The Koppenberg itself shows the depth of the Flemish obsession. It was removed from the race in 1987, and 10 years later a local paper ran an April Fool"s story that it was to be paved over. Two thousand people turned up for a demonstration in support of the climb: as a result it was then restored at a cost of $325,000 using cobbles imported from Poland. The importance of cycling in Belgium was summed up by the presence of the minister of culture at the official reopening.
Situated between the North Sea, the French border, and the French-speaking area of Wallonia to the south, Flanders has been fought over by invading armies for years. Local ident.i.ty is pa.s.sionately a.s.serted-the lion flag is flown by nationalists at most major races-and it dominates Belgian cycling as south Wales dominates Welsh rugby. The cultural divide between French- and Flemish-speaking areas is strongly felt: neither likes the other much and the cycling rivalry is an a.s.sertion of that feeling.
Even within Flanders itself there are local rivalries even down to the papers that run the bike races: the Tour of Flanders, organized by Het Niewsblad, was the only cla.s.sic to be run in occupied Europe during the Second World War, with the Germans helping to police the route. A second newspaper, Het Volk, started its own event, also called the Tour of Flanders, on a similar course after liberation, to make the point that its rival had been accused of collaboration. It was later ruled that the name should be changed (see CLa.s.sICS for more on this race and other major one-dayers).
The wind and rain and bad roads breed a species of hard men who live to an almost monastic canon of hard work and self-sacrifice. Every village seems to boast a Cla.s.sic winner, who usually runs a bike shop or cafe. Flandrian cycling is essentially nostalgic: the heroes of today never quite live up to those of yesteryear. Several cyclists, including the top Cla.s.sic rider Johan Museeuw, have been dubbed the "last of the Flandrians," another of whom was the evocatively named Alberic "Brick" Schotte. Schotte was brought out of his first communion to watch the Tour of Flanders go past in 1930 and as an amateur he would get up at 3:30 AM to go to work to ensure that he could start training at 1 PM. He rode the Cla.s.sic 20 times and was a strong influence on another cycling hardman, the Irishman SEAN KELLY, who spent most of his career based in Belgium.
The Key Flandrian Climbs: =.
Old Kwaremont: 2.2 km long, 11% steepest, approx 95 km from the finish Patersberg: 360 m long, 13% steepest, approx 90 km from finish Koppenberg: 600 m long, 25% steepest, approx 85 km from finish*
Kapelmuur: 475 m long, 20% steepest, approx 25 km from finish Bosberg: 980 m long, 11%steepest, approx 20 km from finish *not always included in route Few foreigners break through in Flanders but those who do become adopted sons, such as Kelly and the Italian Fiorenzo Magni, who won the Cla.s.sic three times in a row from 194951. So too the Moldovan Andrei Tchmil, who led Belgian"s biggest team, Lotto, for nine years, and was naturalized as Belgian in 2000. Home greats include RIK VAN LOOY, ROGER DE VLAEMINCK, Museeuw-10 times a Cla.s.sic winner-and Rik Van Steenbergen, a hulking brute known as Rik I so he would not be confused with Van Looy (Rik II). In spite of a legendary Flanders win in 1969, EDDY MERCKX never quite fitted in to this culture because he was a French-speaker from Brussels: his big rivals Walter G.o.defroot and Freddy Maertens were more popular.
What might be called "Tour of Flanders country" is an area of little hills along the Scheldt and Deinze rivers known as the Flemish Ardennes; the race began coming here in the 1950s, when it needed to be made tougher but the roads were generally being improved, so the organizers had to seek out small lanes and steep hills.
The race loops up and down onto the hills, starting with the Old Kwaremont, a windswept stretch of cobbles up a bleak hillside with a cafe at the top, and culminating with the "Chapel wall"-Kapelmuur-at Geraardsbergen, which twists upward at 20 percent to a chapel by a gra.s.sy bank where the fans congregate.
