Butcher Blacksmith Acrobat Sweep: The Tale of the First Tour de France

About this book

In 1902 the journalist Go Lefvre met Henri Desgrange editor of struggling newspaper LAuto for lunch in Montmartre in Paris. Lefvre pitched him a totally unprecedented cycling event comprised of multiple stages over thousands of kilometres touring the country. It sounded preposterous but desperate to revive the publication Desgrange went along with it. In 1903 the first Tour de France took place. Cyclists of the time werent enthusiastic about this heroic race through roads more suited to hooves than wheels with bikes weighing up to twenty kilos on a single fixed gear for three full weeks. Assembling enough riders for the race meant bribing unemployed labourers from the suburbs of Paris including a butcher a blacksmith a chimney sweep and a wrestler. Through these characters backstories acclaimed cyclist writer Peter Cossins paints a nuanced portrait of France in the early 1900s. The race itself was packed with mishaps and adventure - nighttime starts nefarious strategies employed to gain advantages over competitors riders hydrating with wine. There was no indication that a ramshackle cycling pack would draw crowds to throng Frances rutted roads and cheer the first Tour heroes. But they did and cycling would never be the same again.