History
Already before the war, the political situation in Europe had its influence on the Tour de France. Political reasons caused Italy, Germany and Spain to refuse to send teams to France for the 1939 Tour de France. The 1938 Tour de France winner, Gino Bartali, was among those affected. Henri Desgrange, the original race organizer, and Jacques Goddet, his deputy and replacement, announced plans for a Tour de France in August 1940.
Read more about this topic: Tour De France During The Second World War
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The whole history of civilisation is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“The reverence for the Scriptures is an element of civilization, for thus has the history of the world been preserved, and is preserved.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)