Jacques Boyer

Jonathan "Jacques" or "Jock" Boyer (October 8 1955, Utah, USA) was a professional bicycle racer who, in 1981, was the first American to participate in the Tour de France. Boyer grew up in Monterey, California and was a member of the Velo Club Monterey there.

Boyer raced as an amateur in Europe from 1973, after joining the ACBB club in the Parisian suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt. The club frequently provided riders for the Peugeot professional team, which had had English-speaking riders since the Briton, Tom Simpson, led it in the 1960s. Boyer, however, turned professional in 1977 for the smaller Lejeune-BP team, sponsored by a Parisian cycle company and an international oil giant. He first competed in the Tour in 1981, when the organiser, Félix Lévitan, encouraged him to wear not his team jersey but a Stars and Stripes design which suggested that he was the American national champion. Many have said that Lévitan, who looked after the financial aspects of the race while his colleague Jacques Goddet managed the sporting side, saw Boyer as a way to attract further American interest and money.

Boyer rode the Tour de France five times and finished 12th in 1983. He was unusual in refusing to eat meat and became well known for the large quantities of nuts and fruit that he brought to the race. The French team manager, Cyrille Guimard, described Boyer as "un marginal", a description hard to translate but which suggests an outsider, almost a hippie.

The British journalist Dennis Donovan, working for the London magazine "Cycling" remarked on Boyer's intense religious beliefs. In the 1981 Tour, he said, English-speaking journalists felt sorry for him as a colleague in a French-speaking world and offered him a collection of girlie magazines. Boyer, said Donovan, declined politely and said he preferred to read his Bible.

Boyer also competed in and won the 1980 Coors Classic in the USA, and the 1985 Race Across America completing the 3,120 miles in nine days, two hours, and six minutes. His career included 87 amateur victories and 49 professional ones.

Boyer was inducted into the United States Cycling Hall of Fame in 1998.

In November, 2002, Boyer was convicted of lewd behavior with a minor [http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov/cgi/prosoma.dll?zoomAction=Box&zoomAction=clickcenter&zoomAction=clickoffender&lastName=Boyer&firstName=Jonathan&Address=&City=&zipcode=&searchDistance=.75&City2=&countyLocation=&zipcode2=&SelectCounty=&ParkName=&searchDistance2=.75&City3=&zipcode3=&countyLocation3=&schoolName=&searchDistance3=.75&City4=&zipcode4=&countyLocation4=&refineID=&pan=&distacross=107211&centerlat=38409907&centerlon=-121514242&starlat=&starlon=&startext=&x1=&y1=&x2=&y2=&mapwidth=525&mapheight=400&zoom=&searchBy=namelist&id=&docountycitylist=2&OFDTYPE=&lang=ENGLISH] . He was sentenced to 1 year in jail and 5 years probation. In January, 2006, after successful completion of his probation conditions, his probation officer recommended that Boyer be relased from probation [http://www.velonews.com/article/9354] .

In 2006, Boyer participated in the Race Across America again, this time in the new "Solo Enduro" category which "requires" all participants to use 40 hours of rest (stopping) during the race at official stations along the course. Early in the race Boyer showed he was using a different strategy from other favorites. While the two ahead of him were using minimal rests (30 minutes and 2½ hours after the first 36 hours of racing), Boyer had already used 5½ hour of off-bike time. In the end, all Enduro contenders used their required 40 hours' off-bike time well before the finish, where Boyer prevailed in the Enduro division [http://stats.raceacrossamerica.org/2006/reports/overview.html] .

Pro Teams

* 1977 to 1978: LEJEUNE-BP * 1979: GRAB-ON * 1980: PUCH-SEM * 1981: RENAULT-ELF * 1981: YOPLAIT * 1982, 1983: SEM-FRANCE LE LOIRE * 1984: SKIL-REYDEL * 1985, 1986, 1987: 7-Eleven Cycling Team

Major results

* 1977 3rd, Chateauroux and Auzances. * 1979 2nd, Coors Classic. * 1980 1st, Coors Classic. * 1982 2nd, Druivenkoers-Overijse (Race of the Grape) and Prix d'Haaltert. * 1984 1st, 6th stage of the Tour de Suisse. * 1986 1st, the Race Across America (RAAM), Solo * 2006 1st, the Race Across America (RAAM), Enduro Solo

ee also

Jean de Gribaldy, directeur sportif

External links

* [http://www.torelli.com/raceinfo/tdf/tdfhistory1980.html Torelli's History of the Tour de France: the 1980's]
* [http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/files/raam2006/newsarchive/20062206.htm Jonathan Boyer Claims Inaugural Solo Enduro RAAM]