July 27, 1950
13ª Tour stage
Perpignan - Nimes 250km
The day
Abdel Kader Zaaf became a legend
Fuente: Solidarité Laïque
THE STORY
Stage 13 of the 1950 Tour de France, from Perpignan to Nîmes, was blistering. Temperatures above 40ºC were recorded. In the absence of about 200 km. for goal, Abdel-Kader Zaaf attacked with his compatriot Marcel Molines. Zaaf accepted a bottle from a harvester that supposedly contained wine or some other form of alcohol. The alcohol combined with the heat had an immediate effect on Zaaf, who began to zigzag and had to interrupt the stage, deciding to seek rest under a tree where he immediately fell asleep.
A little later he was woken up by some supporters to tell him that the platoon was fast approaching. Abdel-Kader got on his bike and accelerated, in the opposite direction of the direction of the race. He was lucky not to collide with the peloton. They forced him to get off a second time and took him to the hospital.
Molines won the stage but the legend of Abdel-Kader Zaaf was born, to whom his grandson Riad pays tribute with this project.
