Jacques Marinelli, older wearer of the yellow jersey on the Tour de France, died at 99 years old

Black notebook for French cycling on the eve of the big departure. Cyclist Jacques Marinelli, known as “La Parakerche”, an ephemeral carrier of the yellow jersey during the 1949 Tour de France, died at the age of 99, announced, Thursday, July 3, the town hall of Melun (Seine-et-Marne), which he directed for 13 years.

“Melun loses today one of his most illustrious children. Legendary cyclist, accomplished business manager, former visionary and deeply human mayor”wrote on Facebook the current mayor Kadir Mebarek. Aged 23 during the Tour in 1949, dominated by the “Campionissimi” Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali, Jacques Marinelli seized the yellow jersey during the 4th stage in Rouen and defended it for six days to the Pyrenees. “I was in good shape, that's all I knew. But I didn't even dream of the yellow jersey …”remembered the native of Blanc-Mesnil (Seine-Saint-Denis), during an interview with AFP in 2019.

The whole of France is then passionate about the exploits of the one we nicknamed “the parakeet”, for its small size of a meter sixty for about fifty kilos, in opposition perhaps to the legendary Italian “Heron” Fausto Coppi, future winner of publishing. He will finish third in Paris, behind the two Italian champions, welcomed by a huge crowd in the capital.

His popularity will serve him in the rest of his life to establish himself as one of the biggest traders in Seine-et-Marne, then to access the town hall of Melun, which he directed from 1989 to 2002, before handing over to 77 years. He was the oldest carrier of the yellow jersey still alive.