The history of Gitane bicycles

Het Franse merk Gitane is één van die namen die in de 2de helft van de vorige eeuw steevast in het wielerpeloton te spotten was. Renners zoals Jean Stablinski, Rudi Altig en kleppers als Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, Laurent Fignon, Greg Lemond en zelfs onze eigen Lucien van Impe hebben er geschiedenis mee geschreven en Gitane won maar liefst 11 keer de Tour de France.

Unfortunately, Gitane such as Peugeot, Mercier, Legnano, ... has also disappeared from the cycling peloton and has been replaced by the larger multinationals such as Giant, Trek, Cannondale, ...

The start of Gitane

In 1925 besloot de Franse zakenman Marcel Brunelière de verkoop van onderdelen voor landbouwmachines om te ruilen voor de verkoop van fietsonderdelen en de assemblage van fietsen voor G.M.B. en Marbru.

Niet kort daarna zag Brunelière het potentieel in van de fietsmarkt en richtte zijn eigen merk Gitane op wat zoveel wil zeggen als zigeuner. Naar het schijnt was het zijn vrouw die op het idee kwam omdat zij Gitane als koosnaampje gebruikte voor haar man die constant op zakenreis was en leefde als een zigeuner.

At that time, his company employed 10 people, but the main activity was assembling bicycles. It wasn't until 1940 that Gitane started building frames itself.

The first sponsorship of cycling teams started in 1948 with the team Gitane – Stella which became Gitane – Hutchinson from 1949 to 1956. The most important rider in the team was Jean Stablinski, who gave the brand name recognition through his numerous victories.

Gitane and Jacques Anquetil

In 1963 trekt de wielerploeg Saint-Raphaël-Gitane-Géminiani die met Gitane fietsen rijdt, Jacques Anquetil aan. Natuurlijk is dit een commerciële zet die meteen in succes resulteert want de verkoop van Gitane fietsen gaat de hoogte in. Anquetil wint op een Gitane fiets zijn 4de en 5de Tour de France waarmee hij meteen de eerste wielrenner is die daar in slaagt.

With the oil crisis in the 1970s, bicycle sales in general continue to rise with Gitane record sales in 1972 of 185,000 bicycles.

Team Renault with Hinault, Fignon and Lemond

In 1974 the French car brand Renault buys 30% of Gitane and buys it completely a few years later. It does not take long before the name Renault can be seen on the cycling jerseys in the cycling peloton. In 1978 the team Renault – Gitane was founded with Cyrille Guimard as sports director.

Willy Teirlinck, among others, is part of it, but the most important name is Bernard Hinault who immediately wins the Tour de France in 1978. He does it again on a Gitane bike in 1979, 1981 and 1982.

In 1983, 2 other clappers joined the team, namely Laurent Fignon and Greg Lemond. Fignon wins the Tour de France in 1983 and 1984 and Lemond becomes world champion in 1983. Both on a Gitane bicycle.

The Decline of Gitane

A difficult period started for the bicycle industry from the mid-eighties. Fewer bicycles are being sold just about everywhere in Europe and competition from Taiwan is getting tougher. Moreover, the results are not forthcoming which causes Renault to sell Gitane.

In order to compete (and survive), Peugeot, Gitane, Puch and the Spanish BH, among others, group together and form the Cycleurope group in 1992. 8 eight years later, the Swedish holding company Grimaldi Industri buys both Cycleurope and the Italian Bianchi, but the production of racing bicycles now belongs only to Bianchi. An era seems to have passed.

The last sponsorship of the Pro Tour team Big Mat ends in 2003, before that Gitane sponsored La Francaise des yeux from 1997 to 2002.

After being out of the running for a while, Gitane is making racing bikes again today. Sponsoring of Pro Tour cycling teams is currently not possible. The question is whether this will still happen in the future, I highly doubt it.

All teams sponsored by Gitane from 1948 to 2003 can be found on the following link dewielersite.net > Gitane

Most important models

The most important models and thus the most collected ones are the following:

• Gitane Tour de France
• Gitane Super Olympic
• Gitane Super Corsa
• Gitane Tour de l’Avenir
• Gitane Record
• Gitane Baracchi
• Gitane Tropéé de France
• Gitane Professional
• Gitane Performed
• Gitane Profil

At last below you have some pictures from some catalogs