P. Pallas, the beginnings of the velocipede and the bicycle in the Gers (1868-1918)
Often eclipsed by more spectacular innovations such as the train, the automobile or the beginnings of aviation, the bicycle nevertheless plays a fundamental role in the evolution of modes of transport experienced in the 19th century. Long before the advent of the car, it played a decisive role in the democratization of individual mobility by making a mechanical and autonomous means of transport accessible to as many people as possible.
From its first turns at the end of the Second Empire, the bicycle captured the interest of the Gersois. This is evidenced by a new type of accident on the roads of the department and the eagerness of local authorities to regulate the use of the “little iron horse”. At the end of the 19th century, there were more than 3,000 bicycles in circulation in the Gers and Auch had around ten cycle merchants.
The concomitant birth of a sporting practice captivated a large audience. We race everywhere, from the confines of Armagnac to Lomagne and cycling, soon boosted by the magic of the Tour de France which passes through Gers from 1906, becomes the most popular sport in the department, preceding of a few decades the passion that the Gersois would then give to rugby then to football.
Energetic pioneers and endearing champions like Condomois Georges Sérès (1884-1951), future world track champion, enhanced this mechanical, social and sporting adventure, laying the foundations for a cycling tradition that has been strongly anchored in our customs ever since.
Ch. Armagnac, Paul Armagnac (1924-1962) champion automobile, the trajectory of a Gascon keen.
Paul Armagnac would have been one hundred years old on November 18, 2024. In honor of this centenary, Chantal Armagnac retraces her father's journey by weaving a web with the testimonies of those close to him, the letters exchanged between Paul and his family, the articles from journalists. His childhood in Izotges, his studies in Tarbes in the Jeanne d'Arc Institution, his commitment to the Armagnac Battalion during the Second War, his job as a bailiff in Riscle then his reconversion in the agriculture in Arblade-le-Haut near Nogaro…. always implicit in his passion for mechanics which will take him to all the circuits of the world.
Thus we find the footprints of the man whose shadow still wanders in the riverside undergrowth of the Adour and the Arros, in the roar of racing engines and in the flight of airplanes at Nogaro. A journey during which he was firmly supported to achieve a remarkable career in motorsport. Proof is that in Gascony, mutual aid and solidarity are not empty words.
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