{"id":273477,"date":"2025-07-19T01:24:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T01:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/273477\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T01:24:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T01:24:17","slug":"johnny-greens-visit-to-the-2004-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/273477\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnny Green’s visit to the 2004 Tour de France"},"content":{"rendered":"

Johnny Green shifted nervously in the queue for official media accreditation at the Grand D\u00e9part of the 2004 Tour de France<\/a> in Li\u00e8ge, Belgium. While the journalists around him discussed the possibility of Lance Armstrong<\/a> winning a record-breaking sixth Tour, the return of the peloton\u2019s \u2018bad boy\u2019 Mario Cipollini, the prospects of debutants Fabian Cancellara and Thomas Voeckler or the time trial up Alpe d\u2019Huez scheduled for stage 16, Green was distracted by other matters.<\/p>\n

His \u2018press card\u2019 had been supplied by his friend, \u2018Frank the Forger\u2019, and there was still an outstanding arrest warrant for him in Belgium. Green wasn\u2019t a member of the press pack. He was a middle-aged punk rocker and former road manager of The Clash who, nearly 30 years earlier, had crashed into a traffic bollard while driving the band from a gig just outside Liege.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d been \u201con the run\u201d from the Belgian police ever since. When he finally received his access-all-areas laminated pass, it was the start of a three-week adventure that he would later turn into a book, Push Yourself Just a Little Bit More: Backstage at the Tour de France.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

On publication in 2005, the book was hailed by the Sunday Times as \u201csports writing to blow your mind\u201d. There were few, if any, English-language books about the Tour de France available at the time, let alone one written by a punk rocker in the style of Danny Dyer hot-desking with Ernest Hemingway.<\/p>\n

This is his encounter with Eddy Merckx<\/a>, for example: \u201cI\u2019d seen Eddie [sic] around Le Village time to time. Quite often shovelling fresh cream gateaux into his gob by the plateful. The first time I realised that the Cakeman was Eddie, I nipped over and shook his hand. Then I walked back to [my son] Earl and said to him, \u2018Shake the hand that shook the hand\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Green died in March this year at the age of 75, on the 20th anniversary of the book\u2019s publication. His son Earl was 23 and had just graduated from film school when his dad invited him to join him on his Tour de France escapade. (Also invited was Green\u2019s close friend, referred to in the book only as \u2018The Brief\u2019, who took the photographs featured here.) \u201cIt was great seeing him in action,\u201d Earl recalls his dad\u2019s journalistic instinct. \u201cHis view of the world, the way he responded to stuff he saw, how things gave him a kick, was unique. He was always looking for an angle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Johnny<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Earl Green)<\/p>\n

Green\u2019s most controversial angle was on doping, which was prevalent in the professional peloton at the time. He draws parallels between riders and rock stars who produced remarkable work while taking drugs \u2013 from fivetime Tour winner Jacques Anquetil<\/a> to Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards \u2013 before pointing out that no one ever refers to the latter as \u201cdrug cheats\u201d. \u201cI don\u2019t necessarily agree with my dad\u2019s views on doping,\u201d says Earl. \u201cBut what he loved was the rich history of the sport, and part of that history is the doping \u2013 who was on what, when and how.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

In the book, Green is drawn to the sport\u2019s \u201cbad boys\u201d such as Armstrong \u2013 \u201cI don\u2019t give a flyin\u2019 f**k that the French nation is deeply suspicious of Lance,\u201d he writes \u2013 and Italian sprinter Cipollini, who enraged organisers by leaving every Tour he entered after the first week\u2019s flat stages to go on holiday to the beach.<\/p>\n

Green is disappointed that Cipollini\u2019s team hadn\u2019t been invited to the Tour the previous three years, even when \u201cSuper Mario\u201d had been world champion. He witnesses his hero having his trademark, cartoon-styled skinsuit being trimmed by \u201ctwo roadies with nail scissors\u201d to comply with UCI regulations before the prologue of the 2004 Tour.<\/p>\n

\"Johnny<\/p>\n

Johnny Green remembered Eddy Merckx for the amount of cake he ate<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Earl Green)<\/p>\n

\u201cMario\u2019s discarded costume lay on the road, replaced by his golden flesh,\u201d writes Green. \u201cCamera flashes, jaws droppin\u2019, a big hubbub. The Italian went up the start ramp in his new \u2018distressed\u2019 look to a big ovation. The effect of his presence was truly fantastic. Waves of energy rippled off him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

