In road bicycle racing, a domestique is a rider who works for the benefit of his team and leader, rather than trying to win the race. In French, domestique translates as “servant”. The use of the term dates back to 1911, although such riders had existed previously.

The term domestique was first used in cycling as an insult for Maurice Brocco, known as Coco, in 1911. Brocco started six Tours de France between 1908 and 1914, finished none of them, although a stage he won in 1911 caused the coining of domestique.

Brocco’s chances in 1911 ended when he lost time on the day to Chamonix. Unable to win, the next day he offered his services to other riders, for which he had a reputation. François Faber was in danger of being eliminated for taking too long and the two came to a deal. Brocco waited for Faber and paced him to the finish. Henri Desgrange, the organiser and chief judge, wanted to disqualify him for breaking the rules. But he had no proof and feared Brocco would appeal to the national cycling body, the Union Vélocipédique Française. He limited his scorn to writing, his paper, L’Auto writing: “He is unworthy. He is no more than a domestique.” The next morning, Brocco greeted Desgrange with: “Today, monsieur, we are going to settle our accounts.” He rode hard and won the day by 34 minutes. Desgrange followed him and the yellow jersey, Garrigou, as they climbed the Tourmalet. “So, am I forbidden to ride with him?”

On the following mountain, the Aubisque, he dropped Garrigou, passed Paul Duboc, who had been poisoned and was in agony beside the road, and took the lead with Émile Georget. Desgrange was still watching. “Alors, quoi”, Brocco shouted, “do I have the right to stay with him?” And then he rode off alone and won. He had made two points to Desgrange. The first was that he was a talented rider and not a servant. The second was that he had so much talent that his poor riding with Faber could only have been through a commercial arrangement. Desgrange replied that any rider with such flair had clearly been selling the race. “He deserves his punishment”, Desgrange wrote, “immediate disqualification.” Domestiques had long been accepted in other races. Desgrange believed the Tour should be a race of individuals and fought repeatedly with the sponsors, bicycle factories, who saw it otherwise.