CQ27_FINAL_SPREADS (1)

FROM PARIS TO THE
BLUE WAVES OF THE
MEDITERRANEAN,
FROM MARSEILLE TO
BORDEAUX, PASSING
ALONG THE ROSEATE
Giffard’s real coup is to turn
AND
the
DREAMING
spotlight as much onto the
ROADS
equipment as the man, cleverly
SLEEPING exploiting the fierce UNDER rivalry THE
between manufacturers like
SUN, ACROSS THE
Michelin and Dunlop. And in the
process, he created the blueprint
for modern bicycle racing and the
lucrative advertising that went
with it.
CALM OF THE FIELDS
OF THE VENDÉE, FOL-
LOWING THE LOIRE,
WHICH FLOWS ON STILL
AND SILENT, OUR MEN
ARE GOING TO RACE
MADLY, UNFLAGGINGLY.
70
to being criticized in the pages
of Giffard’s paper for fetching
the French president a blow
over the head with a walking
stick.
But when it comes to promoting
his business, de Dion is no fool.
He knows the modern world
is speeding onward on four
wheels, and that to sell cars
he needs advertising. So, he
pulls together a gang of anti-
Dreyfusards with deep pockets
and sets up l’Auto-Vélo – and
then just l’Auto when Giffard
objects to the name and wins
in court. At the helm, he places
Henri Desgrange, lawyer,
journalist, record holder, founder
of the Vél d’Hiv and director
of the Parc des Princes. He’s
discreet on the Dreyfus affair,
but he’s known to be close to
ultra-nationalist Maurice Barrès,
head of the Revanchistes and
leading anti-Dreyfusard. Barrès
becomes a regular contributor
to l’Auto in its early years.
And now it’s full-on gladiatorial
combat, with Giffard the first
to draw blood. In 1891 le vert
launches Paris-Brest-Paris, a
behemoth of a race covering
1200 kilometres. 207 riders
face the challenge of a parcours
demanding willpower and selfsufficiency,
with Charles Terront
pedalling through the third night
to pass a sleeping Joseph Jiel-
Laval and be declared the first
winner in 71h 22m.
But Giffard’s real coup is to
turn the spotlight as much onto
the equipment as the man,
cleverly exploiting the fierce
rivalry between manufacturers
like Michelin and Dunlop. And
in the process, he created
the blueprint for modern
bicycle racing and the lucrative
advertising that went with it.
Bordeaux-Paris, Paris-Lyon-
Paris and Paris-Saint-Malo soon
followed, with varying degrees
of success. Inspired by the
British cult of 24-hour racing
Giffard starts the Bol d’Or in
1894. In the greatest of ironies,
he also seals his own death
warrant. In 1901 le jaune seizes
the right to organize Paris-
Brest-Paris and in 1903 comes
the unstoppable juggernaut
that is the Tour de France. How
different might cycling have
been if Giffard had got there
first?
Outclassed and outdistanced, Le
Vélo is destroyed by the success
of that first race. Le jaune surges
in circulation and popularity,
killing the green‘un stone dead.
Desgrange, triumphant, will rule
the new sport of bicycle stage
racing unopposed for the next
thirty-three years, leaving an
extraordinary and toxic legacy
that still holds the heart of the
race in its grip over a hundred
years later.
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