“The effect of Mario Cipollini’s presence was truly fantastic. Waves of energy rippled off him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnny Green<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Drawing on his own experiences with the Clash \u2013 when he did everything from driving the band to buying singer Mick Jones\u2019 hair dye \u2013 Green clearly loved the showbiz element of the Tour, from its larger-thanlife characters to the logistical challenge of setting up and dismantling the race\u2019s infrastructure day after day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the chaos of it all that captured him,\u201d says Earl. \u201cIt\u2019s so vibrant, and it\u2019s there right in your face where you can get up so close to the riders, in the same way that when he was with the Clash the audience were right up against the music and he and the band would let the fans into their dressing room.\u201d The sport\u2019s raw edge appealed to Green. \u201cIt\u2019s very similar to punk rock in that way, or at least it was when we were there. It was like the Wild West. We were told we were lucky to have caught the last days of it because so much of it has become corporate and for the VIPs since then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Green empathised with backstage characters such as \u201cBelgian Bob\u201d \u2013 the driver for race director Jean-Marie Leblanc \u2013 and Jean-Louis Pag\u00e8s, the \u201cDirecteur des Sites\u201d, who was responsible for the start and finish zones of each stage, referred to by Green as \u201cthe livin\u2019, pumpin\u2019 heart of Le Tour\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d stumbled into this crazy, chaotic national institution of a race by chance 20 years ago,\u201d writes Green, describing how Pag\u00e8s had been working as a school teacher when his brother-in-law asked him for help in organising the car parking for the race. \u201cBefore that, he\u2019d never seen Le Tour. Shaboom! It transformed his life. It hit him like a punch in the face. Like rock\u2019n\u2019roll at its best. In a parallel universe, I\u2019d bumped into the Clash on a Belfast stage in \u201977 and never looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Clash<\/p>\n

Johnny Green wrote an award winning book even if his press pass was faked<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Earl Green)<\/p>\n

Green had jumped at the chance of joining the Clash \u2013 initially as a roadie \u2013 rather than using his degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies to get \u201ca proper job\u201d. He stayed with them for three years \u2013 a period breathlessly recalled in his 1997 memoir, A Riot of Our Own: Night and Day with The Clash \u2013 and remained friends with them afterwards, joining the surviving members for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. He even persuaded singer Joe Strummer to accompany him to that year\u2019s Tour. Sadly, Strummer died before the unlikely encounter between the punk rock hero and the professional peloton could happen.<\/p>\n

Pirate material<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was watching Marco Pantani ascend the Col du Galibier<\/a> on Channel Four TV\u2019s coverage of the 1998 Tour that sparked Green\u2019s love of pro cycling. By the end of the 2004 edition, son Earl was also hooked. \u201cWhereas my dad was useless and only rode along the seafront from his home in Whitstable to Herne Bay [in Kent] on a Dutch sit-up-and-beg bike at a leisurely pace, I bought a proper bike and cycled to Copenhagen and back on it,\u201d he says. \u201cI used it to commute from home in Margate to Canterbury until my accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earl was cycling home from work in 2012 when he crashed into a piece of lorry debris on the road. It tore into his spinal cord, leaving him confined to a wheelchair. \u201cBut my life\u2019s not that bad,\u201d he says, echoing his dad\u2019s carefree, punk ethos. \u201cI can walk a bit with a Zimmer frame and use an exercise bike. And I got compensation, so I don\u2019t have to work anymore!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Johnny<\/p>\n

Green ensured he looked into all aspects of the Tour, not just the riders<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Earl Green)<\/p>\n

Having been brought up by his dad alone for several years following his mum\u2019s death when he was just 18 months old, Earl, who is now 43, has always been proud of his dad\u2019s achievements \u2013 from his time with the Clash to his later work as educational advisor on sex and drugs for Kent County Council \u2013 but their adventure at the Tour de France has a special place in his heart. \u201cThe Tour is so much bigger than the riders and results, it\u2019s a living breathing thing that takes in the stories, characters and history of France,\u201d says Earl.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad managed to pull together all those different strands, all the unsung heroes of the Tour, both from its history and from what was happening in front of us there and then.\u201d<\/p>\n

The finished work was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, ironically losing out to a book about football written by Gary Imlach, the presenter of ITV\u2019s Tour coverage. \u201cIt was the trip of a lifetime,\u201d says Earl. \u201cThe fact I have it in the form of a book is a lovely memory of my dad and a souvenir of a great adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cycling’s rock and rollers<\/p>\n

Other figures from the rock and roll industry with a passion for road cycling include:<\/p>\n

Kraftwerk:<\/strong> When on tour in the early 1980s, co-founders Ralf H\u00fctter and Florian Schneider would regularly be dropped off 100 miles from the venue and cycle the rest of the way. The band released a single, Tour de France, in 1983, and 20 years later an album, Tour de France Soundtracks, to coincide with the Tour\u2019s centenary edition.<\/p>\n

Echo and The Bunnymen:<\/strong> Guitarist Will Sergeant and bassist Les Pattinson were confirmed roadies. They organised a bike ride for fans on the day of their 1984 \u2018Crystal Day\u2019 gig in Liverpool.<\/p>\n

John Cooper Clarke:<\/strong> The Salford punk poet knew he wanted to become a cyclist after his Uncle Dennis moved in with his family: \u201cHe was a member of a cycling club, owned a beautiful bike with drop handlebars and was the most successful man with women I\u2019ve ever known.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lloyd Cole:<\/strong> A relatively new convert to road cycling, the singer-songwriter posts his rides on Strava, accompanied by lengthy essays on everything from the weather to how his knees felt.<\/p>\n

Talking Heads:<\/strong> Frontman David Byrne takes a folding bicycle on his travels around the world. He wrote about his adventures in his 2009 book, Bicycle Diaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Johnny Green shifted nervously in the queue for official media accreditation at the Grand D\u00e9part of the 2004…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-273477","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114877292249629982","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}