The
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
was not held during World War II because the organisers refused German requests. Although a 1940 Tour de France had been announced earlier, the outbreak of the war made it impossible for it to be held. After that, some attempts were made by the Germans during the war to have a Tour de France to maintain the sense of normality, but ''
l'Auto'', the organising newspaper, refused. Some other races were run as a replacement.
After World War II, ''l'Auto'' was closed for collaborating with the Germans. The rights to organise the Tour went to the French government. As two newspapers were interested in these rights, they each organised a small Tour of five stages; the race run by ''
L'Équipe
''L'Équipe'' (, French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby, motorsport, and cycling. Its predecessor w ...
'' was considered the more successful, so ''L'Équipe'' was allowed to organise the
1947 Tour de France
The 1947 Tour de France was the 34th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 25 June to 20 July. The total race distance was 21 stages over . It was the first Tour since 1939, having been cancelled during World War II, although some Tour ...
.
History
Already before the war, the political situation in Europe had its influence on the Tour de France. Political reasons caused Italy, Germany and Spain to refuse to send teams to France for the
1939 Tour de France. The
1938 Tour de France
The 1938 Tour de France was the 32nd edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 5 to 31 July. It was composed of 21 stages over .The race was won by Italian cyclist Gino Bartali, who also won the mountains classification.
Innovations and ...
winner,
Gino Bartali
Gino Bartali (; 18 July 1914 – 5 May 2000), nicknamed Gino the Pious and (in Italy) Ginettaccio, was a champion road cyclist. He was the most renowned Italian cyclist before the Second World War, having won the Giro d'Italia twice, in 19 ...
, was among those affected.
Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange (31 January 1865 – 16 August 1940) was a French bicycle racer and sports journalist. He set twelve world track cycling records, including the hour record of on 11 May 1893. He was the first organiser of the Tour de France.
...
, the original race organizer, and
Jacques Goddet
Jacques Goddet (21 June 1905 – 15 December 2000) was a French sports journalist and director of the Tour de France road cycling race from 1936 to 1986.
Goddet was born and died in Paris. His father, Victor Goddet, was co-founder and finance di ...
, his deputy and replacement,
[Desgrange died on 16 August 1940 having abandoned his race the previous year while suffering the effects of an operation.] announced plans for a Tour de France in August 1940.
Races planned or held during the Occupation
1940 Tour de France
Henri Desgrange planned a Tour for 1940, after war had started but before France had been invaded. The route, approved by military authorities, included a route along the
Maginot Line.
[The Bicycle, UK, 8 July 1943, p6] Teams would have been drawn from military units in France, including the British, who would have been organised by a journalist, Bill Mills.
The plans were dropped after the German invasion. The records and paperwork of the Tour were taken south to keep them safe but were never seen again.
Desgrange died in August 1940, and his successor, Jacques Goddet, initially wanted to organise the Tour during the war, arguing that sport should remain neutral.
[Thompson, p. 79]
1941 Tour de France
In 1941, the newspaper ''
Paris-Soir'', run by Germans, tried to persuade ''l'Auto'' to coorganize the Tour, but Goddet did not accept.
1942 Tour de France
The German Propaganda Staffel wanted the Tour to be run and offered facilities otherwise denied, in the hope of maintaining a sense of normality.
[McGann, p. 150] They offered to open the borders between German-occupied France in the north and the nominally independent
Vichy France
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its te ...
in the south, so that ''l'Auto'' could organize a Tour, together with ''La France Socialiste'', but Goddet refused.
He was, in any case, in little position to run a race of that scale because many of the staff had left ''L'Autos office in Paris to go south.
1942 Circuit de France
''La France Socialiste'', run by Jean Leulliot, Goddet's former colleague at ''L'Auto'', did not have the same reluctance, and organized the race on its own. Leulliot, who had been manager of the French team that won the Tour in 1937, had become head of sport at ''La France Socialiste'' which, despite its name, was a right-wing paper that sympathized with the Germans. Leulliot assembled sixty-nine riders for the race, the Circuit de France, which ran from 28 September to 4 October 1942. Over six stages and , it went from Paris to Paris via
Le Mans,
Poitiers,
Limoges,
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with a population of 146,734 (2018). Its metropolitan area (''aire d'attract ...
