A Tour of our own
Marc Madiot said after one stage, ‘I think the sight of a woman on a racing bike is ugly’
Paris, Sunday 22 July 1984. A jubilant American, Marianne Martin, stands next to an equally elated Frenchman, Laurent Fignon, on the podium of the Champs-Élysées, each holding their trophies aloft.
Alongside them are the then Mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac, and newly elected French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius, both keen to soak up the adulation of the crowds celebrating a momentous occasion – the first joint crowning of the men’s and women’s winners of the Tour de France.
‘It was fabulous; my name had been written on the street,’ Martin recalls. ‘The funny thing was that I was holding the trophy and the base was so large I was afraid I was going to drop it. My dad made a surprise visit to France to see me, and jumped over the “Do Not Enter” barriers, shouting to the officials, “Moi, papa!” It was all surreal and so
