Tour de France ? Love and Hate

I don’t think I’m the only one to have a love-hate relationship with the Tour de France. Under the stewardship of Henri Desgrange, the early tours were supposed to test riders to their absolute limits. For years Desgrange prevented the use of d�railleur gears on the basis it would make it easier for the riders. The motto of Desgrange was – make it as long, painful and difficult as possible. The more pain, the better theatre. Either Desgrange really enjoyed watching other people suffering or he was a very astute businessman – knowing the kind of race that would help sell newspapers. Unsurprisingly riders often rebelled against this pugnacious organiser. In 1910, after slogging his way up yet another interminable Alpine pass (remember no gears, heavy steel bikes and rough tracks in those days) the great Octave Lapize started berating the tour officials with the greatest vigour – “You’re assassins! All of you!” Riders were attracted by the fame and money the race offered, but at the same time suffered copiously to earn it. I’ve long had a love-hate relationship with the tour, ever since the early days of being mesmerised by the sight of riders climbing the Alpine passes [...]

Source: http://cyclinginfo.co.uk/blog/cycling/tour-de-france-love-and-hate/

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