Philippe Thys (October 8, 1890 - January 16, 1971) was a Belgian cyclist and the first rider to win the Tour de France three times.
Born in Brussels, Thys in 1910 won Belgium's first national cyclo-cross championship. He went on to win the Tour de France in 1913 and 1914 and, after World War I, for a third and final time in 1920. Not until 1955 did Louison Bobet equal Thys's record, and not until 1963 did Jacques Anquetil break it with four wins. Thys also rode in the 1922 Tour, winning five stages, and in the 1924 Tour, winning two stages.
In 1917, Thys won Paris-Tours and the Giro di Lombardia. In 1918, he also captured the second and last Tours-Paris event, a race that was held from Tours to Paris in addition to the usual Paris to Tours race.
When he won the 1913 Tour, Thys was 22 years old. He was helped by the new rules, introduced that same year, which required all riders to make their own repairs. Going over the Pyrenees, Eugene Christophe was leading the race when he broke his front fork. He carried his bike to the nearest town, found a blacksmith's shop and fixed the bike himself. The three-hour delay handed the lead to Thijs (who had to carry out repairs himself too) and he prevailed in Paris with a lead of just under nine minutes. In the 1914 Tour de France, he had to change bicycle in the penultimate stage, which cost him one hour penalty time. This time he also kept the lead with just under two minutes.
Known as an intelligent and thoughtful man who maintained a grueling training regime, Thys was one of a generation of cyclists whose careers were disrupted by the First World War.
After retiring, he recalled that he had been asked by his manager, Alphonse Baugé, to wear a yellow jersey to identify himself as the leader of the Tour, although that distinction is more commonly attributed to the Frenchman Eugène Christophe.