French press review 18 July 2013

Cycling makes several of this morning's front pages.

You can understand why if you know that the 100-year-old Tour de France is into its final week, that the riders will today climb through the 21 hairpins of the Alpe-d'Huez . . . twice in succession, something that's never been done before . . . and that the performances of the current leader and likely overall winner, Chris Froome, suggest that he's either superhuman or cheating.

Sports paper L'Equipe has obtained Froome's medical and test records for the past two years, and asked a scientist to analyse them. The expert says the English rider's performances "make sense," despite the fact that he's four and a half minutes ahead of known steroid cheat, Alberto Contador, and is producing more energy than either Lance Armstrong or Marco Pantani, disgraced former winners who both admitted cheating.

Libération's main headline says the Tour de France is under suspicion, as those who trail in Froome's wake wonder what has given him such an advantage. He might, indeed, be doing it all on nothing stronger than mineral water. Which would make him an exceptional athlete. But the Tour, and the sport of cycling in general, needs to prove conclusively that he's clean, so that the dark years of steroids, EPO and blood doping can be left behind.

Bikes also make the front page of Catholic La Croix, but that's because of the debate about protecting our remaining reserves of fossil fuel, and saving the planet from terminal meltdown.

The National Council on Energy Change will deliver its recommendations to the government this very morning. The car is responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions and the majority of French fuel imports. So, if we can be encouraged to make less use of private four-wheeled transport, the world will be, literally, a better place.

News just coming in this morning indicates that the Medef, that's the French bosses union, has refused to sign the findings of the National Council on Energy Change. Don't be surprised to learn that that little rebellion was led by the motor lobby.

Tabloid Aujourd'hui en France also looks at the motorcar, from the point of view of speed limits. We may soon be obliged to drive more slowly here in France, by an average of 10 kilometres per hour. The objective is to get the number of people killed on French roads below 2,000 per year, as well as cutting down on CO2 emissions and expense.

Motorist groups say the proposals are an infringement of personal liberty.