Re: [CR] 1929 FONTAN (TOUR DU FRANCE).

(Example: History:Ted Ernst)

From: "Joe King" <joeking@fastmail.fm>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR] 1929 FONTAN (TOUR DU FRANCE).
In-Reply-To: <3DEDF233-5930-44E8-97F2-707864DABFE8@earthlink.net>
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2006 22:13:11 +0000
References: <0b1c01c70370$d039fc30$0200a8c0@HPLAPTOP>


One of the unluckiest riders of the Tour was Victor Fontan. He was leading in the Pyrenees, but after hitting a pothole in the darkness, he was forced to retire with a broken bicycle, prompting the journalist Louis Delblat to write, "How can a man lose the Tour de France because of an accident to his bike? [...] The rules should provide for a back-up vehicle with spare bikes on board. You lose the Tour to a better rider; you should not lose it because of a stupid accident to your bike". Such a manifestly sensible rule had to wait the departure of Henri Desgrange several years hence. The team time trial stages had clearly not worked the way Desgrange wanted, so they were dropped in 1929 on all but three stages. But once again the Alcyon team was able to ensure that its leader reached Paris in Yellow, even though Desgrange had split the riders into "As" and "Touristes-Routiers" rather than in trade teams. Such ties went deeper than simply a change of jersey.

The early stages saw nothing to split the leaders; indeed in Bordeaux, three potential winners all pulled on the yellow jersey: Nicolas Frantz, André Leducq and Victor Fontan. But after the first Pyreneen stage, Fontan, an excellent climber, had moved into a lead of all but ten minutes. The next day, tragedy struck for Fontan. His forks broke and, it was said, he knocked on every door in a village before he found a replacement bicycle. No sooner had he set off than he punctured; realising that now he would never catch the leaders, he climbed off, crying, into the bushes, the Yellow Jersey still on his shoulders. "How can a man lose the Tour de France because of an accident to his bike?" wrote the journalist Louis Delblat. "The rules should provide for a back-up vehicle with spare bikes on board. You lose the Tour to a better rider; you should not lose it because of a stupid accident to your bike".

Meanwhile Maurice Dewaele had pulled on the Yellow Jersey, but the drama was not over. Physically exhausted, he collapsed just an hour before the start of the stage from Grenoble. His team literally dragged him onto his bike at the start, then road shoulder-to-shoulder across the road to prevent any rivals from attacking. Eventually Dewaele pulled through to win the race, but Desgrange was not impressed. "How can such a soft touch retain the Yellow Jersey?", he wrote. "Why didn't his rivals attack him more resolutely? What can one make of their tactics and the real worth of the winner? I declare the winner moribund".

Desgrange wasn't the only one to be worried: the race was dying on its feet through a combination of tedium and arcane rules. Desgrange himself wanted to break the power of the big teams - really meaning Alcyon - once and for all. Others just wanted exciting action. "What can be done to haul cycle racing out of its rut of tedium?" wrote one journalist. "New ideas! Bold initiatives!"

The initiatives were just around the corner...

Stage winners Stage Winner Overall Leader Stage 1 Paris - Caen, 206km Aimé Dossche Aimé Dossche Stage 2 Caen - Cherbourg, 140km André Leducq Aimé Dossche, Aime Déole t, Marcel Bidot and Maurice Dewaele equal Stage 3 Cherbourg - Dinan, 199km Omer Taverne Aimé Dossche, Aime Déolet, Marcel Bidot and Maurice Dewaele equal Stage 4 Dinan - Brest, 206km Louis Delannoy Maurice Dewaele Stage 5 Brest - Vannes, 208km Gustaff Van Slembrouck Maurice Dewaele Stage 6 Vannes - Les Sables d'Olonne, 204km Paul Le Drogo Maurice Dewaele Stage 7 Les Sables d'Olonne - Bordeaux, 285km Nicholas Frantz Nicholas Frantz, André Leducq and Victor Fontan, equal Stage 8 Bordeaux - Bayonne, 182km Julien Moineau Gaston Rebry Stage 9 Bayonne - Luchon, 363km Salvador Cardona Victor Fontan Stage 10 Luchon - Perpignan, 323km Joseph Demusère Maurice Dewaele Stage 11 Perpignan - Marseille, 366km André Leducq Marice Dewaele Stage 12 Marseille - Cannes, 191km Marcel Bidot Maurice Dewaele Stage 13 Cannes - Nice, 133km Benoît Fauré Maurice Dewaele Stage 14 Nice - Grenoble, 333km Gaston Rebry Maurice Dewaele Stage 15 Grenoble - Evian, 329km Julien Vervaecke Maurice Dewaele Stage 16 Evian - Belfort, 283km Charles Pélissier Maurice Dewaele Stage 17 Belfort - Strasbourg, 145km André Leducq Maurice Dewaele Stage 18 Strasbourg - Metz, 165km André Leducq Maurice Dewaele Stage 19 Metz - Charleville, 159km Bernard Van Rysselberghe Maurice Dewaele Stage 20 Charleville - Malo-les-Bains, 270km Maurice Dewaele Maurice Dewaele Stage 21 Malo-les-Bains - Dieppe, 234km André Leducq Maurice Dewaele Stage 24 Dieppe - Paris, 330km Nicholas Frantz Maurice Dewaele

In a nutshell In an effort to break the power of the big teams, the Team Time Trial stages were dropped and the riders divided into two categories, the As and the Touristes Routiers Results Overall 1st: Maurice Dewaele, (Belgium), 5254km in 186h 39' 16" (28.319km/h) 2nd: Giuseppe Pancera, (Italy), @ 44' 22" 3rd: Joseph Demusère, (Belgium), @ 57' 09" 4th: Salvador Cardona, (Spain), @ 57' 45" 5th: Nicolas Frantz, (Luxembourg), @ 57' 59" 6th: Louis Delannoy, (Belgium), @ 1h 06' 08" 7th: Antonin Magne, (France), @ 1h 07' 59" 8th: Julien Vervaecke, (Belgium), @ 2h 01' 36" 9th: Pierre Magne, (France), @ 2h 02' 59" 10th: Gaston Rebry, (Belgium), @ 2h 17' 48"

(60th: André Léger, (France), Touriste Routier, @ 31h 37' 55") Cardona, Louesse both rode for Fontan.

Croeso Cymru Joe King Nr. Maenaddwyn Ynys Mon Wales