Читать книгу Mapping Le Tour: The unofficial history of all 100 Tour de France races - Ellis Bacon - Страница 25
Оглавление| Start: Paris, France, on 26 JuneFinish: Paris, France, on 24 July | |
| Total distance: 5485 km (3408 miles)Longest stage: 482 km (300 miles) | |
| Highest point:Col du Galibier: 2556 m (8386 ft)Mountain stages: 5 | |
| Starters: 123Finishers: 38 | |
| Winning time: 221 h 50’ 26”Average speed: 24.720 kph (15.360 mph) | |
| 1. Léon Scieur (Bel)2. Hector Heusghem (Bel) at 18’ 36”3. Honoré Barthélémy (Fra) at 2 h 01’ 00” |
A still-sulking Henri Pélissier didn’t even turn up to the 1921 Tour, while Tour organiser Henri Desgrange – with whom Pélissier had fallen out – continued to earn a reputation as somewhat of a curmudgeon, with his on-a-whim rules, his constant complaints about riders not trying hard enough and his anger at France’s apparent inability to challenge the dominant Belgian riders.
He might have been secretly pleased when 1920 Tour winner Philippe Thys was forced to quit the race after the first stage, suffering from illness, perhaps secretly hoping that it would open the door for France’s best hope of overall victory, Honoré Barthélémy.
The Belgians, however, found themselves with strength in numbers, and it was 33-year-old Belgian rider Léon Scieur – who had only learned to ride a bike aged 22 – who came to the fore.
The man who had taught him to ride was none other than 1919 Tour winner Firmin Lambot, who hailed from the same Belgian village – Florennes – as Scieur. In fact, the pair remain the only two riders to come from the same town who have both won the Tour de France.
Barthélémy helped save French blushes by taking third spot overall, albeit more than two hours adrift, but with Scieur’s compatriot Hector Heusghem again finishing runner-up, as he had done the year before. The Belgians had more than just arrived; they had positively taken over the Tour de France.
The scars of the First World War are still evident as riders make their way through ruins in Montdidier
