Memories of the Tour de France: Race's biggest fan to give talk on day of Essex leg

AS THE 200 cyclists of the Tour de France race through the village of Wethersfield on July 7, nobody will be cheering louder than lifelong enthusiast Roger St Pierre.

The 72-year-old former racing cyclist has followed the sporting event since he was a young boy in the Fifties, even going so far as to teach himself French in order to follow its progress.

And now after an illustrious career covering the sport for national newspapers and magazines, and co-editing the official Tour Guide for years, Roger will share his knowledge of the highs and lows in a talk held on race day in the village.

"It's more than a sport; it has such an incredible heritage of weird and wonderful things that have happened. There has been lots of tragedy and glory, victory and disgrace – it's all human life," Roger told the Chronicle.

"The event will be coming through on roads where I used to race myself which is fantastic. This is a great cycling county with a great history and with such quiet roads."

When Roger was a young teenager in the Fifties, growing up in Ilford, football and cricket were everything with cycling taking a backseat, a frustrating state of affairs that ultimately landed the Essex man his career in journalism.

"I complained about the lack of coverage to the Romford Times and they asked me to write something for them," added Roger, who quickly found himself with regular columns in newspapers and magazines. There was a strong cycling movement but it was very much underground and few people here knew about the Tour at that time.

"In order to keep up with the race's progress, I had to buy French magazines and teach myself the language by deciphering the picture captions."

Such is the shared passion for the sport within Roger's family that his son Richard was picked for the Olympic Junior Cycling Squad, and his daughter Danielle is one of the few people that have beaten Tour champion Bradley Wiggins in a race.

"Danielle was 13, and Bradley was 12 and she would beat him in a race which he hated, it made him cry," added Roger, who also worked as a writer and publicist in the music industry, with the Jacksons, Marvin Gaye and BB King among his ny clients.

"The Tour is the world's largest annual sporting event, spanning three dramatic weeks and attracting around 12 million to the roadside while more than four billion more, across 188 countries, will follow its unfolding drama by TV.

"We have a dedicated committee here in the village with some members who have never seen a bike race before but they see it as a great opportunity to put Wethersfiel d on the map – for five minutes the world will be looking at us."

Roger will be delivering a talk with rare films of the event's history on race day at 9am in the new John Pygram Pavilion, on Wethersfield Playing Fields, and also hopes to add another talk at the village's annual fun day the preceding evening, although this is yet to be confirmed.

About 160 riders will pedal through Saffron Walden, Finchingfield, Rayne, Felsted, Great Waltham and Roxwell before passing through Epping Forest on their way to The Mall in London for Stage Three of the Tour de France on July 7.