FOLDING BIKES These aim to provide a solution to a perennial bike problem: getting the thing in a small car, putting it in a house or office where s.p.a.ce is at a premium, or fitting on a train where the operator doesn"t want to carry them. It"s not always been that way; an early folder, made by MIKAEL PEDERSEN, was used in the Boer War by the British Army, and in the Second World War British paratroopers used folders made by BSA, which were full-sized bikes that could be carried when jumping out of aircraft.
Folding bikes compromise on performance: they either hinge at the mid-point of the frame or have a flip-round rear triangle. They usually have small wheels, and the wheelbase may be shorter than usual, all to save s.p.a.ce. Tires may be fatter than usual, and the frame tubes may well be more substantial than on a conventional road bike; however, the aluminium Bickerton, made in the 1970s and 1980s, weighed in at just 18 lb.
Among the best models are those from British company Brompton, whose top of the range bike weighs in at less than 10 kg and has 16-inch wheels and rear suspension. Small wheel bikes made by MOULTON qualify as folders, because they can be "split" for storage or transport. At the radical end of the spectrum, the Strida has drum brakes and a rubber drive belt and futuristic looks. Aficionados also swear by the Pocket Rocket, which fits in a suitcase 22 29 10 inches yet turns into a replica racing bike.
An annual Brompton world championship is run in which the riders wear suit jackets, cycle shorts, and cycle helmets and have a Le Manstype start, running to unfold their bikes. Bizarrely, a regular contestant is the Spaniard Roberto Heras, disqualified from first place in the 2004 VUELTA A ESPAnA for doping.
FOREIGN LEGION A term coined by the Australian journalist Rupert Guinness. It was the t.i.tle for his book published in 1993, which traced the fortunes of the group of English-speaking professional cyclists who opened up the European-dominated sport during the 1980s. In essence they made cycling truly international. The bulk of legionnaires pa.s.sed through the elite Parisian amateur club a.s.sociation Cycliste de Boulogne-Billancourt (ACBB), which was sponsored by PEUGEOT as a feeder club to their professional team. PHIL ANDERSON, Graham Jones, ROBERT MILLAR, SEAN YATES, and STEPHEN ROCHE all took this route between 1979 and 1983.
While Jones"s career never took off in spite of his undoubted cla.s.s, Anderson was the first Australian to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, the first to win a CLa.s.sIC, and the first to win a Tour stage. Millar was the first Briton to win a major award in the Tour, taking the mountains jersey in 1984 while Roche achieved the golden triple in 1987: GIRO D"ITALIA, TOUR DE FRANCE, and world championship.
Of the non-ACBB riders, SEAN KELLY won the points jersey of the Tour a record four times between 1983 and 1989 and was world number one for five years, while GREG LEMOND pioneered the sport in America with his Tour win in 1986. Between them they paved the way for the first American team to start the Tour, 7-Eleven in 1986, and the first British squad, ANC-Halfords in 1987. Together with the arrival of cyclists from COLOMBIA at the Tour in 1983, their influence helped to transform the sport within a decade.
(SEE ALSO AUSTRALIA, IRELAND, GREAT BRITAIN, ROAD RACING, UNITED STATES).
FOSTER FRASER, John (b. England, 1868, d. 1936) One of the first round-the-world cyclists, who set off with two friends, Edward Lunn and F. H. Lowe, to circ.u.mnavigate the globe between 1896 and 1898. Their route took in Persia, the Indian sub-continent from Karachi to Calcutta, through Burma to China and Shanghai, thence to j.a.pan, San Francisco, and across the United States, a total of 19,237 miles.
Foster Fraser"s account of the trip, Round the World on a Wheel, was published in 1899 and reissued in 1982; it is one of the first and one of the finest cycle travelogues. It features encounters with Russian officials straight out of Tolstoy, riotous arguments with Cossacks in the Caucasus, a trip to a medieval dungeon and the Shah"s palace in Iran, not to mention near-death from hypothermia in the Hindu Kush.
The tone is smugly Victorian-"The Georgians are a lazy race, much addicted to gourmandising," "being Europeans and strangers we of course ran the gauntlet of all the halt, lame and blind in Teheran"-but there is an exquisite irony in the fact that international conflicts, officialdom, and terrorism would make such a journey far more risky in the 21st century.
