Marcel Ernzer

Marcel Ernzer was one of the best road cyclists of his day in post-war Luxembourg. Ernzer won a couple of amateur races in 1947 and 1948 to earn himself a place on the Olympic team, and competed in the road race at the London Games without finishing the course. He then had an impressive set of results back home over the next decade, including winning the Tour of Luxembourg in 1951 and 1960, as well as the national road race championship for three consecutive years from 1953 to 1955.

In addition to winning the Tour of Luxembourg twice, Ernzer was consistent at his home race, finishing second in 1955 and 1961, and third in 1949 and 1954. His biggest win outside of his country came at the 1954 edition of the classic monument race Liège-Bastogne-Liège in Belgium. After nearly seven hours Ernzer won the 236 km race by almost three minutes ahead of the home favourite Raymond Impanis.

From 1949 to 1962 Ernzer started nine editions of the Tour de France. Whilst never a contender for the yellow jersey, he had multiple top-10 stage finishes during his career, and a best overall result of 16th in the general classification in 1958. Sadly it was also the race that ended Ernzer’s career after suffering a serious crash at the 1962 Tour, which forced him to quit the sport.