The Tour rewinds, always and more. His hours of glory, his legend that he never stops telling. The day before yesterday, it was back to 1986. The Col du Granon like thirty-six years earlier, when Bernard Hinault gave up his last yellow tunic to his American successor Greg LeMond. The same were summoned to L’Alpe d’Huez this Thursday, July 14, the day’s stage reproducing very exactly that where the two teammates arrived at the top of the mythical 21 laces hand in hand, Hinault confirming the transfer of power, one of the greatest moments in the history of the Tour de France.
It is the memory of another famous episode which is reactivated this Saturday, July 16, with the 14e stage linking Saint-Étienne to Mende, in the heart of Lozère. This simple title instantly sends lovers of the little queen back to the year 1995. On July 14, exactly, the day when King Miguel Indurain wavered on his throne as the future five-time winner of the Grande Boucle. The fault of a certain Laurent Jalabert, author of an exceptional fireworks display for the National Day. A long-distance breakaway of 198 km with a handful of hungry adventurers, who would count up to 10 minutes and 50 seconds ahead of the peloton. Suffice to say that the Frenchman was a yellow jersey for a while.
“It is important to know where you come from”
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t dream ithe agreed after the finish. But we would have had to increase our lead to fifteen minutes.. In advance, he did not have enough, but panache, yes, to spare. In the last 3 km climb, the Tarnais tore away to sow his epic companions and win one of the greatest victories of his career by crossing the line more than five minutes before the leaders. Ten years later, the climb of his exploit in Mende could be renamed “Montée Jalabert”.
While all sports have had a great time in recent years spinning the nostalgic merry-go-round, cycling has won the pompom. Giving in to “it was better before”? ” No wayassures Christian Prudhomme, the director of the Tour. We certainly make many tributes and other anniversaries, but it is because I consider it important to know where we come from, especially in a period when memory seems to be erased at very high speed. Telling is also transmitting, and I want to. »
“Seduce the older generations”
An interest also underlined by Jean-François Mignot, sociologist author in 2014 of a History of the Tourof France (1) : “The Tour is a show that is often watched as a family, and the reference to yesterday’s stages makes it possible to seduce the older generations, who can pass the torch to the new ones. This dimension of the television show is essential: the stages are long and not always much happens. The legend of the Tour is a reservoir of easy-to-use anecdotes, like the history of France with all the heritage content of the broadcasts. It is the almost indispensable coating of the race. »
If recourse to the glorious era seems more important today than yesterday, it is perhaps also that the years of doping and the suspicion that still lurks prevent total adherence to today’s heroes. “Comparing current runners to great elders helps to establish their present aura, to include them in an ongoing story”, continues Jean-François Mignot. Stages as whirlwind as that of the Granon this Wednesday, with the surging attacks of the Jumbo-Visma team ending up exhausting Tadej Pogacar, too isolated, to put the yellow jersey on the shoulders of the Dane Jonas Vingegaard, reveal new high chapters in colour.
Reviving the legend
Imperishable Tour de France? “Perhaps the International Cycling Union and the organizer ASO should still review their formula, which has been available for ages without much change.judge the historian and sociologist Philippe Gaboriau. Like the Dakar, the Tour remains a mechanical epic with traveling shots over beautiful landscapes and does not say much about what the bicycle is today, a mobility tool in a society that must think about energy sobriety. The legend is obviously not dead, but it needs to be revived, in my opinion. Because otherwise, the Tour risks no longer being in tune with the times. »
A subject of reflection, no doubt, for its organizers. The departure from Denmark this year, a country that worships two-wheelers in all its forms, perhaps signals a change of gear. To confirm.
———————
Saint-Étienne, cycling history at its heart
Saint-Étienne is the arrival town of the 13e stage which starts from Bourg-d’Oisans, this Friday July 15 (192 km). The Loire prefecture, visited for the 27e times since 1950, is a regular on the Tour. It was in this historic city of cycling that the first French bicycle was born in 1886, very quickly mass-produced by the ancestor of Manufrance under the Hirondelle brand. The adventure lasted until the end of the 1970s, when local manufacturing died out in the face of Asian competition. Saint-Étienne remains the only city, with the metropolis of Toulon, labeled “Land of cycling excellence” by the French Cycling Federation. The now repeated hope of the current mayor, Gaël Perdriau: one day to host a Grand Départ of the Tour.
