Brits on Tour

Over the last 10 to 15 years there has been a wealth of success accumulated by several British riders at the world's hardest bike race. This, however, was not the case when two intrepid Britons lined up for the first time in 1937. 

An air of change hung over the thirty-first Tour de France. This was the first year Henri Desgrange had not orchestrated the affair, with health reasons causing him to step back and place the responsibility on to the shoulders of Jacques Goddet. Goddet, as an eager to impress 30-year old, allowed two major advancements to ‘la grande boucle’. Allowing each countries team its own car to assist with mechanical problems, and more controversially, the eventual permittance of the rear derailleur. 

The first derailleur systems were built in the late 19th century, but the sadistic Desgrange refused to accept them. Up to the 1937 tour if riders wanted the ‘privilege’ of changing gear they had to stop by the side of the road, undo the wingnuts holding the wheel in place, take the wheel out, spin it around to engage the gear on the other side, reinsert it, tension the chain and tighten the wheel nuts back up. An arduous process, not one to be taken lightly and thus for the riders tackling both the Pyrenees and the Alps that year, the acceptance of the rear derailleur was a godsend.  

However, Goddet wasn’t going to be the director to make the tour easy. Forcing the riders to complete thirty-one stages across the twenty-six days. With six two-stage days and three days when each rider had to complete three individual stages per day.  

The 1937 Tour de France route.

The two brave Englishmen who agreed to make the journey across the channel that year were a Mr. Charles Holland and a Mr. William (Bill) Burl. Grouped together with a French-Canadian, Pierre Gachon, they formed the three-man British Empire team. Holland, the most experienced of the trio, was a race hardened pro who had amassed a series of victories in the British cycling scene and competed twice in the Olympic games - placing fourth in the 1936 Berlin Olympic road race and earning a Bronze medal in the team pursuit in 1932. With his race earned wisdom he was less than impressed with his new unknown teammate, Gachon. “I'd have to think twice about [his] riding a second-class British event” he warned before the start in Paris. A proclamation that proved to be correct. Gachon never finished the first stage. 

Burl didn’t fare much better. Having to withdraw with a broken collarbone inflicted by a collision with a photographer on stage two. A crash that might have potentially saved his future blushes as Burl finished the first stage joint last at an eye-watering fifty-two minutes and five seconds behind the stage winner. Maybe better to go home the wounded hero, than the rider who succumbed to pressure? This left only Holland standing, the last man to keep British hopes alive.  

Charles Holland at a stage start, clad in his British Empire team jersey.

Fighting valiantly through the Alps and into the Pyrenees, for a time it was looking as though Holland could complete the loop and make it back to Paris. Until a disaster struck on stage 14c - Ax les Thermes to Luchon.  

Chasing the leaders through the Pyrenean cols, Holland punctured. This itself was not an uncommon occurrence on the poor roads of the time. The problem was found upon fixing the puncture. He realised the days heat had bent the washer of his frame mounted pump, meaning he could not inflate his tyre up to the correct pressure. Soldiering on regardless, he obtained two more pinch flats, causing him to run out of tubulars and leaving him stranded by the roadside.

Soon a crowd of helpful local French farmers gathered around the bewildered rider, the local priest handing Holland a beer and a peasant producing a spare touring bike tyre and new pump. Upon the hasty fitting, it became apparent that the tyre would be too loose, unsafe and thus unusable. Despair was setting in with Holland until “another tyre was found that fitted a little better, and again I set off, but I had by then given up hope.” He didn’t complete the stage. 

It was not until 1955 that another British rider dared to enter the Tour de France. It remains a stark contrast from the unrelenting success we are currently experiencing at the Tour.