Additional
Story: Tour de France 1910: "Assassins..."
The
early races of the Tour de France (TdF) were still considered
the pioneering years. Race director Henri Desgranges
was always looking for new and innovative
ways to avoid the pitfalls of complacency. Desgranges skeptically embraced
a new idea put forth by Alphonse Steines, his assistant at
Le Auto, for the inclusion
of the monstrous climbs of the Pyrenees Mountains. “Steines, are you crazy?” responded
Desgranges. But after significant persuasion, Desgranges dispatched Steines
to the south of France for a look at the Col du Tourmalet.
As this legendary ‘Tale
of the Tour’ described: Alphonse Steines
arrived at an inn near the Col du Tourmalet on January 27, 1910. He asked
the innkeeper for directions to pass over the Tourmalet. This
being winter, the innkeeper
cynically replied “...you can barely cross it in July.” Undaunted
in his determination to have the TdF climb over the Pyrenees, Steines hired
a car and proceeded up the cart path that was the passage over the monster
mountain.
Near the top of the climb the car was stopped by deep snow and turned back.
Stubbornly, even though the late afternoon sun was setting, Steines continued
on foot. He
walked through the night and at 3am, when a search party found him Steines
was dazed and bewildered. They quickly got him food and a hot bath. The next
morning
Steines sent the now famous telegram back to Desgranges in Paris:
Crossed
Tourmalet… Stop
Very Good Road… Stop
Perfectly Passable… Stop
signed Steines
The expedition
convinced Desgranges and the race schedule was altered to include
an incursion into the high mountains of the Pyrenees.
The press
wrote of the
new stage routes in the wilderness of the Pyrenees as “dangerous” and “bizarre.” This
was much to the delight of race director Desgranges and his newspaper
Le Auto.
The first
ascents of the Col du Peyresoure, the Col d’Aspin,
the Col du Tourmalet, and the Col d’Aubisque were featured on stage
10 from Luchon to Bayonne. The day, July 27, 1910, was a very hot day
in southern France and
Octave “le Frise” Lapize (the guy with curly hair) was aggressive
from the start of the stage. He won the first three climbs and was only
followed by Frans Lafourcade early on the Col d’Aubisque. Anxious
race officials waiting at the top of the Aubisque watched to see if any
rider could make it
over the fourth major climb of the day, the brutal Col d’Aubisque.
Lapize, a climbing specialist, walked, ran, and pedaled his way up the
final climb. Halfway
up, local rider Lafourcade passed him and won the climb. Fifteen minutes
after Lafourcade, the second rider appeared, Octave Lapize in great distress
and pushing
his bike. Upon reaching the top Lapize angrily shouted “ASSASSINS...” at
the race officials as he passed. Across the top of the Aubisque, a furious
Lapize charged down the mountain, made up the 15-minute deficit to catch
Lafourcade and won the stage. One by one
the riders going over the top of the Aubisque were muttering
and yelling “Assassins” or “Murderers.” The
media eagerly picked-up the thought and coined the term “the
Circle of Death” or “Circle of Dead Men” [NOTE: stay
tuned for a future CyclingRevealed article on this subject] referring
to the
hardest day in the
Pyrenees Mountains.
The titanic
battle of the 1910 Tour was selling newspapers at an excellent
rate back in Paris. Not only had the Pyrenees
Mountains peaked reader’s interest,
but also the battle for the overall championship had TdF fans rushing
out for the daily updates in Le Auto. Today the events of 1910 are
looked at as a ‘master
stroke of marketing’.
.
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