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 Gianni Mura, who covered his first Tour de France in 1967 for
La Gazzetta dello Sport, is the iconic figure in the race press
room. Its memory, too.
The 68-year-old Italian, who now works for La Repubblicca, has
seen Raymond Poulidor in his bath and drunk beers with Felice
Gimondi.
Almost 50 years after following his first Tour - the Tour when
Tom Simpson died, he recalls - Mura has not changed a bit.
He still dictates his stories to the newspaper after having
typed them, usually just outside the press room, fag hanging
from his lower lip.
"Sometimes, Japanese reporters come to me asking if I'm not
afraid of bothering people with the sound of my typewriting," he
says.
"I reply that it is their silence that bothers me."
Mura, who is above all a respected soccer journalist in Italy,
has witnessed the changes in cycling, "the toughest sport there
is".
"Essential things have changed, especially in our jobs. We were
named 'suiveurs' (followers) because we were literally following
the race, we would drive right behind the breakaway riders," he
explains.
"We were inside the race. Now we're more 'preceeders' of the
race."
Journalists reporting on the Tour de France are now rarely
allowed near the peloton, which has grown much bigger.
Mura also longs for the years when riders would take risks and
reinvent the race every day.
Only Spain's Alberto Contador has his favors for his all-in
approach to cycle racing.
"That's what I'm looking for. But when I see a rider with
earpieces, I think of the Badger (five-times Tour winner Bernard
Hinault). He would have been furious," says Mura.
"We were also much closer to the riders. In the evening we would
have dinner with them, or would share a beer with them.
"We would interview the riders in their rooms. I once
interviewed Poulidor while he was in his bath, in which he would
put a bit of vinegar."
But in the 1990s, cycling dived into the EPO era and the
atmosphere changed.
POETIC IDEA
"Access to the hotels was forbidden to reporters because of what
was happening behind the doors," says Mura.
"He has poetic idea of cycling," says Philippe Brunel, a
veteran reporter from L'Equipe whose spindly figure is in sharp
contrast to Mura's gargantuan stature.
"He has always been looking for the same thing on the Tour, and
it's not just the race, it's the human angle. Because after all,
the Tour will always just be riders on a bike."
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Logically, Mura's focus has shifted, even if he still reports on the
race.
His wife being a food and cuisine correspondent for La Repubblicca,
Mura naturally travels around France with a food guide in his
pocket.
At 68, he declines an invitation to one of the best restaurants in
the Pyrenees "because, where is the risk? I know it already.
"I'm looking to report on what I find along the road. Today, I also
write about Luzenac, a (football) team who were promoted to Ligue 2
but then denied promotion because of a financial problem. I wanted
to tell the story of that village of 500."
As Mura points out, the Tour de France is much more than a cycling
race, even if it is the biggest in the world.
"I am fascinated by the Tour de France mainly because it is in
France. Its songs, cuisine recipes, it's the story of terroirs (the
land)," he says with a discreet smile on his face.
"It's something I don't find anywhere else. It reverberates with the
past. But that's an old geezer talking."
This year's race, however, is one of the editions Mura has enjoyed
covering.
Mura has covered the Tour from 1967 to 1972 and every race all since
1991 apart from 1994 when he was working at the football World Cup
finals in the Unitede States, and last year, when he was ill.
"I can say I have seen fabulous, dramatic Tours, with fighters.
There were a lot of stories to tell. But I have to say this edition
is a very good one," he says.
"There have been crashes, there has been a lot of action, something
happens almost every day."
Once we are done with the interview, Mura will resume his
typewriting concerto before calling the office to dictate his story.
Would anyone dare to tell him he must use a computer like everyone
else?
"Listen, I'm not a small car that you can park anywhere. I'm a old
truck, with its habits. And my career has earned me this privilege."
(Editing by Rex Gowar)
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