Sport in the Global Society General Editor: J.A.Mangan THE TOUR DE FRANCE 1903–2003 SPORT IN THE GLOBAL SOCIETY General Editor: J.A.Mangan The interest in sports studies around the world is growing and will continue to do so. This unique series combines aspects of the expanding study of sport in the global society, providing comprehensiveness and comparison under one editorial umbrella. It is particularly timely, with studies in the cultural, economic, ethnographic, geographical, political, social, anthropological, sociological and aesthetic elements of sport proliferating in institutions of higher education. Eric Hobsbawm once called sport one of the most significant practices of the late nineteenth century. Its significance was even more marked in the late twentieth century and will continue to grow in importance into the new millennium as the world develops into a ‘global village’ sharing the English language, technology and sport. Other Titles in the Series Women, Sport and Society in Modern China Holding Up More than Half the Sky Dong Jinxia Sport in Latin American Society Past and Present Edited by J.A.Mangan and Lamartine P.DaCosta Sport in Australasian Society Past and Present Edited by J.A.Mangan and John Nauright Sporting Nationalisms Identity, Ethnicity, Immigration and Assimilation Edited by Mike Cronin and David Mayall Cricket and England A Cultural and Social History of the Inter-war Years Jack Williams The Future of Football Challenges for the Twenty-First Century Edited by Jon Garland, Dominic Malcolm and iii Michael Rowe France and the 1998 World Cup The National Impact of a World Sporting Event Edited by Hugh Dauncey and Geoff Hare Shaping the Superman Fascist Body as Political Icon: Aryan Fascism Edited by J.A.Mangan Superman Supreme Fascist Body as Political Icon: Global Fascism Edited by J.A.Mangan Rugby’s Great Split Class, Culture and the Origins of Rugby League Football Tony Collins The Race Game Sport and Politics in South Africa Douglas Booth The First Black Footballer Arthur Wharton 1865–1930: An Absence of Memory Phil Vasili The Games Ethic and Imperialism Aspects of the Diffusion of an Ideal J.A.Mangan Scoring for Britain International Football and International Politics, 1900–1939 Peter J.Beck Football Culture Local Contests, Global Visions Edited by Gerry P.T.Finn and Richard Giulianotti Making the Rugby World Race, Gender, Commerce Edited by Timothy J.L.Chandler and John Nauright iv Sport, Media, Culture Global and Local Dimensions Edited by Alina Bernstein and Neil Blain The Commercialization of Sport Edited by Trevor Slack THE TOUR DE FRANCE 1903–2003 A Century of Sporting Structures, Meanings and Values Editors HUGH DAUNCEY GEOFF HARE University of Newcastle FRANK CASS LONDON • PORTLAND, OR First published in 2003 in Great Britain by FRANK CASS PUBLISHERS Crown House, 47 Chase Side, Southgate, London, N14 5BP This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” and in the United States of America by FRANK CASS PUBLISHERS c/o ISBS, 920 NE 58th Avenue Suite 300 Portland, Oregon 97213–3786 Copyright © 2003 Frank Cass & Co. Ltd. Website: www.frankcass.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Tour de France 1903–2003: a century of sporting structures, meanings and values.—(Sport in the global society) 1. Tour de France (Bicycle race)—History 2. Bicycle racing —France—Social aspects I. Dauncey, Hugh, 1961–II. Hare, Geoffrey 796.6′2′0944 ISBN 0-203-50241-8 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-58298-5 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-7146-5362-4 (cloth) ISBN 0-7146-8297-7 (paper) ISSN 1368-9789 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Tour de France, 1903–2003: a century of sporting structures, meanings, and values/editors, Hugh Dauncey, Geoff Hare. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7146-5362-4 (cloth)—ISBN 0-7146-8297-7 (pbk.) 1. Tour de France (Bicycle race)—History. 2. Bicycle racing—Social aspects—France—History. 3. Nationalism and sports—France—History. I. Dauncey, Hugh, 1961–II. Hare, Geoff, 1945–III. Title. GV1049.2.T68T68 2003 796.6′2′0944–dc21 2003011128 This group of studies first appeared as a special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport (ISSN 0952–3367), Vol.20, No.2, June 2003, published by Frank Cass All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a vii retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher of this book. Contents List of Illustrations x Acknowledgements xi Foreword xii Eugen Weber Series Editor’s Foreword xvii J.A.Mangan 1. The Tour de France: A Pre-Modern Contest in a Post- 1 Modern Context Hugh Dauncey and Geoff Hare Organizing, Spectating, Watching 2. The