# Critérium International

The Critérium International was a two-day bicycle stage race held in France every spring from 1932 until 2016, typically the last weekend of March. It was formerly known as the Critérium National de la Route, first run in 1932. For many years it was considered a sort of French national championship and was finally opened to non–French cyclists in 1979. Bernard Hinault is the only cyclist to win the race in both its forms. The race has been won by some of the most famous names in cycling, including Jacques Anquetil, Sean Kelly, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Induráin, Stephen Roche, Joop Zoetemelk, Laurent Fignon, Jens Voigt, Cadel Evans and Chris Froome.

## History and route

The Critérium International is one of the few races in cycling, apart from the three Grand Tours, with no fixed attachment to a region. Upon its creation in 1932, it was held as a one-day race in the Vallée de Chevreuse, finishing in the Parc des Princes velodrome in Paris. From 1941 to 1943, two races were organized each year: one in Nazi-occupied France and one in the free French State. As of 1959, the race location changed every year. The edition of 1960 took place in Oran in French Algeria. From 1963 to 1966 the Critérium was held as a stage race for the first time, and again ever since 1978.
From 2001 to 2009 the race was organized in the Ardennes with all stages starting and finishing in or around Charleville-Mézières. In 2010 the race moved to the island of Corsica, around the coastal city of Porto-Vecchio. In 2014 the ASO agreed a deal to extend the race's stay until at least 2016. Because of its challenging route and usually mild weather conditions in early spring, the Critérium International is often contended by many general classification riders in their build-up towards the Grand Tours, notably the Tour de France.
November 18, 2016 the ASO announced that it would no longer organise the two-day event, ending its 85-year run.

### 1997 horse incident

In 1997, a horse jumped over a fence and joined the peloton, eventually passing it, leaving the race only 20 km from the finish line. This scene was shown briefly in the movie Amélie, and is often mistaken for a scene from a Tour de France race.

