Description
La Caravan du Tour
La Caravan Du Tour is a spectacle of unparalleled scale and grandeur. It spans the entire 3,360-kilometer race course, passing by millions of fans and showering them with thousands of pieces of swag, all courtesy of race sponsors who pay generously for the privilege.
The caravan was dreamed up by race founder Henri Desgrange in 1930 when he wanted to move riders away from company sponsorships to racing on national teams. Each rider was given the same bicycle, and race costs were covered by sponsors joining the caravan. France’s most prominent companies clamored to join. The idea was a huge hit and is still popular today.
Today, the caravan rolls out roughly two hours before the peloton, loaded with trinkets and music blasting. The passing extravaganza of fanciful floats tosses out hats, t-shirts, keychains, and other goodies to a frenzy of excited fans. Timing is tricky. The caravan must move fast enough not to be caught by the race but slow enough to keep the fans who have often been waiting since dawn entertained. The current Tour de France caravan is roughly 12 kilometers long with 170 vehicles and takes 45 minutes to pass the waiting crowds.
The caravan is as much a part of the roadside racing experience as the peloton. If you blink after hours on the roadside, you might miss the fast-moving peloton, while the caravan is a slow-moving party that fans adore.
Catch Caravan Car, 1961 Tour de France (photo from The Horton Collection)
Pelforth Race Caravan Car, 1972 Tour de France (photo from The Horton Collection)
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Toys with Soul
During my dad’s childhood in the 1960s, toy soldiers, a.k.a little green army men, were go-to toys for young boys in many parts of suburban America. Overseas, however, it was different. Europe had its equivalent of the green army men: the little peloton riders.
The peloton riders, much like the toy soldiers in America, were at their peak of popularity in the 1950s and ‘60s. However, unlike the cheap plastic toy soldiers that were commonplace in the U.S., every cyclist figurine was made of metal and painted by hand, resulting in a beautiful, straightforward toy. Beyond the familiar pose of a rider in the drops, there were follow cars, caravan motos, riders posed as race winners or drinking from a water bottle, soigneurs, fans, and finish-line banners. Like the green army men, the riders helped children play out their dreams, reenact their favorite moments from races, have epic battles on the famous climbs of the Tour, or anything else they could think up.
With time, the hand-painted metal figures gave way to cheaper metal output with decals and, ultimately, plastic riders. Today, the era of these toys has largely passed. With few exceptions, contemporary availability of this genre is limited primarily to reproductions of vintage Tour de France caravan vehicles.
Like many things collectible, people seem to be enamored with repurchasing their childhood. No visit to a collector swap meet in France or Belgium is complete without reviewing a seller’s table searching for metal riders and vintage die-cast caravan vehicles. The reason for wanting these mementos can vary between collectors, and they go beyond simply replacing a memory of a toy from their childhood. It could be the historical significance they carry or perhaps aesthetic and decoration. Whatever the reason, these figurines have cemented themselves in cycling nostalgia, and even if all the paint wears off, that will not change.
By Trevor Horton
Peloton Magazine, 2022 Tour de France Issue
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