1925 Paris-Roubaix, Alcyon Cycling Team Advertising Poster

Paris-Roubaix 1er: Sellier Sur Bicyclette Alcyon A clean, graphic punch of deep blue and cream, this Alcyon poster is all confidence and no clutter. The headline locks onto the race name, “PARIS-ROUBAIX,” then delivers the brag in one line: “1er, Sellier, sur bicyclette Alcyon,” – Felix Sellier won on an Alcyon Bike The 1925 race was the 26th edition, held on April 12.  Felix Sellier won the day in 9h 16’ 32” ahead of Pietro Bestetti in second and Jules Van Hevel in third.  Paris-Roubaix is one of cycling’s oldest one-day races, first run in 1896, and has earned its reputation as the sport’s most punishing classic over more than a century. The race became inseparable from the brutal roads of northern France, especially its long stretches of pavé, the cobblestones that turn speed into survival and make mechanical failures part of the story. Its most famous nickname, the Hell of the North, did not begin as a romantic reference to cobbles; it was first used in 1919, when organizers and journalists traveled through a war-scarred landscape to see whether the route still existed after World War I. Over time, the start moved away from central Paris, it shifted to Chantilly in the 1960s, and since 1977, it has started in Compiègne, while the finish has, for the most part, since 1943, played out inside the Roubaix Velodrome, where the chaos of the roads suddenly becomes a clean track sprint. Modern Paris-Roubaix history also has its iconic set pieces, including the Trouée d’Arenberg, a fearsome cobbled sector through a forest first added in 1968 as race planners searched for tougher pavé after many roads were resurfaced. And in a final touch that feels perfectly on brand, since 1977, the winner has received a cobblestone trophy, a literal piece of the race. The Alcyon cycling team (1905 -1962) was one of the great early “trade teams,” built around the Alcyon bicycle brand and stacked with top talent in the sport’s formative decades. The Team won Paris-Roubaix an epic 12 times. They won the Tour de France four straight years before World War I, taking overall victory with François Faber (1909), Octave Lapize (1910), Gustave Garrigou (1911), and Odile Defraye (1912), and they also captured the Tour’s team prize from 1909 to 1912, later repeating that team prize run from 1927 to 1929.  In the late 1920s, Alcyon’s dominance was so pronounced that multiple Tour winners came directly from the squad, including Nicolas Frantz and Maurice De Waele, emblematic of an era when powerful commercial teams could shape the entire race. This poster has been archivally and professionally linen-backed. Virtually all original vintage posters of this era were viewed as temporary advertising and were printed on fragile, thin paper. While expensive, linen backing is a conservation method used to mount, stabilize, preserve, and protect vintage posters, allowing them to be displayed or framed without compromising their value. This poster is an original first printing, not a reproduction. Year: 1925 Artist: N/A Imp. Publicité Desmoineaux & Brisset, Paris Size: 49 x 29 cm (19 ¼  x 11 ½  inches) Posters are sold unframed. Framed images are display ideas only. This is a one-of-a-kind item; please review the photos carefully to determine the condition. This item is listed on multiple platforms, and availability is subject to prior sale elsewhere.