Jérôme Garcin's Notebook: To prepare for the Tour de France, you must read... Emile Zola

In Zola's wheel

On September 29, 1902, Emile Zola died at the age of 62, asphyxiated by the carbon monoxide emitted from the fireplace in his Parisian bedroom. Ten months later, on July 1, 1903, the first Tour de France began in Montgeron (Essonne). It was won, after a 2,428-kilometer course, by Maurice Garin, whose bicycle was called La Française, weighed 20 kilos, traveled at 25 kilometers per hour and forced him to backpedal to brake…

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