Jean Dotto

Who was Jean Dotto?

Jean-Baptiste Dotto was the first French racing cyclist to win the Vuelta a España. He rode the Tour de France 13 times, coming fourth in 1954.

Jean Dotto was born with Italian nationality. He became French in 1937. Dotto was a good climber. He became an independent, or semi-professional, in 1948 and won a race up Mont Ventoux that year and won Marseille-Toulon-Marseille and the climb of La Turbie, near Nice in 1950. He turned professional in 1951 for France-Sport-Dunlop and won five races, including three hill climbs, in his first season. He rode until 1963, winning 35 races, including the Dauphiné-Libéré twice. He won stage 19 of the 1954 Tour de France and next year won the Vuelta by beating Julio Jiménez of Spain and Raphael Geminiani of France.

Of his era, he said: "We took amphetamine but not all the year. That allowed us to win and it wasn't very dangerous."