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![]() The front page of L'Équipe on 4 July 2011 | |
Type | Daily newspaper |
---|---|
Format | Tabloid |
Owner(s) | Groupe Amaury |
Editor-in-chief | Fabrice Jouhaud |
Editor | François Morinière |
Founded | 1946 |
Language | French |
Headquarters | Boulogne-Billancourt |
ISSN | 0153-1069 |
Website | www |
L'Équipe (pronounced [lekip] , French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby, motorsport, and cycling. Its predecessor, L'Auto, was founded by wealthy conservative industrialists to undermine Le Velo , which they found too progressive. It was a general sports paper that also covered the auto racing which was gaining popularity at the turn of the twentieth century.
L'Auto launched the Tour de France road cycling stage race in 1903 as a circulation booster. The race leader's yellow jersey (French: maillot jaune) was instituted in 1919, reflecting the distinctive yellow newsprint on which L'Auto was published. The European Champion Clubs' Cup, the competition that would later be rebranded as the UEFA Champions League, was also the brainchild of a L'Équipe journalist, Gabriel Hanot.
L'Auto traces its origins to opposition to Le Vélo, a sports newspaper which began publishing in 1892. In addition to covering cycling, the paper also organized cycling races. Le Vélo took a Dreyfusard position on the Dreyfus affair which boosted the paper's sales. [1]
As the scandal developed, French society and media became increasingly polarized. Divisions within Le Vélo on whether Dreyfus was guilty lead to its dissolution. Le Vélo began to adopt a pro-Dreyfus stance and allied with Dreyfusards. [2] Its editor, Pierre Giffard, believed Dreyfus innocent and said so, leading to acrid disagreement with his conservative main advertisers. These included the automobile-maker Comte de Dion and industrialists Adolphe Clément and Édouard Michelin.
Frustrated at Giffard's politics, they planned a rival paper, L'Auto-Vélo which began publishing in 1900. The editor was a prominent racing cyclist, Henri Desgrange, who had published a book of cycling tactics and training and was working as a publicity writer for Clément. Desgrange was a strong character but lacked confidence, so much doubting the Tour de France founded in his name that he stayed away from the pioneering race in 1903 until it looked like being a success.
Three years after the foundation of L'Auto-Vélo in 1900, a court in Paris decided that the title was too close to its main competitor, Giffard's Le Vélo. Thus reference to 'Vélo' was dropped and the new paper became simply L'Auto. It was printed on yellow paper because Giffard used green.
Circulation was sluggish, however, and only a crisis meeting called "to nail Giffard's beak shut", as Desgrange phrased it, came to its rescue. Then, on the first floor of the paper's offices in the rue du Faubourg-Montmartre in Paris, a 26-year-old cycling and rugby writer called Géo Lefèvre suggested a race round France, bigger than any other paper could rival and akin to six-day races on the track.
The Tour de France proved a success for the newspaper; circulation leapt from 25,000 before the 1903 Tour to 65,000 after it; in 1908 the race boosted circulation past a quarter of a million, and during the 1923 Tour it was selling 500,000 copies a day. The record circulation claimed by Desgrange was 854,000, achieved during the 1933 Tour.
Desgrange died in 1940 and ownership passed to a consortium of Germans. [3] The paper began printing comments favourable to the occupying Nazis. When the Germans were finally defeated in 1945, the provisional French government forcibly dissolved the paper alongside other publications that printed pro-Nazi propaganda during the occupation. [4]
In 1940 Jacques Goddet (1905–2000) succeeded Desgrange as editor and nominal organiser of the Tour de France (although he refused German requests to run it during the war, see Tour de France during the Second World War). Jacques Goddet was the son of L'Auto's first financial director, Victor Goddet. Goddet defended his paper's role in a court case brought by the French government but was never wholly cleared in the public mind of being close to the Germans or to the Head of the French State, Philippe Pétain (1856–1951). [4]
Goddet could point, however, to clandestine printing of Resistance newspapers and pamphlets in the L'Auto print room [3] and so was allowed to publish a successor paper called L'Équipe. It occupied premises across the road from where L'Auto had been, in a building that had actually been owned by L'Auto, although the original paper's assets had been sequestrated by the state. One condition of publication imposed by the state was that L'Équipe was to use white paper rather than yellow, which was too closely attached to L'Auto. [3]
The new paper published three times a week from 28 February 1946. [5] Since 1948 it has been published daily. The paper benefited from the demise of its competitors, L'Élan, and Le Sport. Its coverage of car racing hints at the paper's ancestry by printing the words L'Auto at the head of the page in the gothic print used in the main title of the prewar paper.
L'Équipe is published in tabloid format. [6]
In 1968 L'Équipe was bought by Émilien Amaury (1909–1977), founder of the Amaury publishing empire. Among L'Équipe's most respected writers have been Pierre Chany (1922–1996), Antoine Blondin (1922–1991) and Gabriel Hanot (1899–1968).[ citation needed ]
The death of Émilien Amaury in 1977 led to a six-year legal battle over inheritance between his son and daughter. This was eventually settled amicably with Philippe Amaury owning the dailies while his sister owned magazines such as Marie-France and Point de Vue. Philippe then founded Éditions Philippe Amaury (EPA), which included L'Équipe, Le Parisien and Aujourd'hui . At Philippe's death in 2006, the group passed to his widow, Marie-Odile, and their children.[ citation needed ]
Year | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Circulation | 386,189 | 386,601 | 455,598 | 321,153 | 339,627 | 369,428 | 365,654 | 365,411 | 327,168 | 298,949 | 237,790 | 239,482 | 253,791 | 237,240 | 219,032 |
The newspaper's biggest-selling issue is that of 13 July 1998, the day after the France national football team won the World Cup for the first time after beating Brazil 3–0 at the Stade de France. Containing the banner headline Pour L'Éternité (For Eternity), [7] it sold 1,645,907 copies. The second best was published on 3 July 2000 after France won UEFA Euro 2000, when the paper sold 1,255,633 copies.
In 2020, the circulation of L'Equipe was 219,032 copies. [8]
The Tour de France is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España.
The general classification of the Tour de France is the most important classification of the race and determines the winner of the race. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification has worn the yellow jersey.
Éditions Philippe Amaury (EPA), also known as Groupe EPA or the Groupe Amaury, is a French private media group founded by Philippe Amaury (1940–2006) whose widow, Marie-Odile Amaury, owns a majority of the company. The CEO of the company is Aurore Amaury, daughter of Philippe and Marie-Odile Amaury.
The 1903 Tour de France was the first cycling race set up and sponsored by the newspaper L'Auto, ancestor of the current daily, L'Équipe. It ran from 1 to 19 July in six stages over 2,428 km (1,509 mi), and was won by Maurice Garin.
Marquis Jules Félix Philippe Albert de Dion de Wandonne was a French pioneer of the automobile industry. He invented a steam-powered car and used it to win the world's first auto race, but his vehicle was adjudged to be against the rules. He was a co-founder of De Dion-Bouton, the world's largest automobile manufacturer for a time, as well as the French sports newspaper L'Équipe.
Henri Desgrange was a French bicycle racer and sports journalist. He set twelve world track cycling records, including the hour record of 35.325 kilometres (21.950 mi) on 11 May 1893. He was the first organiser of the Tour de France.
The Amaury Sport Organisation is a private company, founded in 1992, that is part of the privately-owned French media group Éditions Philippe Amaury (EPA). ASO organises the Tour de France and other cycling races, as well as golf, running, sailing and off-road motorsport events over 250 days of competition per year, with 90 events in 30 countries. The president of ASO is Jean-Etienne Amaury, the son of Philippe Amaury and Marie-Odile Amaury, and grandson of EPA founder, Émilien Amaury.
The 1905 Tour de France was the third edition of the Tour de France, held from 9 to 30 July, organised by the newspaper L'Auto. Following the disqualifications after the 1904 Tour de France, there were changes in the rules, the most important one being the general classification not made by time but by points. The race saw the introduction of mountains in the Tour de France, and René Pottier excelled in the first mountain, although he could not finish the race. Due in part to some of the rule changes, the 1905 Tour de France had less cheating and sabotage than in previous years, though they were not eliminated. It was won by Louis Trousselier, who also won four of the eleven stages.
Le Parisien is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. Since 2015, Le Parisien has been owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, better known as LVMH, belonging to French billionaire Bernard Arnault.
Philippe Amaury was a French media tycoon, and the son of publisher Émilien Amaury.
The 1919 Tour de France was the 13th edition, taking place from 29 June to 27 July covering a total distance of 5,560 kilometres (3,450 mi). It was the first Tour de France after World War I, and was won by Firmin Lambot. Following the tenth stage, the yellow jersey, given to the leader of the general classification, was introduced, and first worn by Eugène Christophe.
Géo Lefèvre (1877–1961) was a French sports journalist and the originator of the idea for the Tour de France.
Jacques Goddet was a French sports journalist and director of the Tour de France road cycling race from 1936 to 1986.
Félix Lévitan, was a sports journalist and the third organiser of the Tour de France a role he shared for much of the time with Jacques Goddet. Lévitan is credited with looking after the financial side of the Tour while Goddet concentrated on the sporting aspect, but in the end Lévitan was fired while Goddet simply retired.
Pierre Giffard was a French journalist, a pioneer of modern political reporting, a newspaper publisher and a prolific sports organiser. In 1892, he was appointed Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'Honneur and in 1900 he was appointed an Officier (Officer) of the Légion d'Honneur.
The Tour de France was not held because of World War II because the organisers refused German requests. Although a 1940 Tour de France had been announced earlier, the outbreak of the war made it impossible for it to be held. After that, some attempts were made by the Germans during the war to have a Tour de France to maintain the sense of normality, but l'Auto, the organising newspaper, refused. Some other races were run as a replacement.
Albert Baker d'Isy was a French cycling journalist and author and the founder of the Grand Prix des Nations international time-trial. He is considered, in the French expression, "one of the most beautiful pens" of sports writing. Pierre Chany a contemporary, called him "The best sporting journalist of his generation."
Le Vélo was the leading French sports newspaper from its inception on 1 December 1892 until it ceased publication in 1904. Mixing sports reporting with news and political comment, it achieved a circulation of 80,000 copies a day. Its use of sporting events as promotional tools led to the creation of the Paris–Roubaix cycle race in 1896, and the popularisation of the Bordeaux–Paris cycle race during the 1890s.
Émilien Amaury was a French publishing magnate whose company now organises the Tour de France. He worked with Philippe Pétain, head of the French government in Vichy France during the Second World War, but used his position to find paper and other materials for the French Resistance. His links with Jacques Goddet, the organiser of the Tour de France, led to a publishing empire that included the daily sports paper, L'Équipe. Amaury died after falling from his horse; his will led to six years of legal debate.
The Souvenir Jacques Goddet is an award and cash prize in the Tour de France bicycle race that began in 2001. The Souvenir is named in honour of the historically second Tour de France director and French sports journalist Jacques Goddet. It is awarded to the first rider to reach the summit of the 2,115 m (6,939 ft)-high Col du Tourmalet mountain pass in the Pyrenees, apart from 2002 Tour when the Col d'Aubisque was used and 2007 Tour where it was awarded in Port de Pailhères. A monument to Goddet was erected at the summit soon after his death in 2000. Since 2003, the cash prize is €5,000. In 2019, Thibaut Pinot became the first repeat winner of the prize.