La Rétro 1903 – Celebrating the 100th Tour de France Old School Style

Raymond Poulidor leads out the peloton in style (photo credit Bertrand Béchard)
There’s a video of the race after the jump

Waiting for the start of la Rétro 1903
There’s a pre-race video after the jump

Angers, le Départ de la Course

2 days after the week-end vintage biking, wine tasting-fest and I can still feel my aching calves and thighs!

I covered the 82KM la Rétro 1903 on Saturday and was riding next to past Tour de France winners Joop Zoetetemelk, Bernard Thevenet. At the starting square in Angers I met some Englishmen whose colourful jerseys blended in nicely into the kaleidoscope that is European cycling. I spotted Poupou and Thevenet and got some shots of them. I even got to meet Poupou! I was interviewed briefly by the local TV crew and did my best as an Irish ambassador to promote the event. Lots of staff members from the Conseil Général were on hand to help with our every need. The first 40KM or so went really well except I kind of blew up at the final hill leading up to Chateau Brissac. I regret not having any bigger cog that a 21 at the back but I was quick enough at the start to finish ahead of the majority of the peloton. (I think) I was amongst the second group arriving into the Chateau, descending the last set of hairpins really fast (I would love to do that all day). The cool thing was that there were marshalls at every junction to stop traffic so we could really use the road, just as you’d see in the big pro races. That and mix in the sounds of the support car and motorbike horns warning you they were approaching or pushing back onlookers. It was a real circus and I loved it. And since it’s a gentlemanly style race for racer wannabes wallowing in the mystical glory of yesteryear, we get to have a leisurely lunch with wine and dancing. It was very easy to strike up friendly banter with fellow vintage bike connaisseurs and sporto wannabes. I made the acquaintance of David, a fellow Irishman who was riding a restored TI Raleigh and wearing the matching jersey and Matt, a travel writer for the Sun who had suffered using only a 54 ring because he was without a front derailleur!

After our lunch my buddy Blake (riding on a late 80’s Concorde I help him restore) and I set off to finish the ‘race’. It was quite hilly to start off again but the real killer was the wind. And the rain. I made the big mistake of trying to chase down distant groups by myself and with 20KM to go I could start to feel my legs protesting. The only thing I could do now was to sit up and wait on the next group that passes me and pray I have the legs to hang on. And this is the thing – what really inspires me. In each of the vintage races I’ve participated in since 2011 I see lots of elderly gentlemen in pristine vintage bikes, but bear with me, the thing is they are as strong as horses on the road! I managed to find a group of such gentlemen and just barely hung on to finish with them in Saumur. I did try to do my bit to take the lead at least 3 times over the next 15KM and at the last 5KM I was riding solo again. Due as much to traffic as my stinging legs. And to follow that? A gentle 35KM roam in the country with my family the next morning. More on that later.