2012 Richard Virenque v Bradley Wiggins

Our favourite cycling Mod, at it again? Surely not. A bit of a strange one this, as the two raced largely in different eras, and yet still managed to have a barney.

Richard Virenque is the larger-than-life French cyclist that, during his pomp in the nineties and early 2000’s, won King of The Mountains a record equalling seven times.

However Virenque is remembered by most as the central figure in a large doping scandal that broke in 1998. Initially denying he had any involvement, despite a number of his then Festina team mates banned, Virenque finally confessed to taking drugs that enhanced his performance.

Despite this, Virenque is still revered in his native France, where he now enjoys life as a TV commentator. But back in 2012, our Brad was having none of it.

In a blog written for a British newspaper, Wiggins wrote about why he would never dope, and suggested the reverence still commanded by Virenque in France would not be replicated back in the UK if he took drugs.

Virenque promptly hit back at Wiggins in the French press, insisting that he’d served his ban and came back to still do well, before turning on the Brit. He suggested that Wiggins lacked charisma, suggested that he should attack more, and bemoaned the fact he didn’t speak French regularly enough to endear him to the French public.

A few weeks later, Wiggins went on to win le Tour, closing Virenque’s gande bouche somewhat.

1949 Gino Bartali v Fausto Coppi

This was a text-book Old Master/young upstart rivalry between two of the greatest talents the Tour de France has ever seen.

In 1939 Gino Bartali was the undisputed king of road racing. He had numerous Tour de France victories, along with success back home in the Giro d’Italia. He would win sprints effortlessly, but his forte was in the mountains, where he was peerless.

However, that year a young rider broke onto the scene; Bartali’s compatriot, Fausto Coppi. The two immediately took a dislike to each other, with the older statesman not caring for the younger man’s assertive attitude and disregard the traditional chain of command within a team.

As the two battled it out over many races throughout the years, suspicion and paranoia grew, with Bartali allegedly even breaking into to the hotel room of Coppi to see if there was any evidence of doping or cheating. Alas, none was found.

In 1949, the pair competed for the first time in the Tour de France. At this point, le Tour was contested by national teams, and the two Italians signed somewhat of a peace agreement prior to it beginning. It didn’t last.

Just before the first stage, Coppi released a statement which read;

“A team of twelve modest, united riders is stronger than a team divided among different leaders… This is why I have always reproached Bartali for his poor team spirit and why I don’t like to race with him.”

Animosity grew between the pair until age caught up with Bartali. Tensions thawed and Bartali even signed a then 40 year old Coppi to his own racing team.

1903 Pierre Giffard v Jules-Albert de Dion

Although these two Frenchmen were not actual competitors in le Tour, their rivalry is (kind of) the very reason the event exists, so to not include them would be a little churlish.

At the end of the 19^th century, a French solider was convicted – and later cleared – of selling military secrets to the Germans. Opinions were divided in France about the solider, so much so that large protests were held across the country.

At one such event, Jules-Albert de Dion – kind of the Henry Ford on France – was arrested for protesting the soldier’s guilt (although apparently hitting the then French president on the head with a stick can’t have helped).

“le Tour has given us many fierce battles over the years”

The story was reported by Pierre Giffard, the editor of Le Velo, the leading sports paper in France at the time. Furious with the story, de Dion opened a rival sports paper, L’Auto.

Initially, L’Auto wasn’t a great success, and a meeting was called where the staff at the paper put forward ideas to help boost sales.

Eventually, a young journalist called Geo Lefevre suggested that a bike race around France would not only provide good publicity, but also mean that the papers could be delivered to a greater number of readers, thus ensuring market dominance over rival publication Le Velo.

After some deliberation – a race of that length had never been held before – the papers directors decided that the race should go ahead. On 19^th January, L’Auto announced the very first Tour de France.

With a history like this, it’s no surprise that le Tour has given us so many fierce, personal battles to enjoy over the years. Rivalry is in the Tour de France’s blood.

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