He crossed the century without ever breaking his ties with Eaux-Vives. Georges Berchten (1901-2000), known as “Coco”, was still a regular spectator at Frontenex at the age of 95. The last witness to Urania’s finest hours, this “fighter” with an inexhaustible energy supply triumphed in the Swiss Cup final in 1929. With international Edmond Loichot and Uruguayan virtuoso Ross, he formed a first-rate middle trio. Two years later, he won another final, at the Colonial Exhibition in Paris in 1931. Three times selected for the national team, he remained an amateur at heart. His only income was a bedroom given to him by UGS as a wedding present. He wore only two shirts in his long career: the “purple” of Urania and that of Union Saint-Gilloise, one of the great Belgian clubs of the time. A painter and decorator, he attended a famous Brussels institute. Had it not been for his father’s veto of cycling, his sporting destiny would have been very different. A first place in the Tour du Lac as a junior showed his brilliant aptitude for cycling.