(SEE BOOKS-TRAVEL FOR OTHER INTREPID CYCLISTS WHO HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT THEIR ADVENTURES) FRAMES-DESIGN Frame size is usually expressed by measuring the seat tube-either center to center, from the middle of the bottom bracket to the middle of the seat lug, or center to top. The advent of smaller frames with sloping top tubes means that a more important measurement now is the distance between the center of the bottom bracket and the top of the saddle.
Another complication is that bottom bracket height can vary, particularly with cyclo-cross machines and children"s bikes, affecting the "stand-over" height.
Frame performance depends on several factors. Handling stability depends mainly on the amount of "trail"-the distance between a notional line taken down the steerer tube and the point where the front tire makes contact with the road. The extent of trail depends on the angle of the head tube, and the rake of the forks, which may be curved or bent at the fork crown-the shallower the head angle and the longer the rake, the greater the trail. More trail equals more stability, which in riding terms translates into whether a bike can be ridden safely with hands off the bars, and for how far, and the degree of comfort over b.u.mps.
Another key element is seat-tube angle, usually measured compared to a notional horizontal line, in some cases to the top tube. The usual range is between 69 and 74 degrees; the lower the number, the shallower the angle, and the less upright the seat tube. Bikes with shallower angles are usually more stable and comfortable, and may well have longer seat-and chain-stays to give a longer wheelbase and greater comfort; bikes with tighter angles and a shorter rear triangle are more responsive, but are less forgiving on b.u.mpy roads.
The forward reach of the bike-the distance between the tip of the saddle and the center of the handlebars-is a key factor in determining comfort, whether the rider is hunched up or stretched out, and aerodynamics, the extent to which the torso is flat or upright. Forward reach depends on top tube length and seat angle, the degree to which the saddle is pushed forward or back, and the length of the stem.
FRAMES-MAKERS The refinement of steel tubing meant that the handbuilt road-racing or track frame eventually became a mini art form. The lugs that hold the tubes together and provide a surface for bonding to take place were cut into forms that varied from basic curves to the elaborate filigree that was the trademark of the East London firm Hetchins.
In Great Britain and Northern Italy, artisan frame makers turning out a few hundred bikes a year for the racing and high-end touring markets were relatively widespread until the 1990s, when the nature of the cycle trade changed with the arrival of carbon-fiber and aluminum-which were less suited to small producers-and compact frames that, the manufacturers claimed, offered equal performance for lower price and less ha.s.sle. Some makers now cater for both, offering a number of custom-made machines but relying on off-the-rack bikes for most of their trade.
Best-known North American makers include: Richard Sachs, Chester, Connecticut. The ultimate in the United States; served his apprenticeship at Witcomb Cycles in London almost 40 years ago. "At Richard Sachs Cycles, I am the work force," says his website.
Mariposa, Toronto. Canada"s most prominent framebuilder. Their mainstay Mike Barry is now retired so production is limited to a few special projects.
Spectrum Cycles, LeHigh Valley, Pennsylvania. Two-man operation run by Tom Kellogg and Mike Duser; Kellogg has been building since 1976. Collaborated in late 1980s with t.i.tanium makers Merlin, with whom the company still works.
Moots Cycles, Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Founded by Kent Eriksen in 1981, one of the early mountain bike makers, now produces a wide variety of handbuilt t.i.tanium frames. Logo is a distinctive, lovable, crocodile.
Roland Della Santa, Reno, Nevada. Another builder with over 35 years experience, Della Santa most notably made frames for GREG LEMOND.
Independent Fabrication, Somerville, Ma.s.sachusetts. Founded 1995, employee-owned, and best known for its steel frames; the crowned IF logo is one of the most distinctive in the world.
Best-known British makers include: Hetchins (Tottenham, London; then Southend). Produced frames with delicately curved seat stays, seat tubes, and S-shaped chainstays-the legendary "Curly." Their machines were given Latin names such as Nulli Secundus and Magnum Bonum and are now collectors" items. The original makers ran from the 1920s to the late 1980s, but the frames are still made under license.
