Myth and the narrativization of cycle racing in popular literature

Abstract

In his 1957 collection of essays Mythologies Roland Barthes famously discussed the world’s most prominent cycle race Le Tour De France. He critiqued its popular mythologization within media, which he argued masked the economic motives of the event in favour of myths of heroic ordeal. Following Barthes promptings, and some six decades on, we consider the contemporary narrativization of cycle racing within English language popular literature. This extensive body of literature features popular histories, exposés of drug scandals and autobiographies. We offer critical readings in light of the broader economic and cultural contexts of cycling. The dominant discursive framing accords with the myths that Barthes identified: emphasising a glorious history/heritage, ‘great men’, heroic sacrifice, and honour and fairness within cycle racing. Even accounts of the endemic spectre of performance enhancing drug largely accommodate the myth, framing drug taking as a threat to the integrity of the sport. In doing so, the literature both deproblematises the human experiences of cycle racing, and affirms what Wieting terms the ‘the fiction of pure sport’ (350). Simultaneously, we also document the complexities and flaws in the mythical edifice revealed in recent confessional autobiographies, and riders’ accounts of the harsh and insecure life worlds of professional riders which reveals the material realities of cycle racing to confound the romantic myths.

Keywords:

• Myth
• cycling
• Barthes
• popular literature
• Tour De France

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

Notes

1 The argument was repeated in Barthes a Canadian short documentary film What is Sport? (1961) The text of which was subsequently written up as a short book (1961/2007) under the same title. The film/book also covers bullfighting, motor racing, ice-hockey and association football/soccer.

2 He also notes that ‘myth is neither a lie nor a confession: it is an inflexion’ (240) and that ‘Myth is a language robbery’ (242).

3 Barthes provides a detailed explanation of the key protagonists in the 1955 tour, suggesting a detailed knowledge of the event.

4 Examples include memorials to fallen riders (e.g. René Pottier (Col du Ballon d’Alsace), Tom Simpson (Mont Ventoux), Marco Pantani (Col de Galibier and Passo Fauniera), Fabio Casartelli (Col de Portet d’Aspet), Fausto Coppi, Louison Bobet plaques (Casse Deserte, Col d’Izoard), and the Henri Desgrange monument (a key founder of the tour) on the Col de Galibier.

5 The push toward globalization within the sport can be traced to particular policies and practices put in place by then Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) president (1991–2005) Hein Verbruggen (see Brewer, 2002).

6 Recent revelations from the UK reveal elite cycling performance environments to also being characterised by bullying, fear and sexism (see Ingle, 2017).

7 It was not until 1999 that riders formed an association; the Cycliste Professionnels Associés (CPA) to represent their collective interests.

8 Froome’s status in this regard was clouded by a positive salbutamol finding from a test at the 2017 Vuelta a España, and a protracted investigation. He was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing after the UCI dropped its anti-doping investigation in June 2018.

9 Wiggins subsequent embroilment in a scandal around Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) certificates demonstrates the fine lines between doping and ‘legitimate’ medication.

10 From this position of condemnation Millar subsequently recounts his own drug-taking and disillusionment with the sport noting ‘I hated everything about cycling . . . the doping, the loneliness, the craziness, the exploitation’ (182).

11 There was also a 2013 documentary film The Armstrong Lie as well as the 2015 feature film, The Program.