The Scandal That Invented the Tour de France

The Scandal That Invented the Tour de France

June 22, 2026 · 11 min · Episode 1287

About this episode

This episode explores the origins of the Tour de France, rooted in a political scandal and newspaper rivalry.

Go check out our FREE Skool community, it's got amazing tools in there and a thriving community of cyclists - https://www.skool.com/roadman/about The Tour de France wasn’t born from pure sporting ambition. It began with a political scandal, a newspaper war, and a desperate attempt to sell more papers. In 1890s France, the Dreyfus Affair split the country in two, dragging even the cycling press into the fight. When powerful industrialists turned against pro-Dreyfus editor Pierre Giffard and his paper Le Vélo, they funded a rival: L’Auto. Struggling to survive, L’Auto launched a brutal race around France in 1903. That publicity stunt became the Tour de France — and even gave cycling its famous yellow jersey. One of the tools you will have heard Anthony chat about in this podcast is Training Peaks. Without this platform we can't get into the detail required to pricesly train within zones. If you want to go and check out this incredible training tool go to ⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4qWyEKK⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ and use ROADMAN – 20% off an annual TrainingPeaks Premium subscription ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Parlee Cycles ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠…

People in this episode

Host: Anthony Walsh

Topics covered

Keywords

Sponsors

Training Peaks, Parlee Cycles

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Le Vélo, L’Auto, Training Peaks

Places: France

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