Henri Desgrange - The End of L'Auto

The End of L'Auto

L'Auto continued without Desgrange during the war but with a controlling interest in its shares held by a group of German businessmen. Jacques Goddet, who was not responsible for the sale of the shares, said the paper had tried to improve its sales by adding general news coverage, which opened a way for the German owners to insist that that coverage favoured the Occupiers. The outcome was that L'Auto was closed down by the government when Paris was liberated and the doors were nailed shut. The company's possessions were sequestrated.

Jacques Goddet led a successful bid to open L'Équipe, although others planning rival papers judged his name an unfair advantage because he was too well known through his association with L'Auto'. Goddet was therefore not allowed to have his name in the paper nor to attend the paper's office."

Ownership of the Tour de France had also been sequestrated by the government and was opened to offers. L'Équipe ran a demonstration race and a rival bidder ran another. L'Équipe was granted the right and Goddet returned to the organising role that he had inherited from Desgrange.

He wasn't, however, allowed to print his new publication on yellow paper. That was seen as being too reminiscent of the shamed L'Auto and was specifically banned.