,
St-Étienne,
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...
and
Dijon
Dijon (, , ) (dated)
* it, Digione
* la, Diviō or
* lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920.
The earlies ...
.
One of the riders, Émile Idée, told the writer and cyclist
Jean Bobet that he had been threatened with the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
if he did not take part.
Bobet said: "I asked him to repeat it to see if I had understood. I was stunned
'dans la tête ça fait tilt''"
The Circuit de France was organized between 28 September 1942 and 4 October 1942
by ''La France Socialiste'' in both the
occupied zone and
Vichy France
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its te ...
, to give a feeling of nationality. The race had six multinational teams, and was won by
François Neuville
François Neuville (24 November 1912, in Mons-Crotteux – 12 April 1986, in Dadizele) was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. In 1938, Neuville won one stage of the 1938 Tour de France.
Major results
;1934
:Berlare
:Waremme
;1938
:Tour ...
. The inexperience of the organizers, combined with bad weather and logistical problems, made the race a disaster. Although there were plans to hold the race again in 1943, it was never held.
The mountains classification was won by
Pierre Brambilla.
1943 Tour de France
The 1943 Tour de France was not held, but instead, ''L'Auto'' organized a readers' poll in 1943 to name the perfect team for a Tour de France, were one to be run. More than 10,000 took part.
1943 Grand Prix du Tour de France
In 1943, ''l'Auto'' ran what it called the "Grand Prix du Tour de France", the paper's assessment of the greatest riders calculated using their placings in single-day races, all organised by ''l'Auto''.
[Dauncey, p. 269] At the end of the season, a yellow jersey was given to the cyclist with the best overall classification. The winner was
Jo Goutorbe.
Even though The Grand Prix du Tour de France was organized by
Jacques Goddet
Jacques Goddet (21 June 1905 – 15 December 2000) was a French sports journalist and director of the Tour de France road cycling race from 1936 to 1986.
Goddet was born and died in Paris. His father, Victor Goddet, was co-founder and finance di ...
, he made it clear that it was not an official Tour de France.
The Grand Prix du Tour de France 1943 consisted of the following races:
*
Paris–Roubaix
Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the ' Monuments' or classics of th ...
*GP de Provence
*Paris–Dijon
*Paris–Reims
*
Paris–Tours
*Course dans Paris
*GP d'Auvergne
*GP des Alpes
*GP Industrie du Cycle
1944 Grand Prix du Tour de France
In 1944, the Grand Prix du Tour de France was done again, but it was not completed because the
liberation of France
The liberation of France in the Second World War was accomplished through diplomacy, politics and the combined military efforts of the Allied Powers, Free French forces in London and Africa, as well as the French Resistance.
Nazi Germany inv ...
stopped the races from being run.
Maurice De Simpelaere was the leader at the time the races were interrupted.
Candidate Tours after liberation
After the liberation of France in 1944, ''L'Auto'' was closed and its belongings, including the Tour de France were sequestered by the state for having published articles too close to the Germans.
All rights to the Tour were therefore owned by the government. Jacques Goddet was allowed to publish another daily sports paper, ''L'Équipe'', but there was a rival candidate to run the Tour: a consortium of the magazines ''Sports'' and ''Miroir Sprint''. Each organised a candidate race. ''L'Équipe'' and ''Le Parisien Libéré'' had "La Course du Tour de France",
("The Race of the Tour de France" – as close as they dared come to calling the race by its original name), and ''Sports'' and ''Miroir Sprint'' had "La Ronde de France". Both were five-stage races, the longest the government would allow because of shortages.
Ronde de France
From 10 to 14 July 1946, the Ronde de France was organized. The cyclists were divided in commercial teams, but the commercial teams were each allowed to field two teams, one composed of French cyclists and one of foreign cyclists. It was won by
Giulio Bresci, who also won two stages and the mountains classification.
