Charles Crupelandt

Charles Crupelandt (23 October 1886 to 18 February 1955) was a French professional road bicycle racer. He won stages in the Tour de France, but his biggest successes were the 1912 and 1914 editions of Paris-Roubaix; the last cobbled section of that race, 300 metres before the velodrome, is named Espace Charles Crupelandt. In 1912 he became the subject of the painting Au Vélodrome by the Cubist artist Jean Metzinger, held in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. After returning from the war a hero with the Croix de Guerre, he was found guilty of a crime and banned for life by the Union Vélocipédique; he then raced with an unofficial cycling association, winning national championships in 1922 and 1923. He died in 1955, blind and with both legs amputated.