Cycling/Vélodrome/Tours. To use the word "marvel" may seem e - Lot 151

Cycling/Vélodrome/Tours. To use the word "marvel" may seem excessive, but what other word could we use here, in front of this lithograph by Gaston Noury (1865-1936) from Normandy: "Vélodrome de Tours, surface area 23,000m, cement track 400m, lunches 2f50, dinners 3f...". This view of the Touraine velodrome, inaugurated for the finish of the amateur classic Paris-Tours on May 17, 1896, is pure delight. On that day, as they sat or stomped on their beautiful chairs, the spectators didn't know where to turn... Indeed, there was a grandiose meeting on the track (with Brirot, Alix, Jaap-Eden, or Reboul), but also the finish of the first edition of a classic won by Burgundian Eugène Prévost (1863-1961), ahead of Emile Ouzou (at 11mn), and Lucien Bouvet. Yes, a historic image, because as in Paris-Roubaix, a few days earlier, the arrival of a road race adds spice to a meeting on the track! The meeting of champions in silk jerseys - the pistards, for a time still the aristocrats - and road workers in woollen jerseys... The big turning point came with the 1903 Tour, right under Ouzou's eyes, who was the first to follow the Grand Loop in an automobile (a Cottereau). A historic poster in many ways, and one that has also been produced outside the original, without ever getting old. 1896. Lithograph, 84.5x61.5, three small traces of folding at left. TBE.