The Tour de France is one of the greatest endurance competitions in the world. An annual multi-stage men’s bicycle race, the Tour takes riders through France, and occasionally through neighboring countries. The competition began in 1903 and 2022 will see the 109th edition of the race. Only WWI and WWII have cancelled the competition. In the case of WWI, the Tour returned roughly seven months after the war ended. This 1919 Tour took place at a very interesting moment – as people in France grappled with the emotional, psychological, logistical, and political end of the war. To discuss the 1919 Tour de France and this particular moment in the aftermath of WWI, the World War I podcast hosted Adin Dobkin, author of Sprinting Through No Mans Land: Endurance, Tragedy, and Rebirth in the 1919 Tour de France.
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