International Cycle Sport | September 1968 | Issue No 5
Editor J B Wadley

Contents
Tour de France Survey: The 3000 Miles Race Won in the Last Twenty Minutes by J B Wadley
Allez les Britaniques by J B Wadley
From Vittel to Paris by John Wilcockson
From the heart of the Peloton by Geoffrey Nicholson
Cover: Barry Hoban and Jan Jannsen by Presse Sports, Paris
Published by Kennedy Brothers (Publishing) Ltd

Editorial
SOMEWHERE in France, some time during the second week of the Tour, a photographer friend told me he had just the colour picture for our next front cover. "It is of Barry Hoban riding alongside Jan Janssen" he said "It is a very happy picture".

I told my friend that such a photograph would, indeed, be given a spot in our special Tour de France issue, but whether it would be "strong" enough to make the front cover I could not tell at that stage. True, Barry had been riding very well right from the opening stages When he fought so brilliantly over the cobbled tracks of Flanders, and when there was a big bunch sprint he was always there fighting at the front. Jan Janssen, too, was the kind of chap we would like to have on the cover, but at the moment he was only one of a dozen men who might win the Tour.

A week later Barry Hoban settled the problem by brilliantly winning the mountain stage to Cordon, and then for good measure Jan Janssen proceeded to win the Tour. We could not wish for a better "tandem pair" on our cover.

The 55th Tour de France was by no means the greatest ever, but it certainly was not the big bore which certain observers made it out to be. As Geoffrey Nicholson says in his article at the end of this special number, many journalists "following" the Tour do not see riders for days on end. They judge the value of the racing by the number of attacks they hear about over the radio, and if these are unsuccessful they conclude that the racing is dull. This is as wide of the mark as supposing that a goal-less draw must indicate a rotten football match.

I hope you enjoy our first Tour de France Special, in which, as well as contributing largely to the daily stage summaries, John Wilcockson has introduced some interesting charts and graphs which will illuminate certain of the facts given in the text.

J B Wadley
Editor