Podcast 43 – A speedy history of the Tour de France
Janine: Bonjour and welcome to today’s episode of The Good Life France – the petite podcast – a bite-sized episode in which we explore a single topic! I’m your host Janine Marsh, I’m a British writer living in France, and I travel year-round exploring French destinations, history, culture, art and gastronomy and I love to share my discoveries with you alongside my podcast partner Olivier Jauffrit.
Oli: Bonjour tout le monde, bonjour and bienvenue, welcome. I’m Oli and I live in Lyon in the south of France, the gastronomic capital of l’hexagone as we French nickname France because it’s sort of a hexagon shape. So, let’s get going and get stuck into our petite podcast topic! Janine tell us about the theme for today’s episode…
Janine: Today, we’re going to do a potted history of the Tour de France – the world’s most famous bike race and share some of the most fun and incredible facts. It has been called the greatest free show on earth and is watched by 3.5 billion people worldwide during its three weeks on television. Le Tour has spawned a thousand myths and legends and inspires passionate devotion and enthusiasm. As powerful a French icon as the Eiffel Tower and fresh morning croissants, this race now belongs as much to the rest of us as it does to its Gallic promoters.
Oli: It’s a tale of history, drama and determination… let’s go!
Oli: The Tour de France was conceived in 1902 by Geo Lefèvre, a young sports journalist, as a way to boost the circulation of the newspaper L'Auto, now known as L'Équipe. Henri Desgrange, the editor of L'Auto, embraced the idea, and the first Tour was launched on July 1, 1903 and celebrates its 111th anniversary this year.
Janine: The inaugural Tour was a resounding success, drawing quite a bit of public interest and achieving its goal - boosting the newspaper's sales. The first race was won by Maurice Garin, who dominated the event and finished it in 94 hours 33 minutes and 14 seconds. Since then, the Tour de France has grown from a simple promotional stunt for a struggling newspaper into one of the most prestigious and challenging sporting events in the world. Its more than a bike race, it’s a story of human triumph, technological advancements, and dramatic moments that have captivated audiences around the world – it’s a tale of passion, endurance, and the relentless pursuit of victory. It’s also a chance for those of us watching on the telly – to see lots of lovely film of France!
Oli: These days, the tour is preceded by a massive and truly spectacular caravan of colourful advertising vehicles and accompanied by a noisy and fun entourage of team vehicles, media cars, motorcycle-borne TV cameramen and buzzing helicopters.
Janine: I love that circus. When the Tour de France went through the town of Hucqueliers near where I live (and where you’ll find my fav restaurant by the way – the Auberge d’Hucqueliers, not Michelin starred, not fancy, just great homecooked food and lovely people). It’s considered a great honour to have the tour go through your town or village and that day people came from miles around to watch it. Helicopters circled overhead, police outriders filed through the little winding country roads, children practiced how to do a Mexican wave, everyone waved flags and the local brass band played loudly. The race came through and it was fabulous – very quick, over in seconds! But what everyone here remembers most about that day is the fact that with all those extra visitors, the boulangerie ran out of bread before lunch and had to close – an unheard of disaster in the history of Hucqueliers.
Oli: Today’s ‘Grand Boucle’ (‘Big Loop’ in English, which is the nickname for the Tour de France, attracts competitors from every continent – divided into 22 teams of eight riders. The 21-stage spectacle draws a roadside audience estimated at more than 17 million, plus billions of TV viewers and radio listeners globally. The media entourage is massive, the logistics involved in keeping the whole show on the road are staggering.
Janine: For the riders, those three weeks of pain, suffering, heartbreak, elation and high drama – with truly gruelling stages over the monumental passes of the mighty Alps and Pyrenées – reach a climax when the survivors hurtle over the bone-shaking cobbles of the Champs Elysées at the end of the final stage into Paris. Usually at least – this year for the first time in its history, the race will not end in Paris. The Olympic Games are taking over the capital so the race will instead end in Nice on the French Riviera.
