Comment: Le Tour de France does not export the best of French values
Columnist Nabila Ramdani notes that the fabled race is to start in the UK in 2027, bringing with it a questionable legacy
The race draws huge viewing figures in France and abroad but by no means represents French values
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The Tour de France – the jewel in the country’s sporting crown – will start in Britain in a couple of years’ time.
Specifically, the bicycle race will get going in Edinburgh, before passing through Scotland, England and Wales in the summer of 2027.
Those who know nothing about elite pedalling will immediately think this sounds a bit odd.
That an event which was partly created to showcase the beauty of France (the clue is in the name) involves the UK at all is by definition absurd, but it is all part of the mystique.
The Grand Départ – as the start of the race is called – has long been awarded to neighbouring countries as a means of stirring up international interest.
It is a bit like French cheese or existentialism – they are ideally enjoyed in Paris or Toulouse, but if foreigners want to import a bit of Gallic joy or morosity, then let them.
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La Tour's questionable traditions
Far more perplexing – and controversial – is Le Tour’s history of doping culture.
In the early years, performance-enhancing organic compounds included ether, while alcohol was also used to fire up morale during arduous climbs or before climactic sprints.
Much worse was to come.
In 2012, US cycling anti-hero Lance Armstrong was stripped of a record seven consecutive Tour wins for doping.
He was banned from competing for life, but has done pretty well out of his infamy, ultimately making a fortune from his status as a household name who rode a bike while secretly becoming a Yellow Jersey doper.
Armstrong was at the centre of a highly organised racket that exposed widespread corruption at Le Tour.
However, despite the scandal the race itself emerged relatively unscathed.
A legacy of elitism
Any other global event would have been shut down or – at the very least – been forced to change its name, but the French showpiece just wheeled on, just as it has always done.
In this sense, Le Tour is one of those great national myths that characterise French identity.
Hollow slogans about Liberty, Equality and Fraternity – the impossibly high ideals of the modern Republic – all suggest a noble and fair country, but the reality is very different.
The illusions cover up the immense restrictions on freedom, including a hugely powerful security state manned by legions of riot police trained to clamp down on any sign of dissent.
France’s national motto says nothing about its millions of citizens, especially those from ethnic minorities, who are condemned to lives on neglected sink estates where there is inequality in every walk of life, from housing to employment.
And what has brotherly loyalty – the fabled fraternité – got to do with the increasing divisions in a society where extremist political parties of both Right and Left are making huge electoral gains?
Le Tour is also meant to exhibit the best of humanity, but it often does the opposite.
Behind all the unlikely timings and seemingly superhuman efforts by lean men in lycra, there is still always intense suspicion.
However, just as sceptics, including renowned scientists, scratch their heads at the apparently miraculous data, others suggest we should focus on the PR and just enjoy it for the colourful spectacle that it undoubtedly is.
This is not a moral view, and it is arguably a criminal one, but when the whooping crowds turn up across Britain in 2027 they won’t care.
If organisers of an unashamedly French race can fool millions of Brits into supporting it like it was one of their own, then playing down the cheating is always going to be relatively easy.
