{{LUX}} National road race champion
;1929
:[[1929 Tour de France|Tour de France]]
::Winner 2 stages
::5th place overall classification
::1 day in yellow jersey (together with [[André Leducq]] and [[Victor Fontan]])
:{{LUX}} National road race champion
: [[1929 Paris–Tours|Paris–Tours]]
;1930
:{{LUX}} National road race champion
;1931
:{{LUX}} National road race champion
;1932
:{{LUX}} National road race champion
:[[1932 Tour de France|Tour de France]]
::45th place overall classification
;1933
:{{LUX}} National road race champion
;1934
:{{LUX}} National road race champion
{{div col end}}

===Grand Tour results timeline===
{| class="wikitable"
|- 
|
! scope="col" | 1924
! scope="col" | 1925
! scope="col" | 1926
! scope="col" | 1927
! scope="col" | 1928
! scope="col" | 1929
! scope="col" | 1930
! scope="col" | 1931
! scope="col" | 1932
|-
![[Giro d'Italia]]
|align="center" | DNE
|align="center" | DNE
|align="center" | DNE
|align="center" | DNE
|align="center" | DNE
|align="center" | DNE
|align="center" | DNE
|align="center" | DNE
|align="center" | DNE
|-
|align="right" |Stages won
|align="center"| —
|align="center"| —
|align="center"| —
|align="center"| —
|align="center"| —
|align="center"| —
|align="center"| —
|align="center"| —
|align="center"| —
|-
![[Tour de France]]
|align="center" style="background:#D8BFD8;"| [[1924 Tour de France|2]]
|align="center" style="background:#EEE8AA;"| [[1925 Tour de France|4]]
|align="center" style="background:#D8BFD8;"| [[1926 Tour de France|2]]
|align="center" style="background:#00ff00;"| [[1927 Tour de France|1]]
|align="center" style="background:#00ff00;"| [[1928 Tour de France|1]]
|align="center" style="background:#EEE8AA;"| [[1929 Tour de France|5]]
|align="center"| DNE
|align="center"| DNE
|align="center" style="background:#DDDDDD;"| [[1932 Tour de France|45]]
|-
|align="right" |Stages won
|align="center"| 2
|align="center"| 4
|align="center"| 4
|align="center"| 3
|align="center"| 5
|align="center"| 2
|align="center"| —
|align="center"| —
|align="center"| 0
|-
![[Vuelta a España]]
|rowspan=2 align="center" style="color:#888888;"| N/A 
|rowspan=2 align="center" style="color:#888888;"| N/A 
|rowspan=2 align="center" style="color:#888888;"| N/A 
|rowspan=2 align="center" style="color:#888888;"| N/A 
|rowspan=2 align="center" style="color:#888888;"| N/A 
|rowspan=2 align="center" style="color:#888888;"| N/A 
|rowspan=2 align="center" style="color:#888888;"| N/A 
|rowspan=2 align="center" style="color:#888888;"| N/A 
|rowspan=2 align="center" style="color:#888888;"| N/A
|-
|align="right" |Stages won
|}
{{grandtourlegend}}

== Literature ==
*François Guillaume, ''Du Tour de Frantz au Tour de Gaul'' (2nd ed.; Diekirch (Luxembourg): Editions APESS, 2006)

{{Tour de France Yellow Jersey}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frantz, Nicolas}}
[[Category:Luxembourgian male cyclists]]
[[Category:Tour de France winners]]
[[Category:People from Mamer]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Capellen (canton)]]
[[Category:1899 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]