July 4, 2008 – Most readers know that Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Chipotle formerly Slipstream-Chipotle) is the lone Canadian at the 2008 Tour de France, while fellow Canuck and top pro, Michael Barry (Columbia formerly High Road), was hoping to compete this year. Both will be competing for Canada at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

We decided to look into Canadians who have competed at the Tour and found that only three Canucks have participated in recent Tours, but found references to an ‘unknown’ Canadian who apparently competed at the 1937 Tour, which naturally piqued our interest.

According to the TdF website, only three Canadians – Steve Bauer, Gordon Fraser, and Alex Stieda – have participated at the TdF since the first running of the race in 1903. But, apparently there was a fourth, Pierre Gachon.

Bauer, recently inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, raced at the Tour de France 11 consecutive times, earning the white jersey for best young rider in his debut at the Tour in 1985. In 1988, Bauer won the first stage of the Tour and finished fourth overall that year. In 1990, Bauer wore the yellow jersey at the Tour de France for an amazing 10 days.

Fraser participated at the 1997 TdF when he rode for La Mutuelle de Seine-set-Marne, but did not complete it.

Stieda, formerly with the 7-Eleven Cycling Team, was the first North American to wear the TdF yellow jersey in 1986 (based on time bonuses rather than a stage victory). Stieda also wore the polka dot jersey (mountain classification), the white jersey (best young rider), and the combination jersey (no longer awarded) at the 1986 Tour and he finished 120th that year.

Gachon remains an enigma with little information available about him other than fleeting references. The Tour de France website lists Pierre Gachon as a member of the British team in 1937. According to Guy Maguire of the Quebec-based Veloptimum web site, Gachon was a French Canadian rider who turned pro in 1930. In 1934 Gachon rode from Montreal to Toronto in 15 hours and 3 minutes. He joined the British TdF team in 1937, but bailed out before completing the first stage according to Wikipedia’s article on British cyclist, Charles Holland.

Gachon nonetheless earned the distinction of being the first Canadian – and the first North American – to compete at the TdF. It was almost half-a-century before another North American would compete again at the Tour. Gachon, who is now deceased, was inducted into the Cycling Hall of Fame of the Federation Quebecoise des Sports Cyclistes (FQSC) in 1988.

The first American at the TdF according Tour de France website was Jonathan Boyer in 1981 where he finished 32nd apparently becoming the second North American ever to compete at the Tour. Some 35 North Americans have competed since Gachon’s 1937 attempt. Americans Greg LeMond, Lance Armstrong, and Floyd Landis have since gone on to win the Tour although the title was recently stripped from Landis because of a failed doping test.

When we spoke with Stieda during our investigation he commented, “simply completing the Tour de France – let alone winning it – is an incredible achievement.”

To find more about cyclists and teams at the TdF since 1903, click here.