Mapping Le Tour: The unofficial history of all 100 Tour de France races. Ellis Bacon
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Название: Mapping Le Tour: The unofficial history of all 100 Tour de France races
Автор: Ellis Bacon
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Историческая литература
isbn: 9780007585427
isbn:
André Leducq – winner of the 1930 Tour – was back on form, and firing on all cylinders for the 1932 race. His compatriot, and 1931 champion, Antonin Magne, was a non-starter for the French national squad, and instead Leducq’s biggest challenge came from within the German team.
Kurt Stoepel won the sprint for stage 2 between Caen and Nantes from a thirteen-man group that included Leducq. When the Frenchman won stage 3 into Bordeaux, it was game on between the two. Stoepel had become the first German rider to wear the yellow jersey after his stage win, but once the race hit the Pyrenees, Leducq began to stride out and, come the Alps, the French rider held a lead of just over three minutes from his German rival.
Leducq steadily increased his lead over Stoepel on the climbs, winning stage 13 from Grenoble to Aix-les-Bains over some tough climbs including a snow-covered Col du Galibier – consistently the highest mountain scaled by the Tour peloton – which, at 2556 m (8386 ft), was covered in snow despite the high temperatures of a French summer. By the time the race reached Paris – Leducq having also won the last two stages, just for good measure – Stoepel was a massive 24 minutes behind, and it was a third straight victory for a French rider since the introduction of the national-teams format.
A triumphant André Leducq jokes with the media after taking his second Tour de France crown
| Start: Paris, France, on 27 JuneFinish: Paris, France, on 23 July | |
| Total distance: 4396 km (2732 miles)Longest stage: 293 km (182 miles) | |
| Highest point:Col du Galibier: 2556 m (8386 ft) Mountain stages: 11 | |
| Starters: 80Finishers: 40 | |
| Winning time: 147 h 51’ 37”Average speed: 29.732 kph (18.475 mph) | |
| 1. Georges Speicher (Fra)2. Learco Guerra (Ita) at 4’ 01” 3. Giuseppe Martano (Ita) at 5’ 08” | |
| Mountains: Vicente Trueba (Spa) |
At last – a clockwise Tour, for the first time since 1912. While the riders could ‘unwind’ after two decades of dizziness caused by following what had become a very samey anti-clockwise route around the edge of France, the watching public, too, must have appreciated the change of direction.
The dizzy heights of the race’s mountain climbs continued to capture the imagination as well, and 1933 was the first year that the organisers introduced an official grand prix de la montagne – the climber’s prize that would later use that garish white and red polka-dot jersey to identify the leader in the competition. That wouldn’t come until 1975.
Vicente Trueba – ‘The Torrelavega Flea’, hailing from the same Cantabrian town as Óscar Freire, who won Spain’s first, and only, green jersey in 2008 – hoovered up the big points available on most of the climbs in both the Alps and then the Pyrenees, including topping the Galibier and the Lautaret on stage 7, the Peyresourde and the Aspin on stage 17, and the Tourmalet and the Aubisque on stage 18, all at the head of the race.
Over in the French camp, both defending champion André Leducq and 1931 winner Antonin Magne were back, helping to make up a very strong team, but it was another member of the squad, 26-year-old Georges Speicher, who came to life in the Alps, winning two stages, and then won a third en route to Marseille to take the yellow jersey, which his team ably helped him defend all the way to Paris.
The race literally had a new direction, the French were still winning, and the race was more popular than ever, continuing to help shift copies of L’Auto, as had been the intention since the outset way back in 1903.
Spaniard Vicente Trueba conquered the Alps and Pyrenees, becoming the first rider to claim the grand prix de la montagne crown
“I thought my Tour was over. But then, suddenly, on one of the corners further down the descent, I spied Vietto making his way back up to me – in order to give me his bicycle.”
1934 winner Antonin Magne was grateful for the help he received from French national team-mate René Vietto
| Start: Paris, France, on 3 JulyFinish: Paris, France, on 29 July | |
| Total distance: 4370 km (2716 miles)Longest stage: 293 km (182 miles) | |
| Highest point:Col du Galibier: 2556 m (8386 ft) Mountain stages: 11 | |
| Starters: 60Finishers: 39 | |
| Winning time: 147 h 13’ 58”Average speed: 30.360 kph (18.865 mph) | |
| 1. Antonin Magne (Fra)2. Giuseppe Martano (Ita) at 27’ 31” 3. Roger Lapébie (Fra) at 52’ 15” | |
| Mountains: René Vietto (Fra) |
This purple patch of home Tour winners like André Leducq, Antonin Magne and Georges Speicher was all well and good, but what the French public really loved – and still love – is a rider up against it, selfless and emotional.
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