La Course du Tour de France
The Course du Tour de France ( en, Race of the Tour of France), also known as Monaco–Paris was organised in 1946 by ''
Le Parisien Libéré'' together with ''
l'Equipe''. The race had many things familiar to the old Tours de France: there were six national teams and five regional French teams, and the leader in the race was also given a
yellow jersey
The general classification is the most important classification, the one by which the winner of the Tour de France is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey (french: maillot jaune ).
History
Th ...
.
The race was won by French cyclist
Apo Lazaridès
Apo Lazaridès (16 October 1925 – 30 October 1998) was a French champion cyclist.
Born Jean-Apôtre Lazaridès in Marles-les-Mines, Pas-de-Calais of Greek ancestry (he became French in 1929). During the German occupation of France, Lazar ...
. The mountains classification was won by
Jean Robic
Jean Robic (; 10 June 1921 – 6 October 1980)L'Équipe, 9 July 2003 was a French road racing cyclist, who won the 1947 Tour de France. Robic was a professional cyclist from 1943 to 1961. His diminutive stature (1.61m, 60 kg) and appearance ...
.
Aftermath
The Course du Tour de France, ''L'Équipes race, was better organised and appealed more to the public because it featured national teams which had been so successful before the war, when French cycling was at a high. In late 1946, both organisers intended to organise their race again in 1947, this time at the same time. The UCI then decided in December 1946 to give ''L'Équipe'' the right to organize the
1947 Tour de France
The 1947 Tour de France was the 34th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 25 June to 20 July. The total race distance was 21 stages over . It was the first Tour since 1939, having been cancelled during World War II, although some Tour ...
. After their main rival ''Sports'' objected to this, the rights were instead given to La Societé du Parc du Princes, because this was thought to be a neutral choice. In early 1947, it became clear that the organisation of the Tour de France was difficult financially without a newspaper and, in June 1947, one month before the 1947 Tour de France would start, the Societé du Parc du Princes transferred the rights to ''L'Équipe''.
Émile Besson, communist sports writer and a member of the Resistance from 1943 when he was 17, called ''L'Équipes victory political. Besson, who was a member of the national study into French sport under the Occupation, set up by
Marie-George Buffet
Marie-George Buffet (née Kosellek; born 7 May 1949) is a French politician. She was the head of the French Communist Party (PCF) from 2001 to 2010. She joined the Party in 1969, and she served in the government as Minister of Youth Affairs an ...
when she was sports minister between 1997 and 2002, said:
It was a bit much to have given them the right to run the Tour again after all that eferring to ''L'Autos pro-German attitude and closure Goddet had the keys to the Velodrome d'Hiver
A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement c ...
when he Germans wanted itin the round-up of Jews in July 1942. After the Liberation, the battle between Left and Right had the Tour as one of its prizes.
Goddet had to defend his wartime behaviour at an inquiry in
Algiers. He pointed to the way he had allowed Resistance workers to print anti-German tracts at his newspaper and called
Émilien Amaury in his defence. Amaury had a blameless record in the Resistance.
He was also a right-wing businessman; his ideals close to Goddet's.
It was with Amaury and his paper, ''Le Parisien Libéré'', that Goddet ran La Course du Tour de France. It was Amaury's reputation that landed Goddet the Tour.
That, says Besson, and because the rival candidate was two magazines with a communist background and President
Charles de Gaulle was determined to limit communist influence. De Gaulle had spent much of his time during the war trying to prevent communist domination of the Resistance. Communists held many key positions in France just before and after Liberation but De Gaulle refused even to thank them for their work.
Albert Bourlon, who won the 14th stage of the 1947 Tour de France, told Jean Bobet that he was convinced that his membership of the Communist Party denied him access to the race afterwards.
Amaury eventually took control of both the paper and the Tour de France, which the family still controls to this day with the family-owned
Amaury Sport Organisation
The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) is part of the French media group Éditions Philippe Amaury. It organises the Tour de France and other cycling races, as well as golf, running, sailing and off-road motorsport events. The president of ASO is Je ...
, since 2006 controlled by grandson Jean-Étienne Amaury.
Jean Leulliot was tried for his role in organising races under German patronage but he was cleared after fellow journalists, including Goddet, spoke in his favour.
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
*
{{Tour de France
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
1940
A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* Januar ...
Events cancelled due to World War II