Changing Organization of the Tour de France and 31 its Media Coverage—An Interview with Jean-Marie Leblanc Dominique Marchetti 3. The Tour de France and Cycling’s Belle Epoque 54 Philippe Gaboriau 4. The Tour in the Inter-War Years: Political Ideology, 76 Athletic Excess and Industrial Modernity Christopher Thompson 5. The Economics of the Tour, 1930–2003 101 Eric Reed 6. The Tour de France as an Agent of Change in Media 127 Production Fabien Wille ix Meanings, Metaphors and Values 7. Beating the Bounds: The Tour de France and National 148 Identity Christophe Campos 8. French Cycling Heroes of the Tour: Winners and 174 Losers Hugh Dauncey 9. Se faire naturaliser cycliste: The Tour and its Non- 201 French Competitors John Marks 10. The Tour de France and the Doping Issue 224 Patrick Mignon 11. A côté du Tour: Ambushing the Tour for Political and 243 Social Causes Jean-François Polo Chronology of the Tour 1902–2003 266 Select Bibliography 273 Notes on Contributors 279 Index 282 Illustrations Between pages 138 and 139 1. Henri Desgrange, founder of the Tour de France 2. André, winner of the Paris-Brussels race of 1893 3. The 1896 Bordeaux-Paris road race 4. The route of the first Tour de France in 1903, and its winner, Maurice Garin in 5. The 1906 Tour winner, René Pottier 6. Signing on at the start of the 1921 race 7. Georges Speicher, winner in 1933 8. The 1928 Tour, Paris-Caen 9. The La Rochelle-Rennes stage of the 1933 event 10. Jean Robic leads Fausto Coppi on the Col de Peyresourde 11. Louison Bobet, the first rider to win three Tours in succession 12. Louison Bobet rides a lap of honour before a capacity crowd of spectators, 1955 13. Federico Bahamontes in the 1956 Tour 14. Spectators line the streets 15. Jacques Anquetil, the first cyclist to win five Tours de France 16. Raymond Poulidor 17. The peloton in the 1966 Tour, with Tom Simpson and Rik van Looy 18. Villedieu, the 6th stage (Caen-St. Brieuc) of the 1958 race 19. Industrial workers watching the 1964 Tour 20. Collisions in poor road and weather conditions 21. Bernard Hinault leads on the Champs Elysées 22. Photographers follow the race 23. Bernard Thévenet catches Eddy Merckx, 1975 24. A cyclist gains advantage and shelter by riding behind another 25. An exhibition marking the tenth anniversary of Louison Bobet’s death 26. The Tour dominates newspaper headlines Acknowledgements Thanks to: Frank Cass, Jonathan Manley and Tony Mangan for believing in the project. The contributors for getting the work in (relatively) on time. INSEP for documentation, library facilities and other help. Alister Cox, Phil Dine, Andy Gaskell, Robert Gadiollet and the Amicale philatélique bressane, Hugues Journès, Philippe Le Guern, Dominique Marchetti, Andrew Ritchie, Philippe Sévy and staff of the Bourg-en-Bresse office of Le Progrès, Eugen Weber, for other help. Andrew Ritchie for supplying illustrations from his collection. And Jean-Marie Leblanc for his readiness to be interviewed. Foreword EUGEN WEBER A hundred summers ago, the Tour de France was born out of political conflict, and from a circulation war between competing sports journals. Before he and Gustave-Thadée Bouton pioneered a stream of Dion-Bouton automobiles, Marquis Albert de Dion had spent his life constructing sports machines: a quadricycle in 1883, followed by a steam tricycle in 1887 and a one-cycle petrol trike in 1895. He also financed the daily Vélo that catered to thousands of cycling amateurs, to the rivalries and publicity of cycle manufacturers, and to the crowds attending track meetings or cheering road race riders on. In 1899, however, at the height of the Dreyfus Affair, Dion and his anti-Dreyfusard friends were involved in an absurd political shindig at the fashionable Auteuil horse races, where a royalist baron’s cane dented the top hat of the Republic’s president. A government—one more—fell in the wake of the brawl but, more important to our story, the Marquis was sentenced to 15 days in jail and a 100-franc fine for his part in it. Tailor-made for the sporting press, the incident evoked critical comment from the Vélo, which had already revealed regrettable Dreyfusard sympathies. Incensed, Dion and other anti- Dreyfusard friends like Edouard Michelin set up a rival daily, L’Auto- Vélo—soon shortened to L’Auto to reflect the latest fashion in the world of sports. L’Auto’ editor, Henri Desgrange, himself an enthusiastic cyclist and cycle racer, needed a sensational publicity venture to attract new readers. Particularly since the introduction of stopwatches in 1870, indoor and outdoor races had provided spills, thrills, exploits, champions, prizes and a paying public for sports promoters and the sporting press.