Tour de France
New heights reached under Desgrange

By Mark Akins
Seattle Times staff

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Bob Roll, in his book "The Tour de France Companion," has a wonderful title for a chapter on mountain stages:

Climb and punishment.

Today and tomorrow in the Pyrenees, the emphasis is on punishment.

Tour founder Henri Desgrange first sent riders to the Pyrenees in 1910. Rutted, rocky paths and impossible gradients awaited competitors and their primitive bikes.

That summer, on a brutal, 202-mile stage with three other monster climbs — the Peyresourde, Aspin and Tourmalet — French rider Octave Lapize finally reached his limit on the Col d'Aubisque.

"Assassins!" the 22-year-old snarled at race organizers before going over the top.

Lapize went on to win in 1910 but only after discovering a new level of agony.

Desgrange was ecstatic. The drama of men versus mountains gripped the imaginations of Frenchmen, and the success of his event was assured.

Some thought Desgrange cruel. Of one competitor in 1920, Desgrange said disapprovingly, "He does not know how to suffer."

Today, lung-bursting climbs still weed out weaker riders and make the contenders reach new depths of suffering.
 
Henri Desgrange would be thrilled.

Mark Akins: 206-464-8994 or makins@seattletimes.com