Having looked at the 1923 Tour de France here and the 1953 edition here, we can move on to 1983 and an excellent Australian video about that year’s race. For a race that had been overwhelmingly European in focus since it began in 1903, the first big steps towards its globalization had begun.
While two Australians had ridden the race in 1914 and an “Australasian” team participated in 1928, it was not until 1981 that the Yellow Jersey would be worn by a non-European. Australian Phil Anderson accomplished this feat, while in 1982 he wore the Yellow Jersey for nine stages, coming fifth overall. As one of the pre-race favourites, his attempt to win the Tour do France in 1983 is the subject of the documentary “23 Days in July.”
The 1983 race covered 3,809 kms over 23 stages, including the 6 km prologue, but only with a single rest day. Compared to what we saw in the 1953 race, three decades does not seem to have made much of a difference in the Tour. The bikes, the clothing, the crowds are in colour now and there are helicopters and television. Still nobody wearing sunglasses or helmets and toe clip and strap pedals are the order of the day. The prologue near Paris sees no dedicated time trial bikes and the winning speed, achieved by young rider Eric Vanderaeden, was 47 km/h.
There were 140 race starters as the Tour was still going with 10 man teams and along with Anderson favourites included 1980 winner Joop Zoetemelk and Lucien van Impe. The Tour encouraged more international participation by inviting a squad of Colombian amateurs. In 1981 American Jonathon Boyer became the first American to ride in the Tour and he was present for the 1983 edition.
Anderson had joined the long-established Peugeot team in 1980 and teammates included Robert Millar and Stephen Roche. The team retained a French focus in spite of naming Anderson as the protected rider. Other notables that year were Sean Kelly and Pedro Delgado. 22 year old Laurent Fignon, who had ridden for Bernard Hinault at the Vuelta, was drafted in as Hinault did not enter the Tour due to tendonitis. The Renault team, without a captain, was aiming for stage wins and hoping to get Fignon or Marc Madiot into the White Jersey for Best Young Rider at the end.
Without the presence of a dominant rider like Hinault, the race was wide open and it was to take some unexpected turns. While Phil Anderson did well in the prologue and held his own in the flat first nine stages, the Pyrenees were to prove his undoing. Not a terrific climber, he crashed on the first of four climbs on the tenth stage. He had to get off his bike and unknot his shoe (!) and none of his Peugeot teammates stayed with him. On the Tourmalet, the final climb, his French teammate Pascal Simon attacked, and wound up in the Yellow Jersey and with Peugeot leadership. Anderson was relegated to domestique duties.
The next day Simon crashed and fractured his shoulder but continued to ride for six more stages. The narration in the video suggests that the peloton was unwilling to attack the Yellow Jersey but willing to let Simon hold it for as long as his injury allowed. This of course prevented Anderson from asserting himself. Only when entering the Alps on Stage 17 when the race went up the Alpe d’Huez could he ride for himself as Simon abandoned. While Anderson rode well up the Alpe, the stage was won by Peter Winnen of the mighty Ti-Raleigh team but the Yellow Jersey shifted onto the shoulders of Laurent Fignon. He would wear it to the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
The video, produced in Australia, was aimed at the home audience. Certainly focused on Phil Anderson’s efforts, it included material that would be informative for an audience unfamiliar with the nuances of pro bike racing. There is coverage of the different classifications and also details. The narrator expresses wonderment at the amount of food the riders down at breakfast, which he describes as “a breakfast followed immediately by a lunch.” This is different compared to today’s painstaking nutritional efforts: lots of bread and then a steak! Lots of great images of the mountains and spectators too.
Race commentators in the video from the English-speaking world in 1983 include Phil Liggett, John Wilcockson and Robin Magown, as well as France’s Jean Michel Leuillot, who expresses some hard truths about French chauvinsm at the Tour.
As a two-time participant at l’Eroica, the Italian vintage cycling event, I was delighted to see some footage about a day ride for amateurs at the Tour, with everyone on their then-up-to-date racing steeds which, forty-three years later, would all qualify for l’Eroica, and the kit would win plaudits.
Of the 140 riders who started the 1983 race, only 87 made it to Paris. Phil Anderson was 9th overall but expressed confidence in Paris that he would win the Tour yet. He switched teams the next year (unsurprisingly after the Peugeot experience!) but never wore the Yellow Jersey again in spite of his very impressive palmares. In his final years before retirement in 1994 he even rode for the American 7-Eleven/Motorola team.
“23 Days in July” produced and directed by Timothy Sullivan
50 minutes, colour, 1987
YouTube link HERE; note that there are other versions that include a bonus commentary by Phil Liggett. The video was released on VHS tape and DVD as well and can be found in those formats. Of course, video definition four decades ago is not what we have today!
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