Tomorrow, We Ride

An account of the lives of the Bobet brothers - Louison, triple Tour de France winner and Jean who gave up an academic career to ride in the service of his brother. This story brings alive the romance of the great races and star riders of those post war days whose exploits lifted the public spirit after years of conflict and economic hardship.

Tomorrow we ride that's what my brother Louison and I used to say as we arranged to meet: every day while we were racing cyclists, and then just on Sundays when we weren't competing any more. We kept on riding until the end of his life, because even then - especially then, perhaps - we always understood each other best on bikes.

We had always needed a bike beneath us. In the words of the song, we took the high road and the low road: in cycling, the glory days always have less glorious ones on their tail. Thanks to Louison, I had the good fortune to ride with him through the golden years, the 50s: the years of post-war reconstruction, of Coppi and Bartal.