Gitane, meaning "Gypsy Woman" in French, originated in Machecoul France in 1926 when a local blacksmith decided to start making his own bicycle frames. <br><br> Gitane has been sponsoring cycling teams since the 1940's but didn't really start seeing success until the 1960 when they were joining sponsors of the Rapha-Gitane-Dunlop Squad. In the first two years of this squad they enjoyed wins in Liege-Bastonge-Liege, Paris-Tours, Ronde van Vlaanderen and also a couple of stages in the Tour de France. In 1963 three teams merged to form the Saint-Raphael-Gitane-Geminiani super quad which in the following 3 years went on to win the Tour de France twice, Paris-Tours, the Giro di Lombardia, Paris-Nice twice, Ghent-Wevelgem, the Ronde van Vlaanderen, the Giro d'Italia, Milan-San Remo, the Criterium International, the GP de Nations and the Criterium du Dauphine Libere/Bordeux-Paris double.<br><br> Gitane went through a spate of sales starting in 1974 when Renault bought a 30% stake in Gitane and in 1976 bought the remaining stake. Later Gitane would become one of the brands managed by Cycleurope which was formed to compete with the rise of Asian brands.<br><br> Gitane is now just one of the brands of Cycleurope amongst Bianchi, Legano and Puch, with most of the bikes under the Gitane brand now produced for urban and recreational market. Today, the thought of a Gitane being ridden to victory in the Tour de France seems more remote than a French rider finishing in the maillot jaune.>