The Virtual Musette: A Road Cycling Blog

This is the final article of this series in which I’ve explored most of the major differences between the two great eras in professional road racing – the Heroic Era (pre 1938) and the Modern Era (1938 – present).

As a reminder, all this background is part of a larger project - a system created whereby points have been awarded for results achieved in all the important races on the professional calendar. In a few weeks I’ll reveal the scoring system, and the final rankings with The Team Chef’s Top 25 Riders of the Modern Era.

The Big Difference – Technology

No discussion comparing the two major eras would be complete without addressing perhaps the greatest difference between the two – the widespread use of the rear derailleur.

We take for granted the ease with which we change gears on a road bike, but it wasn’t always so. Up until the mid ’30 racing bikes typically had only two gears - one for climbing, and one for descending and the flats. These gears were changed by dismounting the bike, removing the rear wheel, flipping it around to access the gear on the other side of the hub, and finally reinstalling and tightening the wheel with wing nuts. All told, a rather onerous procedure and certainly not the most effective way of launching a surprise attack in an uphill effort. The rear derailleur changed all that, and by the late ‘30s racing up the steep mountain passes of the Alps, Pyrenees and Dolomites would never be the same.

One common misconception is that Tullio Campagnolo (photo, above left) invented the rear derailleur. Although he did invent the quick release lever in 1930, the derailleur had already been in use by cyclo-tourists since 1905, long before Campagnolo entered the scene. The first widely used derailleur by racers was the one introduced in 1928 by bike shop owner Lucien Joy, and by the mid 30’s his Le Simplex derailleur was found on many racing bikes. In 1937 the Tour de France organizers finally lifted the ban against derailleurs, and France's Roger Lapebie used Oscar Egg's Super Champion model (aka Osgear, photo right) on every stage of his winning Tour de France ride.  Not surprisingly, he set the new average speed record (19.06 mph, 30.67 km/hr); besting the previous record (18.66 mph, 30.03 km/hr) set the year before. The effect of the derailleur was even more pronounced in the Giro d’Italia, as average speeds in Italy’s Grand Tour increased by almost 2 mph (3.2 km/hr) from 1933 to 1938.

Transition to the Modern Era

A combination of events would mark the end of the Heroic Era: Gino Bartali’s victory in the 1938 Tour de France, thus becoming the first man to win both the Giro and the Tour; the passing of the Tour’s founding father, Henri Desgrange, in 1940; and finally, the adoption of the rear derailleur, punctuated by Roger Lepabie’s Tour victory in 1937 (photo, left) . Although there is no definitive line in the sand separating the two eras, I have chosen 1938 as the starting point for the Modern Era.

Conclusion

Over the last four articles I’ve attempted demonstrate why I chose to create a ranking system for only those riders who belong to the Modern Era of cycling. In the final analysis there just proved to be too many differences between the two major time periods. It simply doesn’t make much sense trying to compare someone from the Heroic Era, such as back-to-back Tour winner of  '27-'28, Nicolas Frantz (photo, right), to one of his counterparts from the Modern Era, like Louison Bobet, who was the first three-time consecutive Tour winner (’53-’55).

To recap, the Heroic Era (pre 1938) was so different from the Modern Era (1938 - present) because:

1. Riders rarely traveled to compete in races outside of their home country.
2. Many important races didn’t exist for much of the Heroic Era (Fleche-Wallone, Ghent-Wevelgem, the Vuelta, the classification jerseys of the Grand Tours, and most importantly, the World Championships).
3. Many of the great champions perished in WWI.
4. Results in the early part of the era were in large part determined by individual efforts, rather than those of the team.
5. The Tour de France barely resembled the race it later became.
6. Grand Tour champions won either the Tour or Giro, not both.
7. The rear derailleur, along with its huge technological advantage, had yet to gain widespread acceptance in the professional sport.

One day I may go back and rank the riders from cycling’s earlier era, but for all the reasons listed above, I have confined my current scoring/ranking system to only those cyclists from the Modern Era. That said, many of the following Heroic Era champions should probably be included when discussing cycling’s all time greats: Lucien Petit-Breton, Octave Lapize, Phillipe Thys, Costante Girardengo, Ottavio Bottecchia, Learco Guerra, Nicolas Frantz, Andre Leducq, Antonin Magne, and of course, Alfredo Binda.

I’ll be starting a new series of articles with the next post, The Missing Years – Illness, Injury and War.

Photo credits: Young Tulio Campagnolo, Campy Only; Osgear, Classic Lightweights UK; Nicolas Frantz, isanhalt.de; Roger Lepabie, isanhalt.de