La Légende du Paris-Roubaix

At end of the 19th century, a man on a bicycle was looked up to by admiring crowds. People didn't know what was more astonishing ; the skill he showed in keeping his precarious balance on two unsteady wheels, or the pioneering spirit which fed him to explore uncharted paths, to push back over further the limits of the human body.
Excess is a characteristic of all prehistories. This first era of sport cycling refused no excess of the imagination. It was still deeply marked by the memory of medieval tournaments which saw two champions hurting at one another in a clash of broken lances. Outlandish trials were set before the racers like so many Herculean tasks. Twenty-four hour competitions were organised on the cycle race-track, or one thousand kilometers races...