jean alavoine was born in roubaix on 1 april 1888. in his professional career from 1908 to 1925, he won 29 courses, including 17 tour de france stages. in the 1922 tour de france, he won three stages in a row, stages 5–6-7, and wore the yellow jersey. in stage 11, still leading the race, alavoine had mechanical problems and his lead dropped to 6:53 minutes. in stage 12 alavoine lost 37 minutes and the lead. in the end, he finished the tour in second place. in 1943 he died during a veteran race in argenteuil.