## Winners

| Year | Winner | Second | Third |
| Critérium National de la Route |
| 1932 | Léon Le Calvez | Pierre Magne | Maurice Archambaud |
| 1933 | André Leducq | Georges Speicher | Jean Bidot |
| 1934 | Roger Lapébie | Jules Merviel | René Le Grevès |
| 1935 | René Le Grevès | René Vietto | Antonin Magne |
| 1936 | Paul Chocque | Fernand Mithouard | Arthur Debruyckere |
| 1937 | Roger Lapébie and René Le Grevès | Roger Lapébie and René Le Grevès | Pierre Cloarec |
| 1938 | Pierre Jaminet | Pierre Cloarec | Sauveur Ducazeaux |
| 1939 | André Deforge | Marcel Laurent | Pierre Jaminet |
| 1940 | Émile Idée | André Desmoulins | André Deforge |
| 1941 | Yvan Marie | André Desmoulins | Albert Goutal |
| 1941 | Benoît Faure | Pierre Cogan | Aldo Bertocco |
| 1942 | Émile Idée | Raymond Louviot | Raymond Guégan |
| 1942 | Aldo Bertocco | Joseph Soffietti | Marcel Laurent |
| 1943 | Émile Idée | Georges Blum | Raymond Guégan |
| 1943 | Louis Gauthier | Émile Rol | André Deforge |
| 1944 | Roger Piel | Louis Thiétard | Aimable Denhez |
| 1945 | Jo Goutorbe | Manuel Huguet | Émile Idée |
| 1946 | Kleber Piot and Camille Danguillaume | Kleber Piot and Camille Danguillaume | Lucien Boda |
| 1947 | Émile Idée | Emile Carrara | Urbain Caffi |
| 1948 | Camille Danguillaume | Émile Idée | Victor Pernac |
| 1949 | Émile Idée | Raymond Lucas | Antonin Rolland |
| 1950 | Pierre Barbotin | Guy Lapebie | Louis Déprez |
| 1951 | Louison Bobet | Pierre Barbotin | Robert Desbats |
| 1952 | Louison Bobet | Robert Varnajo | Bernard Gauthier |
| 1953 | Robert Desbats | Jacques Dupont | Gilbert Loof |
| 1954 | Roger Hassenforder | Raoul Rémy | Bernard Gauthier |
| 1955 | René Privat | Pierre Molineris | Bernard Gauthier |
| 1956 | Roger Hassenforder | Louis Caput | Jean Forestier |
| 1957 | Jean Forestier | Louison Bobet | Serge Blusson |
| 1958 | Roger Hassenforder | Raphaël Géminiani | Claude Colette |
| 1959 | André Darrigade | Fernand Picot | Jean Graczyk |
| 1960 | Jean Graczyk | Claude Colette | Jacques Anquetil |
| 1961 | Jacques Anquetil | André Darrigade | Jean Gainche |
| 1962 | Joseph Groussard | Jean-Claude Annaert | Anatole Novak |
| 1963 | Jacques Anquetil | Raymond Poulidor | Joseph Velly |
| 1964 | Raymond Poulidor | Edouard Delberghe | Joseph Novales |
| 1965 | Jacques Anquetil | Raymond Poulidor | Jean-Claude Annaert |
| 1966 | Raymond Poulidor | Roger Pingeon | Jean-Claude Lebaube |
| 1967 | Jacques Anquetil | Raymond Poulidor | Raymond Delisle |
| 1968 | Raymond Poulidor | Jean Jourden | Roger Pingeon |
| 1969 | Gilbert Bellone | Raymond Delisle | Georges Chappe |
| 1970 | Georges Chappe | Lucien Aimar | Roland Berland |
| 1971 | Raymond Poulidor | Gilbert Bellone | Daniel Ducreux |
| 1972 | Raymond Poulidor | Alain Santy | Jean-Luc Molinéris |
| 1973 | Jean-Pierre Danguillaume | Alain Santy | André Mollet |
| 1974 | Bernard Thévenet | Christian Raymond | Raymond Delisle |
| 1975 | Jacques Esclassan | André Corbeau | Jean Chassang |
| 1976 | Patrick Béon | Yves Hézard | Raymond Martin |
| 1977 | Jean Chassang | Raymond Delisle | Roland Berland |
| 1978 | Bernard Hinault | Michel Laurent | Yves Hézard |
| Critérium International |
| 1979 | Joop Zoetemelk | Bernard Hinault | Sven-Åke Nilsson |
| 1980 | Michel Laurent | Jean-René Bernaudeau | Régis Ovion |
| 1981 | Bernard Hinault | Jacques Bossis | Régis Clère |
| 1982 | Laurent Fignon | André Chappuis | Marcel Tinazzi |
| 1983 | Seán Kelly | Jean-Marie Grezet | Joop Zoetemelk |
| 1984 | Seán Kelly | Pascal Simon | Stephen Roche |
| 1985 | Stephen Roche | Charly Berard | Seán Kelly |
| 1986 | Urs Zimmermann | Seán Kelly | Greg LeMond |
| 1987 | Seán Kelly | Stephen Roche | Pascal Simon |
| 1988 | Erik Breukink | Laurent Fignon | Robert Millar |
| 1989 | Miguel Induráin | Charly Mottet | Stephen Roche |
| 1990 | Laurent Fignon | Gilles Delion | Jean-Claude Leclercq |
| 1991 | Stephen Roche | Gérard Rué | Charly Mottet |
| 1992 | Jean-François Bernard | Gert-Jan Theunisse | Giorgio Furlan |
| 1993 | Erik Breukink | Tony Rominger | Alex Zülle |
| 1994 | Giorgio Furlan | Tony Rominger | Evgueni Berzin |
| 1995 | Laurent Jalabert | Vladislav Bobrik | Evgueni Berzin |
| 1996 | Chris Boardman | Michele Coppolillo | Mauro Gianetti |
| 1997 | Marcelino García | Laurent Jalabert | Pascal Lino |
| 1998 | Bobby Julich | Davide Rebellin | Bo Hamburger |
| 1999 | Jens Voigt | David Millar | Andrei Teteriouk |
| 2000 | Abraham Olano | Juan Carlos Domínguez | Alexander Vinokourov |
| 2001 | Rik Verbrugghe | José Alberto Martínez | Jens Voigt |
| 2002 | José Alberto Martínez | Lance Armstrong* | David Moncoutié |
| 2003 | Laurent Brochard | Jens Voigt | David Moncoutié |
| 2004 | Jens Voigt | José Iván Gutiérrez | Lance Armstrong* |
| 2005 | Bobby Julich | Thomas Dekker | Jörg Jaksche |
| 2006 | Ivan Basso | Erik Dekker | Andriy Hrivko |
| 2007 | Jens Voigt | Thomas Lövkvist | Alejandro Valverde |
| 2008 | Jens Voigt | Gustav Larsson | Luis León Sánchez |
| 2009 | Jens Voigt | František Raboň | Danny Pate |
| 2010 | Pierrick Fédrigo | Michael Rogers | Tiago Machado |
| 2011 | Fränk Schleck | Vasil Kiryienka | Rein Taaramäe |
| 2012 | Cadel Evans | Pierrick Fédrigo | Michael Rogers |
| 2013 | Chris Froome | Richie Porte | Tejay van Garderen |
| 2014 | Jean-Christophe Péraud | Mathias Frank | Tiago Machado |
| 2015 | Jean-Christophe Péraud | Thibaut Pinot | Fabio Felline |
| 2016 | Thibaut Pinot | Pierre Latour | Sam Oomen |
*Results later voided for doping infringements

### Multiple winners

Riders in italic are still active.
| Wins | Rider | Editions |
| 5 | Émile Idée (FRA) | 1940 + 1942 + 1943 + 1947 + 1949 |
| 5 | Raymond Poulidor (FRA) | 1964 + 1966 + 1968 + 1971 + 1972 |
| 5 | Jens Voigt (GER) | 1999 + 2004 + 2007 + 2008 + 2009 |
| 4 | Jacques Anquetil (FRA) | 1961 + 1963 + 1965 + 1967 |
| 3 | Roger Hassenforder (FRA) | 1954 + 1956 + 1958 |
| 3 | Seán Kelly (IRL) | 1983 + 1984 + 1987 |
| 2 | Roger Lapébie (FRA) | 1934 + 1937 |
| 2 | Camille Danguillaume (FRA) | 1946 + 1948 |
| 2 | Louison Bobet (FRA) | 1951 + 1952 |
| 2 | Bernard Hinault (FRA) | 1978 + 1981 |
| 2 | Laurent Fignon (FRA) | 1982 + 1990 |
| 2 | Stephen Roche (IRL) | 1985 + 1991 |
| 2 | Erik Breukink (NED) | 1988 + 1993 |
| 2 | Bobby Julich (USA) | 1998 + 2005 |
| 2 | Jean-Christophe Péraud (FRA) | 2014 + 2015 |

### Wins per country

| Wins | Country |
| 58 | France |
| 5 | Ireland, Germany |
| 4 | Spain |
| 3 | Netherlands |
| 2 | Italy, United States, United Kingdom |
| 1 | Australia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland |