As the 2017 Tour de France looms ever closer, it is important to look back on the races history, and its impact on developments in the cycling world. One device in particular the race had a major impact on was the derailleur.
History of Derailleurs in the Tour de France
Henri Desgrange had a reputation for pushing racers to their limits. The boss at L’Auto and original organizer of the Tour de France regularly barred riders from using new bicycle technology, fearing the gear would make the race too easy. In fact, Desgrange didn’t allow riders to use derailleurs until 1937, nearly 34 years after the invention of the gear-changing mechanism.
Why did he so adamantly refuse a technological advance that had been around for decades? The Frenchman feared that derailleurs would even the playing field for everyone in the peloton. More than anything, Desgrange wanted to see riders suffer as they battled each other over excruciating stages.
Banning the derailleur wasn’t the only way in which Desgrange tinkered with the race and its technology. In 1913 he required riders to tackle the Brest-La Rochelle stage — all 470 kilometers of it — with a fixed gear, which requires riders to constantly pedal. At the time there were already systems available to change gears, as well as freehubs, which allow riders to coast.
In fact, some riders in the isolé (individual) class were allowed to use a derailleur. (In 1912, for instance, Joanny Panel competed with a bike equipped with a Le Chemineau derailleur, one of the very first models, which he had perfected himself.) But Desgrange didn’t want to allow that on this day in 1913. So fixed gears it would be.
Industry Caused Tour de France Derailleurs Change
Ultimately, pressure from manufacturers, who were keen to develop their products, changed his mind. Desgrange was forced to allow derailleurs in 1937. Eighty years later, this decision may seem obvious. In the moment, the decision required some courage. Some riders were also reluctant to use a mechanism that they felt forced them to spin their legs too much. At the time, mashing big gears was the style.
The cycling press was also wary of the derailleur. A clip from the July 23, 1937 edition of L’Intransigeant states: “It says in the yellow pages [in other words, L’Auto – Ed.] that the introduction of the gear-changer will mean that the riders won’t wreck themselves physically and will all use the same gears. That’s not on! That should actually be a black mark against the derailleur. As we’ve previously said, the derailleur reduces everyone to the same base level. There is no need to adopt it at the Tour. That’s our belief, and even the race organizers already seem to be regretting it.”
Derailleurs Enforced in Tour de France 1937
For the 1937 Tour, organizers selected the Super Champion derailleur to be used by all participants. Turin-based Vittoria designed the mechanism; champion racer Oscar Egg, who had broken the hour record three times and gone on to open a bike shop in Paris, then modernized it. The derailleur was characterized by a derailing fork mechanism at its base that moved the chain up and down on the rear sprockets.
Ever since, the derailleur has continued to evolve.
Around this same time, the more advanced Vittoria Margherita became popular in Italy. Gino Bartali won the 1938 Tour using one. However, these models had one drawback: riders had to push gently back on the pedals to enable a change of gear.
In late-1930s France, Simplex’s Champion du Monde model dominated the market. Invented by Lucien Juy, it was the first that didn’t require back-pedaling. Many champions adopted his Tour de France model, including Fausto Coppi who won the 1949 Tour using one.