Bates (East London). Another now defunct maker, who produced a bent fork design known as the Diadrant and used "Cantiflex" frame tubing, which featured an oversized central section to reduce frame flex. Founded by brothers Eddie and Horace, with a bat as the logo, they were one of London"s leading makers from the 1930s through the 1950s, although the brothers eventually went their separate ways. Like Hetchins, they are now made under license.
Mercian Cycles (Derby). One of the last remaining companies to make hand-built frames in any volume. Opened in 1946, and known for their fine finishes, they keep frame design records dating to the 1970s so their customers can refer back if they want a new frame.
Bob Jackson (Leeds). Variously marketed under the names JRJ and Merlin; produced frames under license for Hetchins in the 1980s and is still producing them today after over 70 years. Like Mercian, fine finishes are a specialty.
Chas Roberts (Croydon). London"s leading custom-made frame builder, set up in the early 1960s by Charlie, the father of the current owner, Chas, who had to train as a frame maker for 10 years before he met the standard the company demanded.
FRAMES-MATERIALS Early cycle frames were built of wood or iron; the key development came in 1897 when Alfred Reynolds patented double-b.u.t.ted tubing in which the ends of the tubes had thicker walls than the middle, improving the strength-to-weight ratio.
Thirty-eight years later Reynolds would go on to produce the definitive steel frame tube, initially for lightweight motorcycles. Reynolds 531 was named after the ratio of the other materials used in the steel alloy: manganese, molybdenum, and silica. The British company dominated the tubing market for many years: 27 out of 31 TOUR DE FRANCE winners between 1958 and 1989 rode on steel tubes such as 531 and the much thinner and lighter 753. By the golden jubilee of 531 in 1985, Reynolds estimated that the tubing had gone into 20 million frame sets worldwide. The other major steel tubing name came from Italy, where Angelo Colombo began making steel cycle tubing in 1919 and produced b.u.t.ted tubes from 1930.
FRAME FACTOID.
In 2007, to coincide with the Tour de France start in London, top designer Paul Smith produced a range of jeans branded 531, taking the name from Reynolds" iconic tubing. Smith was a racing cyclist in the 1960s before a crash curtailed his career, but he remained intensely interested in the sport.
4.
Aluminium frames were produced as early as the 1890s, but it took the best part of 80 years for frame makers to master the process of joining the tubes. In the 1970s, Italian firm ALAN (from the acronym ALuminium ANodised) made attractive, light, lugged frames which remain popular with cyclo-cross riders today. But steel remained the material of choice until the advent of the MOUNTAIN BIKE and the perfection of welding processes in the 1980s. Oversize aluminium-stronger, yet lighter tubes, in spite of the increased size-came from mountain-biking and was popularized initially by the Cannondale company from the US, who sponsored the Italian sprinter Mario Cipollini in the early 1990s.
t.i.tanium frames appeared in the mid-1950s and were used in the Tour de France by the Spaniard Luis Ocana in the 1970s, but they were sloppy and fragile; again the mountain-bike boom was the spur for the perfection of the product. Again, the initial boost came from the US, where Merlin and Litespeed were turning out jewel-like products by the early 1990s.
Carbon-fiber composite frames appeared in the 1980s, when companies like Vitus made frames of carbon tubes with aluminium lugs, and have been gaining in popularity since the 1990s, spurred on by the arrival of companies like Giant, Specialised, and Trek in professional cycling; in the early 1990s GREG LEMOND"s bike company produced carbon frames with web-like joins. The process sounds simple-sheets of the fibers are bonded with epoxy resin and then baked-but it has taken time to perfect. Much of the impetus has come from military technology, where carbon fibers are used for lightweight armoring, for example bullet-proof pads for helicopters.
Monocoques, solid one-piece carbon-fiber frames, were permitted by the UCI between 1990 and 2000. MIKE BURROWS began working on carbon monocoques in the early 1980s and his Lotus, used by CHRIS BOARDMAN in the 1992 Olympics and 1994 Tour de France, opened minds. MIGUEL INDURAIN used a futuristic carbon Pinarello, the Espada (Spanish for sword), to beat the HOUR RECORD in 1994, while Boardman switched from the Lotus to a Corima monocoque for his 1993 record. French firm Look"s KG196 from the early 1990s was equally radical. It had a flattened carbon-kevlar frame with an early, crude-looking adjustable stem.
