Tour de France - the origins of the history

Dreyfus stripped of rank

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Now you may think this is all about L'Auto and advertising for sales, as we know the story of the tour quite well. But, as always there are more interesting facts to consider. Spies, treason, secret meetings in Paris - Captain Alfred Dreyfus didn't know his conviction would be one of many factors leading to the birth of the pinnacle of the sport - the Tour de France.

In the early 1890s the Dreyfus affaire rocked France. The young artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted for treason. Young Dreyfus had allegedly sold French military secrets to Germany via the German Embassy in Paris. Solitary confinement in French Guinea can scare the strongest of men, Dreyfus was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1894. Luckily for him, he just spent five years there.

Later new evidence came to light, suggesting that Dreyfus was innocent, as another French officer was responsible for the contact with the Germans. Still, Dreyfus was sentenced to prison for many more years, based on a dodgy claim by the French military. Words of the framing of Dreyfus spread quickly and during the next years France was divided on the matter. The debate raced on for years.

Newspapers, sales and lies 
Comte Jules-Albert de Dion, strongly believed Dreyfus was guilty, one time debates became so heated he hit the French President in the head with a walking stick. The incident resulted in 15 days in prison and a 100 francs fine. Meanwhile, the editor of the largest sports newspaper, Le Velo, Pierre Giffard, thought Dreyfus was innocent. Giffard wrote many articles in a way that made de Dion to drew swords with a couple of other anti-Dreyfusards such as Adolphe Clément and Édouard Michelin, who opened a rival newspaper, L'Auto.
Of course, the appointed editor of this daily newspaper was Henri Desgrange, picked partly because of his reputation as a cyclist, partly due to his abilities as a reporter and partly because his network in cycling. Back then Desgrange owned a velodrome together with Victor Goddet.

Those early days...

Low sales did not please the backers whilst Giffard smiled and clearly enjoyed the smaller newspaper's struggles. As you probably know, the tour was started to generate increased sales. Desgrange has got most of the cred for starting the tour de France. A fact most are not aware of, is that the idea was proposed by a young journalist named Géo Lèfevre. The 26-year old was poached from Giffard some time earlier. As normal when big hairy goals appear , doubt and hesitance filled the room inside 10 Rue de Fauborge in the Montmartre area of Paris. Until Goddet, who held the financial director position, enthusiastically handed the doubtful Desgrange the keys to the safe saying: "Take whatever you need."

The rest is history.

The UCI list - just a list

Today the French newspaper L’Equipe present an article that says the UCI had a list over riders who had unusual high values before the tour in 2010.

The reporter behind the story is the famous Damien Ressiot, the French journo who had the famous headlines back in 2005 stating: Le mesonge Armstrong – Armstrong’s lie. According to journalist Anders K. Christiansen, Ressiot proved some good investigation skills back then, even getting Lance Armstrong’s approval for getting Armstrong’s permission to see his number code used by the UCI in dpoing tests, by saying he wanted to help Armstrong get rid of rumours.

What does the list mean

Some have raised questions regarding the fact that the UCI has a list, others don’t mind. My personal opinion is that the list need to be shared with WADA, unless no point in havig one. The L’Equipe article says AMA (WADA-AMA) agents have had access to the list. Upon giving riders a number between 0-10, where 10 is the highest, based on their biological passport and the values they tested just before the start of the tour.

The good and at the same time sad news is that the list doesn’t necessarily mean much. All those involved with sport, at least endurance sport, knows that the variations within blood level is high among the athletes. The list is merely an overview over different riders’ bio passport on the 1^st of July 2010. 

Some have criticized the biological passport and says that there are circumstances where the hemoglobin level is high, both naturally and because of an illness.

The questions I’m left with are many, and the UCI have some explaining to do. Some of my questions are:

• Is there such a list today? Rumours in the cycling world have indicated this and the work of Ressiot further adds fuel to that fire.
• Who is responsible for the evaluation and analysis?
• Is it WADA-AMA or the UCI who has the responsibility for putting that list together?
• Who decides which rider to be tested?
• Do the UCI cooperate with the different nations’ drug agencies to test riders with suspicious values in hemoglobin and hematocrit?