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The Bordeaux–Paris professional
cycle race Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling spo ...
was one of Europe's
classic cycle races The classic cycle races are the most prestigious one-day professional road cycling races in the international calendar. Some of these events date back to the 19th century. They are normally held at roughly the same time each year. The five most ...
, and one of the longest in the professional calendar, covering approximately – more than twice most single-day races. It started in northern
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectu ...
in southwest France at 2am and finished in the capital
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
14 hours later. The professional event was held from 1891 until 1988. It was held as an amateur event in 2014.


History

The event was first run on 23 May 1891, and the Derby of the Road as it was sometimes called, was notable in that riders were paced – allowed to slipstream – behind tandem or conventional cycles. From 1931, pacing was by motorcycles or small pedal-assisted
Derny A Derny is a motorized bicycle for motor-paced cycling events such as during six-day and Keirin racing and motor-paced road races. Some riders train behind a derny on the road. The Derny is so-called as it was originally produced by the Fren ...
s. Pacing was also briefly by cars. In early events, pacing was provided from Bordeaux. In later events, it was introduced part-way towards Paris. From 1946 to 1985, more than half the distance was paced, Dernys being introduced at
Poitiers Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglome ...
or
Châtellerault Châtellerault (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Châteulrô/Chateleràud''; oc, Chastelairaud) is a commune in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in France. It is located in the northeast of the former province Poitou, and the re ...
, roughly half-way. The organisers of the inaugural event, Bordeaux Vélo Club and '' Véloce Sport'' envisaged that riders might take a few days, but the first edition was won in a continuous ride by George Pilkington Mills. Mills raced through the night to win the 600 km long event in just over a day. Post-war winners include
Louison Bobet Louis "Louison" Bobet (; 12 March 1925 - 13 March 1983) was a French professional road racing cyclist. He was the first great French rider of the post-war period and the first rider to win the Tour de France in three successive years, from 1953 ...
(1959),
Tom Simpson Thomas Simpson (30 November 1937 – 13 July 1967) was one of Britain's most successful professional cyclists. He was born in Haswell, County Durham, and later moved to Harworth, Nottinghamshire. Simpson began road cycling as a teenager ...
(1963), and
Jacques Anquetil Jacques Anquetil (; 8 January 1934 – 18 November 1987) was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964. He stated before the 1961 Tour that he would gain the ...
(1965). The record for the most victories is held by
Herman Van Springel Herman Vanspringel (14 August 1943 – 25 August 2022), also spelled Herman Van Springel, was a Belgian road racing cyclist, from Grobbendonk, in the Flemish Campine or Kempen region. He achieved podium finishes in all three of the grand tour ...
, who won seven times between 1970 and 1981.


The first race

George Mills won the inaugural Bordeaux–Paris race in 1891. He was invited by the organisers, the newspaper '' Véloce Sport'' because of his reputation in an age when long-distance racing was the fashion. A race from
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectu ...
in the south-west to the capital in Paris would be the longest annual event in France. The race started at 5am in the Place du Pont Bastide in Bordeaux. There were 38 riders. As well as the British – Pilkington Mills, Holbein, Edge and Bates – there were a Pole and a Swiss. Mills fell on bad roads after 10 km when he touched with the Frenchman, Jiel-Laval, but neither was hurt. The English group moved to the front when the field began to straggle after the first hour. They led by a mile at dawn after averaging 14 mph. The historian Victor M. Head wrote: "At 10.30 Angoulème was reached and the Englishmen stopped to gulp down bowls of hot soup. When they restarted, Mills began to make all the running, drawing steadily away from his companions until, arriving at
Ruffec, Charente Ruffec () is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. It is a stopover town on the road from Paris to Spain ( Route nationale 10), between Poitiers and Angoulême. During the Second World War, Ruffec was at the centre of Res ...
, he was half an hour in the lead."''The Bicycle'', UK, 8 March 1950, p5 The rapid departure surprised the organisers. A report said: :Everything had been prepared to receive the riders properly 'recevoir dignement'' full meals, baths, hot showers, nothing was forgotten, and there were good beds to welcome our heroes, because there was no doubt among the excellent people of Angoulème that it was impossible to ride 127 km on a bicycle without immediately needing several hours' rest. To the great stupefaction of the spectators, not one of the riders took advantage of what had been provided. The eventual winner, G.P. Mills, stopped for several moments at best. He had a plan: he let Holbein eat peacefully at the control because he knew that a real champion, Lewis Stroud, was waiting to show him the way out of town and that, with him as a precious, fast and durable pacer he could build up the lead he needed to win the race. Mills reached
Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...
after 215 miles and more than 12 hours on the road. He rested for five minutes, ate raw meat "and a specially prepared stimulant", and set off an hour ahead of the other British riders. "By now," said Head, "the Frenchmen were hopelessly out of the running." He wrote: Although the judges, the officials, and the large crowd had been waiting impatiently for three hours before the winner's weary, mud-caked figure was seen coming along the boulevard de la Porte Maillot, his reception was "wildly enthusiastic", as one writer put it , and he was escorted in triumph to his hotel. The time of 26h 36m 25s was truly remarkable when one considers the appalling road conditions, poor weather, and the delays, and all the other hardships encountered . The British victory was complete as Montague Holbein (27h 52m 15s) came in second, with Edge, nearly three hours away, third, and Bates fourth. The Bicycle Union – later renamed the National Cyclists Union – had strict views about amateurism and had demanded its French equivalent ensure that all taking part met its own amateur ideals. Only then would the NCU allow Mills and other British amateurs to take part. When Mills won, the Bicycle Union realised he was the works manager at a bicycle factory and decided he should be asked "whether he paid the whole of his expenses in the above-mentioned race."McGurn, James (1987) ''On Your Bicycle'', John Murray (UK) p108 Only when he could prove that he had did the Bicycle Union concede that he was not a professional.


Results – 1891

Source:Gallica, Online Archive, ''Le Petit Journal'' 25 May 1891 – Velocipedie – La Course de Bordeaux – Paris. Final report at Paris
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Last races

Bordeaux–Paris began to lose prestige in the 1980s. It required special training and clashed with riders' plans to compete in the
Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the ...
or Giro d'Italia stage races. Fields began to dwindle and the last
motor-paced Motor-paced racing and motor-paced cycling refer to cycling behind a pacer in a car or more usually on a motorcycle. The cyclist (or stayer in this case) follows as close as they can to benefit from the slipstream of their pacer. The first paced ...
version was 1985; three non-paced versions were held from 1986 but 1988 proved the last as a professional race.


Winners


References


Other sources


Gallica, Online Archive, ''Le Petit Journal'' Index

Gallica, Online Archive, ''Le Petit Journal'' 24 May 1891 - Velocipedie - La Course de Bordeaux - Paris. Intermediate reports - Libourne, Barberieux, Poitier, Tours

Gallica, Online Archive, ''Le Petit Journal'' 25 May 1891 - Velocipedie - La Course de Bordeaux - Paris. Final report at Paris
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bordeaux-Paris Classic cycle races Cycle races in France Recurring sporting events established in 1891 1891 establishments in France Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1988 1988 disestablishments in France Super Prestige Pernod races