The GREAT BRITAIN Olympic team use UKSI bikes with sleek black carbon-fiber frames, in which the carbon fibers run in different directions depending on the forces exerted by the cyclist in the various parts of the frame. Most of the carbon-fiber parts are made at Advanced Components Group on an anonymous-looking industrial estate in Heanor in the East Midlands.
The company has an exotic client list: every car on a Formula One starting grid will include something made here, while other products include ejector seats for fighter aircraft. The cost of the frames is kept down by using a modular system: different lengths of stem joined with different bars to produce a one-piece item; different models for the front end of a frame combined with a standard back end.
FRANCE Together with GREAT BRITAIN, one of cycling"s founding nations: home of the BONESHAKER, the clipless pedal and the first derailleur GEAR, the world"s greatest bike race, the HOUR RECORD, and organized cycle touring events. French cycling has two fathers, TOUR DE FRANCE founder HENRI DESGRANGE and the journalist Paul de Vivies (see VeLOCIO), who had a more open-minded, less monastic att.i.tude and campaigned for cycling as enjoyment, coining the term cyclotourisme.
Cycling was hugely popular in the velocipede era, with 120 races organized in June and July 1869, according to the world"s first cycling magazine, Le Velocipede Ill.u.s.tre. ITALY and Britain were where the initial growth came in the 1870s as France coped with the aftermath of the FrancoPrussian war, but in the early 1890s, growth was rapid as the notion of long-distance events was adopted from Britain; and in the mid-1890s a host of cycle tracks were built to cater to the fans, with the Buffalo Velodrome one of three to open in Paris in 1893 alone.
Among the early short-distance stars was one Henri Farman, who later built pioneering airplanes with his brother Maurice. The top endurance specialists were Constant Huret and Charles Terront. The latter famously won one 1,000 km event-2,500 laps of the VeLODROME D"HIVER-by not taking any toilet stops, but instead urinating into an inner-tube.
The magazines and papers continued to develop long-distance events culminating in the founding of the Tour de France in 1903. As Henri Desgrange expanded his race, De Vivies pushed cyclotourisme through his magazine Le Cycliste. A whole world of ma.s.s events was born-the Diagonal rides from one corner of France to another, the RAID PYRENEAN, AUDAX, and other randonneur marathons.
Alongside the commercial razzmatazz of the Tour, there is now nostalgia for a golden era: when RAYMOND POULIDOR and JACQUES ANQUETIL fought elbow to elbow, when the accordionist Yvette Horner provided the soundtrack to July each year, when each village in Brittany and Normandy had at least one circuit race organized to coincide with the annual fete, and every pays had a son of its own in one of four or five French regional teams in the great bike race. It is the Tour captured on film by Louis Malle and in words by Antoine Blondin.
The golden era of French cycling can be accurately dated: it began when Henri Desgrange brought national teams into the Tour in 1930, opening the way for riders like Andre Leducq, Antonin Magne, and Jean Robic, and it closed with BERNARD HINAULT"s fifth win in 1986. What ended it? The Tour grew quickly in the 1980s and 1990s, and French cyclists couldn"t keep up. With the talent of the entire cycling world eligible to ride the race after the arrival of Australians and Americans and the collapse of the Berlin Wall, there was less room for the home riders. Hence the fact that there has been no young star to succeed Hinault or LAURENT FIGNON, both men of the 1980s.
French Cycle Racing at a Glance =.
