Laurent fignon in the wind tunnel mid-1980s

Being tasked with selecting an image gallery of the Tour de France when you have well over a century of history to play with seemed an impossible job. Tens of thousands of evocative pictures to squeez

‘Monte Bondone, 8th June [1956]. A drama, a real drama, a shocking spectacle. From Trento to Monte Bondone, the snow: a few flakes 6km from the top, then the storm. It had rained all day, the cold and

In the early 1890s a young Victor Goddet was working at the Vélodrome de l’Est, Paris. Every day a twenty-something rider arrived and every day Goddet studiously checked his pass. One day the rider qu

It’s hard to imagine a better place to start a ride. At 1,326m Briançon is the highest city in France. And with 300 clear days a year on average, it’s also one of the sunniest. To describe the morning

The Tour de France is still the only race that counts for ‘them’

Protecting the Tour’s 3,500km route from sabotage is almost impossible, and history reminds us of the race’s vulnerability. Patrick Fletcher looks back on an extraordinary day from 1982