People who worked on the land day in and day out appreciated raw competition spiced with a battle against the elements and unyielding nature. He discussed it with his editor one day over lunch.
Then came the bombshell. He wanted his race to be a circuit of France, internally replicating the hexagonal shape of the country. And it would start and finish in Paris. The idea was huge and scary. But then Desgrange considered those words: Tour de France. Products of the bicycling craze of the s in France included an army regiment mounted on bicycles and numerous flourishing bicycle-connected businesses as well as a public appetite for races.
The Tour de France, which began as a newspaper circulation-booster, was an unexpected by-product of the Dreyfus Affair. The editor was Henri Desgranges, winner of the world one-hour record in When one of his assistants suggested a race round France, Desgranges saw the possibilities. During Indurain's reign another American was emerging; Lance Armstrong won a stage in the and Tours. Diagnosed with testicular cancer in , Armstrong was given a slim chance of living, since it had also spread to various parts of his body and brain.
Following an operation and painful chemotherapy, he fought back with a vengeance and won the Tour de France. However, he had these winnings stripped after a lengthy doping investigation. Despite, ahem, a slow start, Britain has, in recent years, become a major player in the Tour. Brits have dominated since Bradley Wiggins of team Sky became the first British rider to win in After "Wiggo" broke the lengthy losing streak Chris Froome has won the Tour four times, in , , and again in Sprinter Mark Cavendish , known as 'the Manx Missile' from the Isle of Man, holds the record for the most mass finish stage wins with 30 as of stage 14 in Join over 30, enthusiasts from around the world.
We will never spam you, sell your data or send emails from third parties. Fans hand drinks to the riders — Belgium this year mourned the death of an aficionado, Lucien Blyau, who had served up hundreds of mini cans of Coke to the Tour riders each year for 35 years — and on occasion help out when riders have mechanical issues. Struggling backmarkers are pushed up mountains.
The fans dress up for the television cameras and run alongside their heroes even as the key moments of the race unfold. The Tour leader broke his bike when he collided with a motorbike conveying a cameraman, which had been held up when the crowds spread too thickly onto the road.
As he ran up the mountain — knowing that, bike or no bike, every yard closer to the finish line would reduce the time he lost — some of the crowd ran with him, others shot video of the episode on their mobile phones. The mix of mayhem and sporting endeavour was typical of the Tour, which has blended excess and heroism in equal measure since Initially, there were doubts whether any of the 60 starters would manage to complete the marathon stages of the first edition, even though there were 13 rest days interspersed between the stages, but the race was a popular success.
The route was reconnoitred in winter, when the passes were blanketed in snow so deep that the roads could not be made out; that summer there were fears that the riders might be attacked by bears. Racing at night was abandoned to make the riders less vulnerable to wayward fans, while the stages were shortened and increased in number, so that the event expanded to last 3 weeks.
That of course meant more sales. That took him 4 hours, with the race organisers watching all the while to ensure he received no outside assistance. At one point he let a small boy work the bellows, for which he was given a time penalty. In the s, riders could be penalised for infractions as trivial as wearing the wrong jersey or not showing a broken bike to the organisers.
In any case, the maillot jaune gave the race a daily focus: who was leading, who might lead, who had led. Desgrange had given his race a July date; the bulk of the population took their time off in summer, giving the Tour a ready-made audience in search of innocent diversion.
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