Oli: Ever wondered what the fuss is about the official jerseys the riders sometimes wear and reporters keep mentioning? They’re awarded at each stage of the race for categories won: White – Overall fastest and youngest rider, Green – Sprinter, Polka dots – King of the Mountains and Yellow – Overall fastest rider. It’s yellow because l’Auto newspaper the one that started all this, used to be printed on yellow paper – so it was basically about advertising.
Janine: The "Lanterne Rouge" is the unofficial title awarded to the last-placed rider. While some might see it as a bit of a dubious honour, it’s seen as symbolizing perseverance and the spirit of participation. In the early years of the Tour, riders in last place were sometimes more popular than the winners, as they really represented the struggle and perseverance needed to win. Some riders now compete for the last place instead of just being near the back!
Oli: The Tour creates massive passion in other countries too. Colombia, for instance, rarely has more than a few riders in the race but regularly sends as many as 150 journalists and broadcasters to cover their progress in the greatest show on two wheels.
Janine: It’s not just a race – it brings out the passion in the participants! The Italians are crazy for the Tour de France. In 1948 Gino Bartali’s victory was credited with rescuing his country from the brink of civil war.
Oli: He was known as ‘Gino The Pious’ and was struggling to be ready for the ride when he received a desperate message from the country’s centre-right president Alcide di Gasperi, informing him that Palmiero Togliatti, the leader of the Italian Communist Party, was lying in a hospital bed, victim of an assassination attempt.
Janine: The politician knew that both side’s followers needed something to divert their attention from internal conflict – and what better to unite the nation than a glorious Tour de France victory?
Oli: Bartali duly obliged, taking three stages in a row, the yellow jersey and, eventually, overall victory (by a massive 14-minutes) – and suddenly it was bike racing and not war that dominated the nation’s headlines. Hmmm those clever politicians distracting the people eh?!
Janine: A few years later, Bartali and his arch-rival Fausto Coppi refused bluntly to ride together in the Italian national squad. Italy’s national railway system promptly went on strike in protest and the Pope summoned the pair to the Vatican so that he could mediate. Incredible!
Oli: It takes a brave man to enter the race, a hard man to finish it and a superman to win. Here are few astounding facts.
Janine: The longest Tour was in 1926 – an incredible 5,745 km. These days its more like 3,500 km – or 2000 miles – that’s the equivalent of Manchester to Istanbul, Melbourne to Perth of Orlando to Phoenix!
Oli: The average Tour de France rider will burn around 124,000 calories during the course of the race. The average man needs 2,500 calories per day, the average Tour de France rider consumes 150% more than that! That’s the equivalent of eatjomg 30.975 jelly beans – per day! Or 41 slices of pizza or 56 bananas a day!
Janine: Queen singer Freddie Mercury wrote “Bicycle Race” in 1978, inspired by the Tour de France
Oli: The average rider will get through three bike chains during the course
Janine: Guess what the number of pedal strokes taken per rider over the Tour…
Oli: I have no idea! A lot!
Janine: a staggering 403,200 pedal strokes per average Tour de France!
Oli: How fast do you think they go?
Janine: Fast, when they came through our village – they whizzed by!
Oli: Since the first tour in 1903, the average speed has almost doubled! Then it was around 25 km per hour, now it’s almost 41 km per hour.
Janine: I could do that! No not really, I’m more like Driving miss Daisy on my bike!
Oli: There you have it – a speedy ride through the history of the Tour de France!
And a big thank you to all for sharing us, we’re very grateful. You’ve been listening to me Olivier Jauffrit and Janine Marsh. You can find me at parischanson.fr where I play classic French sounds.
Janine: And you can find me at www.thegoodlifefrance.com where you can sign up for the podcast to magically hear from us each week, and you can sign up for The Good Life France Magazine which is totally free, find loads of information about France on the website, sign up for the weekly newsletter and find The Good Life France on social media. As Oli said, it really is everything you want to know about France and more!
Meanwhile it’s au revoir from me.
Oli: And goodbye from me.
Janine: Speak to you soon!
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