It was in the Paris suburb of Trappes, with 1,160km already in his legs, that disaster struck Édouard Muller.
The date was 9th September 1951 and the 32-year-old Frenchman had been at the head of the Paris-Brest-Paris Classic alongside compatriot Maurice Diot for the past 300km. Along with another Frenchman, Charles Joly, the two men had hit the front of the race at Vitré in the Ille-et-Vilaine department of Brittany. They had worked together well, getting the necessary gap and then measuring their efforts, salvaging what strength they had left, ready for the final act in this epic tale.
When Joly finally fell away with around 100km to go, Diot and
