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OTD 1943: the return of the Hell of the North
As every schoolboy noes, L'Auto stood up to the vile Hun during WW2 + said « Non! » when they were ordered to put on the Tour de France. "Hurrah!" 
Not so well known is that they said « Oui! » to bringing back Paris-Roubaix. "Say what?"
Not so well known is that they said « Oui! » to bringing back Paris-Roubaix. "Say what?"
Goddet was tried after the war for collaboration. He got off, partly through the intervention Émillien Amaury.
This is from something I wrote a few years ago:
This is from something I wrote a few years ago:
The fabulous Benjo Maso, in his seminal book The Sweat of the Gods, wrote that today's Paris-Roubaix is "a reconstruction of a past that has never existed." This wasn't a criticism, it was praise: the myth matters more than reality in cycling.
But, you know, it's worth touching base with reality every now and again. And the reality is that Paris-Roubaix was quite a different race back then, but with some important characteristics that the mdoern race retains. Here's a rough outline of the route.
This is the fuller itinerary for the day. As I've said before, generally it's a quiet race until the hill at Doullens, with the real racing not begining until after Arras. The real pavé comes around Hénin-Liétard with the 20km between Seclin + Hem considered an absolute beast.
(If you're curious about the real condition of the roads in those days, @masaccio60's Riding in the Zone Rouge offers some guidance. Tom himself geeks out on that type of thing + has old maps that show the different surfaces on the roads in those years.) https://www.podiumcafe.com/book-corner/2019/4/23/18512307/interview-tom-isitt-riding-in-the-zone-rouge-1919-tour-of-the-battlefields
There's no escaping the fact that there was a war going on, and a lot of the peloton was, well, occupied elsewhere with more pressing concerns. Here's who signed up for the return of the Queen of the Classics.
Ok, SPOILER ALERT!
I'm about to tell you how the race finished. I've actually found a lot of pix for this race and, for me today, they're more important than the story of the race itself.
So here's the result: it's that man Marcel Kint from yesterday's / 1938's Paris-Brussels.
I'm about to tell you how the race finished. I've actually found a lot of pix for this race and, for me today, they're more important than the story of the race itself.
So here's the result: it's that man Marcel Kint from yesterday's / 1938's Paris-Brussels.
I kind of had to spoil the result as Kint crops up in enough of the pix to give the game away. This is him signing on before the start. I love that signing your name before a race is such a big part of being a cyclist.
And this is Émile Idée, a handy rider in those years, in a good mood in St-Denis. He's going to be totally fucked off by the time he reaches Roubaix. More on that as we go along.
To the racing! This is shortly after the start, the first of the day's sacrificial lambs are slaughtering themselves. Before there was a TV helicopter telling you to get up the road, roadside primes were used to goad the peloton into action, so there's method to this madness.
40 kilos in + René Vietto is giving it some welly. He hasn't yet lost that toe, so maybe he's carrying too much weight to make this break stick. (Ask @m_xl about the toe, it's a fab story.)
Note the road surface: cobbles, but pan flat cobbles.
Note the road surface: cobbles, but pan flat cobbles.
KM 87 and the peloton's taking it easy, like Sunday morning (which it was).
KM 90. The break's making an effort.
KM 116. Amiens. Vietto and co have a couple of minutes on the peloton but we haven't even reached Doullens yet, let alone Arras.
KM 150. Doullens. Pierre Brambilla 
(Mercier) leads the break on the climb with Vietto off the back. Vietto, the little mountain goat, off the back on a climb? It's the bloody toe, isn't? (Brambilla's going to go on to fame for burying his bike in his back garden. Another day.)
(Mercier) leads the break on the climb with Vietto off the back. Vietto, the little mountain goat, off the back on a climb? It's the bloody toe, isn't? (Brambilla's going to go on to fame for burying his bike in his back garden. Another day.)
Somewhere between Doullens and Arras. That man Émile Idée 
(Alcyon) who was so happy at the start is driving the chase. (The break has shed a rider, Thomas, and he's now in the chase.)
(Alcyon) who was so happy at the start is driving the chase. (The break has shed a rider, Thomas, and he's now in the chase.)
KM 180. Arras. I surely can't use the Polonius gag again, can I? No! Pay attention to the caption though: the rough pavé of Arras. Things are getting hellish. The breaks still away, but Idée's about to bring them back on the other side of the town.
This is the cover of the weekly Miroir des Sports. A lot of sport going on, as you can see. Top right it's Idée on the road somewhere after Arras.
And this also somewhere after Arras. It's raining. In Paris-Roubaix. The things we wish for...
Idée's clearly been working like a Trojan + is surely one to watch once the race hits Roubaix. One to watch, that is, until the hellmouth opens and the cobbles kick in. On the pavé at Hénin-Liétart (KM 200) he punctures.
Want to see what a pre-Golden Age wheel change looked like?
Hénin-Liétard took a toll on the peloton:
We're really into the Hell of the North now, we're really into a race where the cobbles take their toll and it's not just about being fastest, it's also about avoiding punctures and mechanicals. As different as the race was then, in this regard it's still the same.
The men in the Miroir reckoned Idée's puncture cost him 100 seconds. Which is a lot of ground. And Kint and the rest of the peloton didn't hang around waiting for him, that sort of nonsense is saved for romantics at the Tour. This is them at Fâches, 20 kms after Idée's puncture.
And this is Idée, chasing for all his worth.
Onto the historic cement track of the Vélodrome André-Pétrieux. This is the race's first visit to what is, today, probably cycling's most famous vélodrome. Kint makes the win look effortless.
A quarter of an hour later Idée rolls home, alone.
C'est tout, peeps. Do RT this thread, it's a overlooked edition of the race that deserves more attention.
