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 |Julio Jiménez] of Spain and Raphaël Géminiani 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."

Major results

;1952
;1954
;1955
;1956 - Sud-Est
;1957
;1958 - Centre-Midi
;1959
;1960
;1961
;1962
;1963