1960's: Raymond Poulidor sides up to the feed truck, notice the net used.
Europe has a rich heritage of classic cycle races, one of the longest in the calendar, covering 560 km was Bordeaux-Paris. The professional event was held from 1891 until 1988. It started in northern Bordeaux in southwest France at 2am and finished in Paris 14 hours later. What was unique of this race, riders were paced, allowed to slipstream, behind tandem or conventional cycles. From 1931, was from motorcycles or small pedal-assisted Dernys. Cars was also briefly used. In early years, pacing was provided from Bordeaux. Later, pacing was used part-way towards Paris. From 1946 to 1985, more than half the distance was paced at Poitiers or Chatellerault.
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