The Tour de France, the great popular cycling event, made the heyday of the people of Treviso. Memories, of three short tours… between Pic Saint-Loup and Hortus, on the wheels of champions!
Created in 1903, from its first edition, the event has had some success and is repeated year after year. In 1938, the 10th stage Béziers-Montpellier passes at the gates of Saint-Mathieu-de-Tréviers. This will be the opportunity, for some die-hards of the little queen, to go see the runners in the flesh! The atmosphere is good-natured and the little-used roads of the time open their ribbon, not always asphalt, to runners.
The forecasts are going well in the cafes
Great novelty, the public awaits, as impatiently as the competitors, the passage of the advertising caravan announced by the loudspeakers Paul Beuscher. Creating a sensation, the various vehicles from the brands of Byrrh, Martini, Pernod or Cointreau, offer miniatures. But it is the Golden Lion that makes this parade shine, shoe polish requires!
In the radio field, the event mobilizes cycling enthusiasts in the afternoon. Thus, after taking a short nap, the men stay inside to follow the Tour. All lovers of the little queen are listening, half an hour before the finish, to find out who will be the big winner of the stage.
And every day, in the cafes of Tréviers and Saint-Mathieu, as in a good number of homes, the forecasts are going well. Everyone praises their hero from the peloton. Some even hang a black slate under their arbors so that in the cool, everyone can consult it and raise their glass to the winner’s health.
It was not until 1986 that, under the leadership of Gérard Saumade, mayor and president of the general council of Hérault, the Tour returned to the town. There, Bernard Hinault known as the “Badger”, wearing the yellow jersey that he lost two days later, turns in the lead, between the Pic and the Hortus, unlike the 1938 course.
In 2008, the 13th stage Narbonne-Nîmes returns to the Saint-Loup peak. The Tour that year will be won by Carlos Sastre, the French Sylvain Chabanel will receive the trophy for the best combative.
On July 9, during the 13th stage of this 108th edition, Nîmes-Carcassonne, the Tour will take off again to assault the Pic following a detailed route soon. To be continued.
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