Biggest race: Tour de France Legendary racing hills: l"Alpe d"Huez, Mont Ventoux, Le Puy-de-Dome, Col du Galibier Biggest star: Raymond Poulidor, closely followed by Bernard Hinault First Tour stage win: MAURICE GARIN, Lyon, 1903 Tour overall wins since 1985: none France has given cycling: the Professor (Laurent Fignon), stage racing, the hour record, PARIs...o...b..IX, the sportive concept, Richard Virenque, Peugeot, Festina, the Bastille Day paradox French cycling was traumatized by the Festina DRUG scandal of 1998 that centered on the nation"s leading team and its national hero, Richard Virenque, but also hit other teams including Casino and Francaise des Jeux; a more stringent att.i.tude to doping gained ground and the Tour came under greater scrutiny from newspapers such as Le Monde. There were allegations of two-speed cycling, with the French at a disadvantage because they stayed clean. There was an element of truth in that, but it wasn"t quite that simple.
Post Festina, cycle racing in France has suffered, even though cycling is probably more popular than ever due to the growth of CYCLOSPORTIVES. But the structure has changed: village races are dying out as organizers become older and traffic increases even in the regions; the criteriums, which used to be a cottage industry in themselves after the Tour, are declining due to a lack of French stars. Fewer young people come into bike racing because of its tarnished reputation, along with compet.i.tion from other sports.
The French cycle-component industry was once one of the largest in the world boasting names such as Mafac (brakes), Simplex (gears), and TA (bottle cages), not to mention manufacturers like PEUGEOT. However, the companies largely failed to compete with the j.a.panese when SHIMANO and SunTour moved into Europe in the 1970s. There was a big shakeout during the 1980s and the industry is now headed by pedal makers Look and Time, and wheelmakers Mavic. Once market leaders, Peugeot no longer make many bikes.
Sponsors are still drawn to the top end of the sport, because the Tour organizers" need for a strong French element guarantees them a place in the field, but no Frenchman has looked a likely winner since Fignon in 1989; the last French world road champion was Laurent Brochard in 1997 but he was subsequently disgraced in the Festina scandal.
FREESTYLE Most BMX riders like to do fancy moves to test their bikehandling; push that to the limit and you end up with a cross between skateboarding and cycling.
Freestyle kicked off in the 1970s in San Diego, not long after the BMX boom started in the USA. One of the founders was a teenager named Bob Haro, who now builds most of the bikes used by freestylers. The first public demonstrations began in 1980.
Straightforward flat surfaces are used (Flatland) but so too are street obstacles, purpose-built skate or BMX parks or trails, and large ramps known as "Verts," which have two semicircular ramps facing each other so that the riders can continually go up one and down the other, using the top of each ramp to perform tricks on vertical extensions, hence the name. The biggest ramp used is a 27-footer at the X Games. The unofficial record for a jump is over 15 meters from the ground.
The bikes are subtly adapted from BMX machines, using heavier-duty tubing if necessary, and with three- to five-inch pegs at the front and rear hubs to give additional contact points for doing grinds. Some riders have pegs on one side only; street riders often have no brakes, while dirt riders have k.n.o.bbly tires. The bikes often have two-piece brake-cable detanglers (a gyro, or rotor) on ball-bearings, so that the bars can be spun time and time again.
One of the earliest tricks was the Rock Walk, in which the bike is stationary and first the rear then the front tire is pulled through 180 degrees so the bike does a 360-degree turn. Others include: grinds, where the bike slides along a surface (e.g., the lip of a ramp) on a part of the bike other than the wheels, for example the rear and front axle pegs or a pedal, and air tricks such as back and front flips and spins and the CanCan, in which one foot is taken from one side of the bike to the other.
Flatland tricks are closer to conventional BMX moves: wheelies, manuals-in which the bike is ridden over a hump with the front wheel in the air-and bunny hops. These are given twists such as the nose manual, in which only the front wheel is on the ground, and the cherry picker, in which the bike is hopped on only the rear wheel.
