CQ27_FINAL_SPREADS (1)

FROM PARIS TO THE
BLUE WAVES OF THE
MEDITERRANEAN,
FROM MARSEILLE TO
BORDEAUX, PASSING
ALONG THE ROSEATE
You’ll take a wife with whom
you’ll try to have children and
who will cheat on you with your
friends. You have better things
AND DREAMING ROADS
SLEEPING UNDER THE
SUN,
to do than
ACROSS
that. Get back on
THE
your beloved bicycle, it’s your
CALM
salvation.
OF THE FIELDS
OF THE VENDÉE, FOL-
LOWING THE LOIRE,
WHICH FLOWS ON STILL
AND SILENT, OUR MEN
ARE GOING TO RACE
MADLY, UNFLAGGINGLY.
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set in the turbulent world of
the velodrome where men are
massively muscular and women
are the trollops who just want
to get inside their short shorts.
Why, those minxes wanted
nothing more than to destabilise
the Third Republic itself!
Focusing on the central figure of
Alphonse Marcaux, the director
of a couple of velodromes on
the outskirts of Paris, Desgrange
exposes the dirty underbelly of
the sport: “Toutes les faiblesses,
la promiscuité du quartier des
coureurs, les compromissions
commerciales, les petites
canailleries des confreres se
ruant a la curee des traites
de publicites.” Having laid
bare all the weaknesses and
promiscuities, the commercial
compromises and the petty
scams of the cycling circuit like
the ultimate Secret Pro, L’Aurore
slyly commented: “l’ecriture
violents a dessein et mordante
cruellement vaudra a son
auteur augmenter le nombre
respectable d’ennemis qu’il
compte deja dans les milieux
speciaux.” The intentionally
violent and cruelly biting tone
of the writing was sure, Marcel
Viollette wrote, to increase the
respectable number of enemies
the author already has in this
specialised environment.
A year later, in L’Intransigeant,
cycling correspondent G. Vu
said it was impossible to think
of a book that was more topical
than Alphonse Marcaux. It was,
of course, on sale at the offices
of L’Auto for the sum of one
franc.
Desgrange first pitted woman
against machine in La Tête et
les Jambes, and the racing
world of Alphonse Marcaux
reeks of testosterone. But the
most cursory glance at the Hour
record or the archives reveals
a richly competitive world of
women awheel, racing against
the clock and each other.
On Friday 7th July 1893,
amongst a background of
violent mobs and revolutionary
upheaval, Mlle de Saint-Sauveur
set the first-ever unpaced hour
record on the cement track of
the Buffalo. Criticised for her
dapper white flannel suit and the
monotony of her effort, Saint-
Sauveur’s record was beaten in
August by her fierce rival Renée
Debatz. Both women rode
British bicycles, Saint-Sauveur
the Surrey Invincible and Debatz
a special Humber with Dunlop
tyres. Marques that recognised
the publicity potential of the
French queens of the track.
As Giffard presciently put
it: “Pendant que nous nous
battions contre les Allemands,
les Anglais, calmes dans leur île,
s’empara du vélocipède parisien
et le perfectionna avec le soin
jaloux qui les caractérise.”
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