The unique place of the 1920s in road cycling history

The two world wars during the first half of the 20th century serve a natural watershed in the history of road cycling. Therefore the two decades between these two events (nonetheless, there are some opinion out there, that the two wars were basically one big conflict, the second part comes from the unfinished businesses of the first one) seem naturally parts of the same category for the first, superficial glimpse.

But looking at them with more scrutiny, we have to realise that they were actually very different times, and, in fact, the real turning point was somewhere around 1930, or more precisely in 1930, when the system of national teams was introduced to the Tour de France.

Paradoxically, the idea can be derived to Henri Degrange’s obsession with road cycling should be a sport of individual efforts. The dominance of the Alcyon team annoyed him pretty much, especially in 1929, when they could even afford to make a relatively unknown (and sick during almost the entire competition) cyclist to Tour de France champion with very little effort. Desgrange’s idea was that instead of having commercial teams (sponsored usually by bycicle manufacturers) Tour de France should have national teams.

Of course Henri Desgrange (a right-wing chauvinist for his entire life, like many of the so-called founding fathers of the modern sport) wouldn’t have been able to see the relations between cause and effect, and he hoped that the new form would bring back the much desired individualism in the world of professional road cycling.

Well, it did not.

Instead, the system of national teams helped and acceleated to formalise the sport that started more and more look like in our modern days.

But the previous decade, despite the devastating, traumatic experience of World War 1 that impacted also the world of road cycling very badly (just think about how and why the phrase “Hell of the North” was coined) stille bore some reminescence of the unpredictibility, sportaneity and whimsicality of the early years. The stories from this particular time period are more colourful full with unique characters, flamboyant individuals.

And as someone who works with the diffferent form of storytelling , an era when stoties are much more rely on unique individual moments, captures my imagination easier.