The Tour was started to sell copies for l’Auto newspaper and this publication became l’Equipe,
In 2005 I was a football fan with little interest in cycling- I had mountain biked a lot as a teenager but fallen out of the habit of cycling after university. Back then, skinny tyres were always for the ‘roadie scum‘ anyway!
I married a Frenchwoman and during summer holidays, to practice my French reading I’d get l’Equipe in the hope of discovering who the next Thierry Henry was. But to my disappointment the paper was full of cycling and the Tour.
By 2007, I sat up and took notice. We were in the Pyrenees on holiday and the race was passing by. I was determined to watch it, but didn’t have a clue. We tried to drive up one of the climbs in the morning, not knowing that the road is closed hours and hours in advance. We got a spot in between cols at St-Beat, the riders swept through- not the best way to watch a mountain stage. I still got some great photos though.