YouTube’s algorithm was acting strange again, and highlighted a 3 year old video with a strange title to my home feed: Tour de France – Drinking Raids – When the riders used to stop at cafes and take what they wanted.
Apparently Tour de France athletes in the 60s used to make “pit stops” on small shops along their route. They would literally run inside, take what they could carry and then storm off.
As the narrator describes:
They enter a café shoving everyone aside. It isn’t quite looting but they demand and take anything: red wine, champagne, beer. Even water if there’s nothing better. […] Then they’re off, usually without paying. Sometimes they lose two or three minutes and have to change the pack for the next 10 miles.
And who paid for it?
After the Tour de France, the director of the tour receives a number of bills.
Apparently snacks were not off limits either.
You can watch the full short film below: