Sixty years ago, the sonic backdrop of Bordeaux streets was shifting. The clicking of chains and squeaking of bells gave way to the hum of engines. In the France of the Trente Glorieuses, the car became queen, and Bordeaux, like the whole country, slowly turned its back on the utility bicycle. Yet at the same time, the city remained one of the sporting capitals of cycling, start point of legendary races and vibrant Tour de France stage. Story of a paradoxical decade.
Cycling in decline in 60s France
The numbers tell a striking paradox. In 1969, France still had 9.2 million bicycles, a huge stock. But their use was collapsing. As early as 1959, the bike accounted for only 9% of home-to-work trips, versus a massive share in the 30s and 40s. The slope was slippery, and it would keep steepening.
The 60s were the tipping point where France dropped the utility bike to embrace the car. Workers and employees who used to pedal to the factory or office ditched their bikes for the 2CV, Renault 4 or Dauphine. A bike cost about 250 francs against an average 6 francs hourly wage, so 42 hours of work. It was affordable. But the car fascinated more: it embodied progress, comfort, upward mobility.
Bordeaux restructures around the car
In Bordeaux, same movement. The city reconfigures for the car: widening streets, multiplying car parks, pouring concrete. This shift, playing out over the decade, would durably shape the urban face. In 1989, one review called Bordeaux "a heavy city" where residents hid behind their cars. Harsh diagnosis, but describing a direct legacy of the 60s.
One event sums up the era: in 1962, passenger transport on the Bordeaux-Lacanau railway was permanently stopped. This line, once packed with locals rushing to the coast on Sundays, was sacrificed for the road network. Rails paved over for cars. Historical irony: that former railway would much later become one of the metropolis's most loved cycle paths.
A great cycling tradition that resists
In this utility-decline context, Bordeaux still held a top spot in cycling sport. The city was the start point of several legendary races.
Bordeaux-Paris, the elder
Created in 1891, Bordeaux-Paris is one of the world's oldest races. Still very much alive in the 60s, it kept fascinating with its out-of-scale distance. In 1964, Michel Nédélec (Peugeot-BP-Gitane team) won in 14h28. But 1965 saw the decade's loudest feat: Jacques Anquetil chained, in 24 hours, victory at the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré on Saturday, flew to Bordeaux the same night, got on his bike at 2:30am and won Bordeaux-Paris the next day. This feat finally earned him the mass popularity he had always struggled to win.
Bordeaux-Arcachon and Bordeaux-Périgueux
Bordeaux-Arcachon, regional classic, was the oldest, shortest and fastest in the South-West. Its 60s editions still fed popular passion, drawing crowds on Landes roads. Bordeaux-Périgueux, another regional meet alive back then, saw several local riders battle in 1965, making local supporters proud.
The Tour de France in Bordeaux: the fervour of great days
Bordeaux was regularly a Tour de France stage city, and each passage was an event. Locals packed the roads to cheer riders, flags in hand, transistors glued to their ears. That popular fervour embodied the festive, identity dimension cycling kept in the city, even if people rode less daily. Stark contrast: deserting your bike Monday to Friday, but hailing champions like heroes.
The cargo bike: a fading culture
Before and during the 60s, the cargo bike was still part of Bordeaux street life. Bakers, ice deliverers, butchers, florists: many artisans and shopkeepers used these bikes capable of carrying up to 80 kg to deliver to customers in the narrow centre streets. But with industrialisation and the democratisation of motor vans (the 2CV panel van, Renault Estafette), this professional transport gradually faded. Cargo trikes vanished one by one from the sidewalks.
Bordeaux, forgotten cradle of the modern bicycle
Few locals know it, but the city has a deeply rooted cycling tradition. Georges Juzan, a Bordeaux mechanic, is credited with inventing the first modern bicycle in the late 19th century. This local history gave cycling a strong, almost heritage identity. In the 60s, iconic French brands (Peugeot, Gitane, Mercier) still filled Bordeaux garage hooks, ready to serve. But they served less and less. The car was taking their place in minds as much as on streets.
No cycle paths: the street belongs to the car
In 60s Bordeaux, cycle infrastructure was essentially non-existent. No dedicated paths, no painted lanes, no organised bike parking. Cyclists simply shared the road with drivers, in an ever-denser traffic. The street belonged to the car, full stop. It took decades for Bordeaux to make its cycling turn: the metropolis only joined the world's top cycling cities (5th on the Copenhagenize Index) in 2013.
A pivotal decade, a double-edged legacy
60s Bordeaux leaves a contradictory trace in the city's memory. On one side, they sealed the car's reign and shaped decades of car-centred urban planning. On the other, they saw popular cycling culture vibrate one last time: Anquetil's feats, Tour fervour, Bordeaux-Paris tradition, last artisan cargo trikes. An era when the bike was disappearing from daily life while carving itself into the city's sporting legend. Sixty years later, Bordeaux has reconnected with cycling, as if the city had finally recovered a piece of itself it let slip away in the sixties.
