Mercier-Hutchinson K-W - miniature cyclists

Raymond Poulidor

Mercier is a French cycling team that joined the peloton from 1935 to 1983. The team always rode with Mercier racing bikes.

Bicycle manufacturer Cycles Mercier was the main sponsor of the team from 1935 to 1969.

The biggest names that ever rode for the team were André Leducq, Antonin Magne, Barry Hoban, Cyrille Guimard, Gerrie Knetemann, Joop Zoetemelk, Marcel Kint, Raymond Poulidor, Rik Van Looy, Rik Van Steenbergen, Roger Lapebie and Rolf Wolfshohl.

Since 1946 the team rode with purple jerseys. In 1950 the jersey was adapted with a yellow band in the neck. The jersey would stay that way until 1969, when Mercier continued as co-sponsor.

Hutchinson was the co-sponsor from 1935 to 1955. The team had the name Mercier-Hutchinson. BP joined the team from 1956 to 1969, and so the name of the team was Mercier-BP-Hutchinson. Antonin Magne, who had won the Tour de France twice and the World Championship once in 1936, ended his career as a professional rider in 1941. In 1953 he joined the team as sports director. He held this position until 1970. The team then continued as Fagor-Mercier.

Under Magne the team had a lot of successes. In 1955 he won the Tour of Flanders with Louison Bobet and later that year also the Tour de France.

When Bobet left the team, Raymond Poulidor joined the team. He would compete with the other Frenchman Jacques Anquetil in the Tour. In 1964 Poulidor won some nice races including the Tour of Spain and Milan-San Remo. After the final victory in the Tour of Spain he competed with Anquetil in the Tour de France of 1964. Poulidor finished 2nd in the general classification, only 55 seconds behind winner Anquetil. Poulidor had not won the Tour de France, but he was supported by the fans. This made him much more popular than Anquetil. Poulidor rode his entire professional career at Mercier.

From 1969 Mercier was no longer a main sponsor. The Spanish equipment manufacturer Fagor was the new sponsor. From 1973 to 1976 Gan was the main sponsor of the team Gan-Mercier-Hutchinson. It was in that period that Cyrille Guimard won the points jersey in the Vuelta (1971), and became 2nd in the Tour de France (1972). The Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk also rode for the team (from 1974 to 1980, and in 1982). In those years he won the Tour of Spain (1979) and 3 times Paris-Nice (1974, 1975 and 1979). In the Tour de France of 1978 and 1979 Zoetemelk competed with Bernard Hinault. He lost, but could wear the yellow jersey for a few days.

Miko became the main sponsor of the Miko-Mercier-Vivagel team from 1977 to 1982. And in 1983 COOP was the main sponsor of the team COOP-Mercier.

Unforgettable victories of the team:
-Amstel Gold Race (1974)
-Belgian championship (1939, 1943, 1945, 1953, 1954) 
-French Championship (1939, 1949, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1961, 1974) 
-Liege-Bastogne-Liege (1948, 1956, 1963) 
-Milan-San Remo (1954, 1956, 1960, 1961) 
-Paris-Roubaix (1943, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1956) 
-Paris-Tours (1954, 1956, 1977, 1979) 
-Tour de France (1937, 1955) 
-Tour of Spain (1964, 1965, 1979) 
-Tour of Flanders (1942, 1944, 1946, 1954, 1955, 1974) 
-World Championship (1938, 1949)

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