(Archives – Video of 03/07/2017)
How the Tour de France strives to constantly revive its legend
The Tour rewinds, always and more. His hours of glory, his legend that he never stops telling. The day before yesterday, it was back to 1986. The Col du Granon like thirty-six years earlier, when Bernard Hinault gave up his last yellow tunic to his American successor Greg LeMond. The same were summoned to L’Alpe d’Huez this Thursday, July 14, the day’s stage reproducing very exactly that where the two teammates arrived at the top of the mythical 21 laces hand in hand, Hinault confirming the transfer of power, one of the greatest moments in the history of the Tour de France.
It is the memory of another famous episode which is reactivated this Saturday, July 16, with the 14e stage linking Saint-Étienne to Mende, in the heart of Lozère. This simple title instantly sends lovers of the little queen back to the year 1995. On July 14, exactly, the day when King Miguel Indurain wavered on his throne as the future five-time winner of the Grande Boucle. The fault of a certain Laurent Jalabert, author of an exceptional fireworks display for the National Day. A long-distance breakaway of 198 km with a handful of hungry adventurers, who would count up to 10 minutes and 50 seconds ahead of the peloton. Suffice to say that the Frenchman was a yellow jersey for a while.
“It is important to know where you come from”
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t dream ithe agreed after the finish. But we would have had to increase our lead to fifteen minutes.. In advance, he did not have enough, but panache, yes, to spare. In the last 3 km climb, the Tarnais tore away to sow his epic companions and win one of the greatest victories of his career by crossing the line more than five minutes before the leaders. Ten years later, the climb of his exploit in Mende could be renamed “Montée Jalabert”.
While all sports have had a great time in recent years spinning the nostalgic merry-go-round, cycling has won the pompom. Giving in to “it was better before”? ” No wayassures Christian Prudhomme, the director of the Tour. We certainly make many tributes and other anniversaries, but it is because I consider it important to know where we come from, especially in a period when memory seems to be erased at very high speed. Telling is also transmitting, and I want to. »
“Seduce the older generations”
An interest also underlined by Jean-François Mignot, sociologist author in 2014 of a History of the Tourof France (1) : “The Tour is a show that is often watched as a family, and the reference to yesterday’s stages makes it possible to seduce the older generations, who can pass the torch to the new ones. This dimension of the television show is essential: the stages are long and not always much happens. The legend of the Tour is a reservoir of easy-to-use anecdotes, like the history of France with all the heritage content of the broadcasts. It is the almost indispensable coating of the race. »
If recourse to the glorious era seems more important today than yesterday, it is perhaps also that the years of doping and the suspicion that still lurks prevent total adherence to today’s heroes. “Comparing current runners to great elders helps to establish their present aura, to include them in an ongoing story”, continues Jean-François Mignot. Stages as whirlwind as that of the Granon this Wednesday, with the surging attacks of the Jumbo-Visma team ending up exhausting Tadej Pogacar, too isolated, to put the yellow jersey on the shoulders of the Dane Jonas Vingegaard, reveal new high chapters in colour.
Reviving the legend
Imperishable Tour de France? “Perhaps the International Cycling Union and the organizer ASO should still review their formula, which has been available for ages without much change.judge the historian and sociologist Philippe Gaboriau. Like the Dakar, the Tour remains a mechanical epic with traveling shots over beautiful landscapes and does not say much about what the bicycle is today, a mobility tool in a society that must think about energy sobriety. The legend is obviously not dead, but it needs to be revived, in my opinion. Because otherwise, the Tour risks no longer being in tune with the times. »
A subject of reflection, no doubt, for its organizers. The departure from Denmark this year, a country that worships two-wheelers in all its forms, perhaps signals a change of gear. To confirm.
———————
Saint-Étienne, cycling history at its heart
Saint-Étienne is the arrival town of the 13e stage which starts from Bourg-d’Oisans, this Friday July 15 (192 km). The Loire prefecture, visited for the 27e times since 1950, is a regular on the Tour. It was in this historic city of cycling that the first French bicycle was born in 1886, very quickly mass-produced by the ancestor of Manufrance under the Hirondelle brand. The adventure lasted until the end of the 1970s, when local manufacturing died out in the face of Asian competition. Saint-Étienne remains the only city, with the metropolis of Toulon, labeled “Land of cycling excellence” by the French Cycling Federation. The now repeated hope of the current mayor, Gaël Perdriau: one day to host a Grand Départ of the Tour.
(Archives – Video of 03/07/2017)
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