Looking Back - The 1997 Tour de France, episode 1: Preamble

Tuesday, July 1, 1997

My formative years of watching the Tour de France was the 1990s. That era is often remembered for all the wrong reasons now, but only in hindsight. I have so many memories of watching the Tour then, more so than in most years since, that I remember it with a great fondness. That's a product of the enthusiasm of youth, but also because of the Tour itself. In part because it only lasts three weeks of a year, in a way separate from the rest of the cycling season, but also because it is so epic.

The 1997 Tour in particular stands out in my mind. Cycling has come a long way in the years since 1997. Down a dusty and cobbled road, leaving a lot of bumps and bruises and broken parts along the way.  And yet twenty years on, even with its innocence broken, the Tour still thrives. Back in '97, that innocence was still hanging by a thread.  The Festina affair was still a year away and Lance Armstrong was only a one-day classics rider, gone from the sport to recover from a cancer.

In 1997 we find the sport of cycling, or at least Tour de France cycling, in a period of transition. The Miguel Indurain years are still so fresh in the memory, but with the great man now retired, the throne is empty, waiting to be filled. Bjarne Riis was the man who knocked the Spaniard off his perch a year ago, but doesn't appear a natural successor. At age 33 coming into this Tour, Riis will not be around for the long term. Many have turned their lonely eyes to a young German, Jan Ullrich, to inherit the Indurain mantle. But he is only 23, and while he rode a superb Tour in 1996 to finish second to his team-mate Riis, there is still a lot unknown. Many will show up to France that year believing they have a chance; that for the first time in that wonderful decade, the Tour was wide open and up for grabs.

Being the 20th anniversary of that '97 Tour, throughout this 2017 Tour, I'm going to delve back into my memories of that race and tell its story.

So with that said, let us pull down the door on our silver DeLorean, fire up the flux capacitor, set the dial to July 1, 1997, run her up to 88 miles per hour and take off through the strands of time to a year when I had a standard definition box television at home, a portable CD player in my hand and no mobile phone in my pocket.

We'll arrive in that early summer to the sounds of "MMMBop" by Hanson and "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans blaring from the DeLorean's stereo. Albums like "Spice" by The Spice Girls, and "OK Computer" by Radiohead, and "The Fat of the Land" by The Prodigy are flying off the shelves. Films like Austin Powers, Con Air and Men in Black are keeping people entertained on the big screen. The first Harry Potter book is a week old, The Simpsons is in its prime, MTV still shows music videos, and the Internet, if you even have it, which I don't, is dial up.  What a time to be a 15 year old boy!

In the UK, where I live then, Manchester United are reigning Premier League champions. They romped to the title ahead of Newcastle while Chelsea beat Middlesborough 2-0 in the FA Cup final. Wimbledon is underway now and The Open starts in a few weeks. Tony Blair is the new Prime Minister following a landslide victory in May and today Britain handed sovereignty of Hong Kong over to China.

In America, Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls have won their fifth NBA title of the decade while Ernie Els has won his second US Open in golf. Two weeks ago, Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Bill Clinton is US President and his relationship with Monica Lewinsky may be over now, but nobody will know about it for another year.

And in the midst of all this, 198 men on 22 teams, including defending champion Bjarne Riis, have arrived in Rouen, France, set to begin the 1997 Tour de France.