A mouthwatering prospect (I/IV)
February 20 th 2024 - 14:00
The Promenade des Anglais finish on 10 March will act as an invitation to July’s Tour de France, where riders will make their final sprint away from Paris for the first time, in Nice’s Place Masséna. A dig through the archives of the “Race to the sun” reveals that it has something else in common with the 2024 Grand Boucle: the 17th edition took the peloton from Paris to Rome via Nice and Florence. At the start of the 1959 season, the “Race of the Two Capitals” saw the aborted duel between Jacques Anquetil and Roger Rivière, the emergence of a new generation with the two winners (yes, two!) Jean Graczyk and Gérard Saint, and several incredible missed opportunities such as Gastone Nencini's frustrating setback at home in the Tuscan capital. This is a four-part account of an eventful Franco-Italian adventure – and a unique one at that.
The race of the two capitals, a first
Jean Leulliot was one of the most innovative organisers of the 1950s. In 1951, he relaunched the Course au soleil under the name Paris-Côte d'Azur, and in 1955 he set up the first women’s Tour de France. Competition with L'Equipe – organiser of the Tour de France – forced his hand creatively, particularly when it came to international events. In 1956, the unique twinning of Paris with Rome under the slogan “Only Paris is worthy of Rome; only Rome is worthy of Paris”, gave rise to the idea of an extended Paris-Nice race. And the Romans were not against the idea of joining forces for the 1959 edition, as they were in the midst of preparing for the 1960 Olympic Games. The operation was put together with the help of the newspaper L'Aurore, who sponsored the race on the French side, while the Corriere dello Sport – a rival to the Gazzetta dello Sport and organiser of the Giro – handled the Italian side. But Leulliot's plans came up against a UCI regulation that prohibited changes to the format of existing races. He circumvented this by dividing the route into two races, Paris-Nice and Menton-Rome, with the second only open by invitation to participants in the first. For this unique edition, the riders gathered on the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville in Paris, watched on by City Council President Jean-Louis Vigier, First Deputy Mayor of Rome Mr Agostini, as well as 1958 football World Cup hero, Frenchman Just Fontaine.
The Anquetil-Rivière duel, shock of the year
Jacques Anquetil had already won his first Tour de France in 1957. He had established himself as an exceptional rider, towering above the competition in the Grand Prix des Nations and becoming hour record holder in the summer of 1956. But Roger Rivière managed to outperform Anquetil in this prestigious event (47.346 km versus 46.159 km), earning him L'Equipe's “champion of French champions” award for 1957. While a series of crashes and his assimilation into the Bataillon de Joinville saw him fail to make an impact over the previous two years, the rider from Sainte-Étienne was heralded as the rising star of the French peloton, capable of rivalling and even beating Anquetil on a regular basis in the Tour. But the two men had rarely faced each other up to now, and as the 1959 season began, the spotlight was squarely on them. For Helyett-Leroux, the Normandy rider enjoyed the support of Darrigade, Forestier, Stablinsky and Graczyk, while the Saint-Raphaël-Géminiani team had the old “Gem”, young Saint and Everaert around Rivière. In the first stage, shortly before the finish in Giens, Rivière broke away from the peloton to join the leading group at the finish, taking third place and slightly outpacing the other favourites: “Those 14 seconds were more important than they seem. These gentlemen, my great rivals, will have to come and take them from me”, reported L'Equipe the following day.
Vito Favero jostles his way to the front
Five Italian teams took part in this one-off edition, with the most prominent – Carpano – led by Nino Defilippis and Gastone Nencini. But whether you’re adopting a stage-based strategy or competing for the GC, a transalpine card always emerges from the pack. In Moulins it was Vito Favero, the great surprise of the 1958 Tour (2nd), who managed to come out on top of a highly unusual sprint. Despite Irishman Seamus Elliott finishing inside the barriers, no protest was lodged, and the Italian won his first bouquet. Favero won a second sprint at the finish line of the 5th stage in Manosque without controversy. Meanwhile, a very Italian breakaway would go on to win in Uzès (stage 4): Armando Pellegrini emerged victorious from an uphill city centre sprint, while Pierino Baffi took the leader’s white jersey...for one day.
One second better for Maître Jacques
Roger Rivière did try to show his strength a few times. At his Saint-Etienne hometown, for example, he briefly left everyone in the dust at the Col de la République during the start of the stage, just for the fun of it. But no decisive attack had yet made the difference by the time the world's two greatest riders lined up at the start of the time trial from Uzès to Vergèze. Antequil kicked up a fuss at the relatively short 27-kilometre distance, and he lacked fitness at the start of the season. But he knew everything rode on that day’s contest. On this crucial date, it was the two expected favourites who clearly dominated: advantage Anquetil, by just one second.
