Happy birthday to Henri Suter, who was born on July 10, 1899, and died on November 6, 1978.
The Swiss rider is best known for winning two of the five monuments of cycling, after claiming victories in the 1923 Paris-Roubaix Classic in front of Rene Vermandel of Belgium and Felix Sellier of Belgium and the 1923 Tour of Flanders Classic.
Suter was born in Gränichen, Switzerland, and turned professional in 1916.
His first notable victory came in 1919 when he won the Züri-Metzgete.
Numerous victories followed from there, namely races in and around his native Switzerland such as Grand Prix Aurore, Tour de Zürich, Switzerland National Road Championships, Tour du Nord-Ouest, Genève-Zürich, Tour de Suisse Orientale, Circuit de Neuchâtel, Circuit de Fribourg, Circuit du Vaudois, Munich-Zürich, Circuit de Champagne, Tour du Lac Léman, Grand Prix Griffon, Zürich-La Chaux-de-Fonds, Bordeaux-Marseille, Prix de Génève, Paris-Tours, Tour de Cologne, Circuit de Cologne, Tour de Francfort, Tour du Württemberg, Circuit de la Montagne, Grand Prix Yverdon, Circuit Franco-Suisse and the Switzerland National motor-paced championships – earning him a total of 58 wins during his 28-year career.
One of the more interesting races that Suter won was the GP Wolber, which was a French cycling event that was first held in the early 1920s.
It was considered a kind of unofficial World Championship, wherein only cyclists who finished in the top-3 of the major French, Italian, Belgian and Swiss races were invited.
The first GP Wolber was held in 1922., which Suter won, followed by another victory in 1925.
However, when the World Cycling Championship was introduced in 1927, the race started to lose its prestige, with the last edition taking place in 1931.
During his career, Suter rode for such notable teams as Gurtner – Hutchinson, Peugeot – Wolber, Griffon – Dunlop, Olympique – Wolber, Mifa, Dilecta – Wolber and Génial Lucifer – Hutchinson, before riding independently.
Suter retired from racing in 1946, and spent the remaining years of his life in Bülach, Switzerland, where he died at the age of 79.
Grattis på födelsedagen Henri!
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