Jan wrote:
"So then why did Desgrange change to national teams? It was a huge undertaking, because he had to supply not just bikes, but also mechanics, support cars, etc., since the trade teams were out of the picture. To pay for all that, he introduced the advertising caravan."
I believe a much more accurate version to explain Desgranges' change to National teams was commercial. It is a fact that apart from Henri Pélissier in 1923, no French rider had won the Tour since the end of the War. The interest of the French public was therefore abysmal as many did not want to follow as a foreigner would win the race. Interest had therefore declined continuously. 1929 was especially bad as Desgranges had built up Charles Pélissier as the supposed heir apparent to Tour domination and he sputtered badly (finishing 28th). In fact the best-placed Frenchman was Magne in 7th place, among the very worst results for French riders ever. The public therefore did not care to read Desgranges' newspaper, nor was there interest to advertise in his newspaper. He clearly thought that by stacking the deck in such a way that a French rider would be given a good chance to win, he would be able to attract more readers and advertisers. The same holds true with the fact that each region was also given a recognizable team for the locals to cheer on as the riders passed. This ruse worked to perfection as the readers and spectators returned to support their local riders. The addition of the advertising caravan was also a piece of pure financial genius. Get people to pay to hook their name to your event and at the same time get them to reassert the 'on-the-road' advertising with paid advertising in the newspaper. The National team format was furthermore a way to divide the allegiances of the strongest riders. No longer could the stronger teams pick the best from all nations to load up their team. At the same time it was a way of loading up the French team with only the very best. Whereas the rider make-up in 1929 had over half the top category riders from France, in 1930, there were only 8 French pros, hence their top riders were so another way of assuring that a Frenchman would likely be at the head of the single strongest team. As for the additional costs of removing the trade teams, here too you exaggerate heavily as the national cycling federations paid for most costs not Desgranges.
"From all the accounts I have read, the 1929 Tour was not considered to have produced a worthy winner."
If you limit yourself to looking at the French press this might appear to be true, but the results point to the contrary, as do Italian and Dutch reports that I have read. The winning time gap in 1929 of the first over the second was close to 45 minutes. In 1930, the gap was 14 minutes. Beyond this, in 1929, Charles Pélissier, who placed 9th overall, was on the podium in 18 of the 21 stages, winning an all-time record of 8 stages. By comparison, the winner Leducq only made 7 podium appearnces with two stage wins an Learco Guerra 7 and 3 stages.
"The 1930 Tour saw a popular French rider wear the yellow jersey, then crash on a downhill, break his bike, then - by sheer luck - reassemble the entire French national team around him chase for hours, to take the stage and regain the jersey. The jersey was threatened until the end, with a great attack by Learco Guerra on the very last stage. I think that mountain stage alone makes for one of the most exciting Tours."
Perhaps I am mistaken, but I do believe you wrote previously that Desgranges changed the format to the National teams to avoid team work from influencing the results too heavily. Is this not precisely what you now claim to be what made the 1930 Tour so fascinating?
"Desgrange dropped the time trial format after only two years (1927 and 1928), but he kept the National team formula for decades. Something must have been working."
As I write above, the new 1930 format gave the desired French winner and improved financial results at L'Equipe. The over-reliance on team time trials in 1927 and 1928 had exactly the opposite results...
Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ
USA