le grimpeur

Show us what you can do…3
Guy WR posted in Climbers on July 7th, 2008

“Simplement montrer ce que je sais faire dans la montagne…,” said French climber Rémy Di Grégorio when asked in his interview in the official Tour de France programme what his goals were for the race.

Injury blunted his ambitions for showing us what he could do in last year’s edition but an absence of Grand Tour stage wins and results has not kept the young, up-and-coming rider from capturing the limelight. In recent times we’ve had a feature article in Cycle Sport and now the two page spread in the official programme. His profile has rivaled that of more accomplished riders such as Sylvain Chavanel, David Moncoutie, or Christophe Moreau. (more…)

The real René Vietto - part 1: The Myth0
Guy WR posted in Climbers, Classic Stages on July 1st, 2008

Like many sports, cycling has its founding myths: the great heroic struggles of the riders, their giant shoulders broad enough for the current peloton to stand on. Henri Desgrange’s express intention when starting the Tour de France was a race more difficult than all the others, longer and more arduous. His ideal was a route so tough that only one rider would finish.

Desgrange enforced his conception of what the Tour and bike racing should be with a will and rod of iron. While his rules were constantly evolving, they were always punitive. Restrictions on equipment, support and food and water, rules against drafting, against mass sprints, even bad language. In 1913, with riders banned from receiving any mechanical help, Eugene Christophe - in one of the most storied events of the Tour - was forced to repair his own forks at a local blacksmiths, even incurring an additional time penalty. We remember Christophe’s dedication rather than Desgrange’s ridiculous regulations. (more…)

The Tour of Good Health: 19680
Guy WR posted in Classic Stages on July 1st, 2008

The year 1968 was a turbulent one for France, as it was for other countries around the world. Sport was caught up in the political events, with the Olympics that year in Mexico City featuring protests from some athletes that would later become iconic.

In May in France, student riots spread to the workers and it seemed like the Republic itself could be under the threat of revolution. But it was not to be. The students, it seems, were more willing to challenge the status quo of President De Gaulle’s political philosophy, particularly his ideas of ‘participation’ in society, rather than to bring down his government.

Historian Rod Kenward writes in La Vie En Bleu that in the view of many student leaders, “We had stormed the word, but not the Bastille.”

Still, the chaos caused by the riots and the strikes threatened the running of that year’s Tour, which was already under scrutiny and review following the death of Tom Simpson in 1967. The French government, with De Gaulle’s party returned to power following elections in June, wanted the Tour to go ahead, however, as part of a return to normalcy.

The BBC this week reviewed the anniversary of the student riots, and the self-reflection that has gone into their meaning. Writes Henri Astier: “The anniversary has in fact seen a strange replay of 1968 - complete with metaphorical barricades, a two-month talkfest, culminating in everyone switching off and heading for the sun.”

He might have added “…to watch the Tour de France”.

As this year’s Tour gets underway, as a fresh start, it is a good opportunity to look back on the 1968 event, some forty years ago. Click here to see my full article at Pez Cycling News.