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Albert Baker d'Isy (b. Paris 18 April 1906, d. 20 May 1968) was a French cycling journalist and author and the founder of the Grand Prix des Nations international time-trial. He is considered, in the French expression, "one of the most beautiful pens" of sports writing. Pierre Chany a contemporary, called him "The best sporting journalist of his generation." 〔Penot, Christophe (1996), ''Pierre Chany, l'homme aux 50 Tours de France'', Éditions Cristel, Paris, p40〕 ==Biography== Albert Baker d'Isy worked at ''L'Écho des Sports'', a sports newspaper which appeared erratically between 1904 and 1957. In 1934, he became one of its main cycling writers, along with René de Latour, who was also foreign correspondent of the British monthly, ''Sporting Cyclist''. By that time, he was also writing for the larger daily, ''Paris-Soir'', which he joined in 1931. With ''Paris-Soir''′s sports editor, Gaston Bénac, he created the Critérium National, a road race limited to French riders, and the Grand Prix des Nations. The Grand Prix began in 1932 to much suspicion among riders, because there had been no tradition of racing against the clock in continental Europe,〔Chany, Pierre (1982), ''La Fabuleuse Histoire de cyclisme'', Nathan Paris〕〔''Procycling'', UK, August 1999, pp65-69〕 but the race went on to become the unofficial world time-trial championship.〔''Bicyclist'', October 1998〕 ''Paris-Soir'' created both races in competition with ''L'Auto'', the national sports daily which ran the Tour de France. Rivalry between the publications was so intense that Henri Desgrange, the organiser, changed the time of race finishes so to make them too late for ''Paris-Soir'' to report.〔 Baker d'Isy and Bénac got the idea of an international time-trial after watching the world championship road race in Copenhagen in 1931, which unusually had been run that way.〔〔〔http://www.veloparis.com/web/premier_grand_prix.html〕 The two decided that the novelty would ensure their paper publicity and that running a time-trial would cost less than a conventional road race. Baker d'Isy came up with the name 〔 and he and René de Latour 〔De Latour, René: Take your bike and find me a course, ''Sporting Cyclist'', UK〕 claim to have found the route. Maurice Archambaud was the first winner. The route started near the Versailles château and ran round a triangle through Rambouillet, Maulette, Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, Versailles and Boulogne to finish on the Vélodrome Buffalo. There were three hills, one in the first 100 km, plenty of cobbles, and the last 40 km went through the woods of the Vallée de Chevreuse, a popular area for bike riders. The distance was 142 km. Baker d'Isy moved after World War II to another Paris evening paper, ''Ce Soir''. He became deputy to Georges Pagnoud in race organisation. Baker d'Isy also wrote for monthly papers, ''Sports'' and ''Miroir'', which had been started by the Communist Party.〔France in the 1950s had a strong communist following and all political sides had their own publications, not all of them markedly political in nature〕 ''Ce Soir'' failed and Baker d'Isy joined ''L'Équipe'', which had taken over from ''L'Auto''.〔''L'Auto'', which had been taken over by a German consortium, was closed down after the war. The government sequestrated its property, which included rights to run the Tour de France. ''L'Équipe'' was established by many of ''L'Auto''′s staff but without the original editor, Henri Desgrange, who died at the outbreak of the war. ''L'Équipe'' had to bid for the Tour de France in competition with rival papers.〕 He was fired from ''L'Équipe'' after being sent to report from Egypt. Pierre Chany said: The problem was that Albert always went that bit too far. When he was fired, he had just returned from a long reporting tour of Egypt. He had promised 12 articles but he only ever wrote the first. The paper had announced that the next 11 instalments were to follow, but they never appeared. Baker just wrote 11 titles on a sheet of paper. For the rest, he left a blank page. Out of respect for his readers, Jacques Goddet (editor ) could do nothing else than show him the door.〔Penot, Christophe (1996), ''Pierre Chany, l'homme aux 50 Tours de France'', Éditions Cristel, Paris, p47〕 Baker d'Isy then worked at ''France Soir'', the last newspaper of his career. Baker d'Isy was a founder of ''Miroir du Cyclisme'', writing about champions he had met. A collection of his reports was published as Le Tour de France. ''Chroniques de L’Équipe'', 1954-1982 (2002, La Table Ronde, Paris). Pierre Chany wrote of him that he had "a high forehead, a faintly projecting jaw, the dry face of a Breton sailor, a felt hat pushed back to his neck. Cycling was his family and cycling his passion." 〔Penot, Christophe (1996), ''Pierre Chany, l'homme aux 50 Tours de France'', Éditions Cristel, Paris, p44〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Albert Baker d'Isy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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