CYCLE ROCHET ‘Cycle Rochet La Bicyclette de France’ Lithographic poster printed by: Unknown Artist: Anonymous Dated: 1953 Materials/Media: Original lithographic poster, linen backed Note: in the middle of this poster a portrait of Raphaël Géminiani (born in France 1925). He was a child of Italian immigrants and started racing as a boy. In the years that followed, he became a French road bicycle racer and had six podium finishes in the Grand Tours. Géminiani became a professional and then a directeur sportif, notably of Jacques Anquetil and the St-Raphaël team. His professional career ran from 1946 to 1960. He won the mountains competition in the Tour de France in 1951. His best overall place was second in 1951 behind Hugo Koblet. He won seven stages of the Tour between 1949 and 1955 and wore the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification for four days. He won the national championship in 1953, the mountain competition of the Giro d'Italia in 1951 and third place in the Vuelta a España 1955. In 1955, Géminiani finished in the top 10 of the three big tours (Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España), equalled by Gastone Nencini only in 1957.