FRENCH The lingua franca of international cycle sports since its inception, certain French terms are now universal in cycling (see also SLANG). Often they are simply anglicized in p.r.o.nunciation.
bidon: term for waterbottle now used by most English-speaking cyclists. French p.r.o.nunciation is bee-daw(n); it"s anglicised as bidden.
bonification: time bonus, used in stage racing, when seconds may be deducted from the overall time of riders who place in the first three in the stage, or at intermediate sprints.
casquette: cotton racing hat.
cla.s.s.e.m.e.nt general: overall cla.s.sification.
commissaire: race referee even in events outside France.
contre la montre: time trial.
criterium: race on a short circuit around a town.
directeur sportif: team manager.
domestique (cf British water-carrier, Italian gregario): lesser rider in a team who works for the leader.
dossard: race number.
echelon: diagonal formation for combating sidewind in which the cyclists ride through and off.
lanterne rouge: last man in a stage race, so called because he was awarded a red lantern such as might be put on the back of a freight train.
maillot jaune: yellow jersey worn by leader of a stage race (cf a pois, vert, blanc).
musette: cloth bag (literally "nosebag") handed up at feed station (ravitaillement) containing bidons and race food.
neutralisation: spell in a race when the riders are on their bikes but not actually racing. Most stages of the Tour de France are "neutralised" from the formal start in a town center to the actual start on the outskirts of town; track races may be "neutralised" after a crash.
nocturne: a criterium run at night. In smaller venues this means at least one stretch in the dark.
peloton: main group in a race, in English "the bunch."
prime: intermediate prize of any kind, also a bonus given for performance by a team or club.
prologue: brief opening time trial in a stage race.
ravitaillement (abbr. ravito): feed zone where musettes are handed up by soigneurs.
rouleur: a racing cyclist with stamina who can mix it with the best all day and be in there at the finish.
signature: where the riders register and receive numbers, the English term is sign-on.
soigneur: team a.s.sistant who provides race food and ma.s.sage. Anglicized as swanee, also carer.
speaker: announcer at major races who introduces the riders at the sign-on. (See MANGEAS to read more about the voice of French racing.) voiture balai: vehicle that drives at back of race convoy to "sweep up" riders who drop out. Anglicized as broom wagon.
G.
GARIN, Maurice Born:Aosta, Italy, March 23, 1871 Died: Lens, France, February 18, 1957 Major wins: Tour de France 1903, 3 stage wins; Paris...o...b..ix 18978; ParisBrestParis 1901; BordeauxParis 1902 Nicknames: the White Bulldog, the Chimney Sweep The winner of the first TOUR DE FRANCE in 1903, and the main protagonist in its first great scandal, was one of tens of thousands of boys from the Alps who trekked up to Paris in the late 19th century to earn a living cleaning the capital"s chimneys.
Born on the Italian side of the border in Aosta, Garin was one of the best distance racers of the time: he won two early editions of the PARIs...o...b..IX cla.s.sic-which finished in the town where he ran a cycle shop-as well as 24-hour races in Paris and Liege, BordeauxParis and PARISBRESTPARIS in 1901. He also set a record for 500 km in 1895. Garin won the first stage of the Tour, the 467 km from Paris to Lyon, at an average speed of 26 kph, and led the race throughout, losing two and a half kilograms over the three weeks.
Garin was also winner of the Tour de France in 1904, but was disqualified after a four-month investigation by the Union Velocepedique Francaise that led to 29 of the field being sanctioned. The report was never published but the riders" offences included holding onto cars, taking shortcuts, swapping race numbers to avoid controls, colluding with fellow compet.i.tors, and catching trains. The scandal led Tour organizer HENRI DESGRANGE to write that his race had been destroyed.
Such charges were common in races of the HEROIC ERA, in which the riders spent long periods out in the countryside meaning it was impossible for officials to keep tabs on them. In the 1903 race, Garin avoided being beaten up by a rival"s supporter in the depths of night only by pretending he was someone else. Ironically, he was a victim of the worst episode of the 1904 race, when a mob held up the riders near St-etienne, demanding that the local rider Andre Faure be allowed to win. He was. .h.i.t on the head with a bottle, and the mob dispersed only when the race organizer Geo Lefevre turned up and fired pistol shots into the air.
Garin was banned for two years and raced again only once, in the 1911 Paris-Brest-Paris. But he had time to invest the prize money from the 1904 Tour win in a garage in the northern France town of Lens, where he worked until his death. Historian Les Woodland described him as "an old man, a bit stooped" but still with the enormous handlebar moustache of his youth.