Episode 9: In this episode of Kilometre 0, Richard Moore speaks to American historian Christopher Thompson, author of Tour de France, a cultural history of the race which starts by examining how the race’s origins are rooted in a national crisis of confidence and masculinity in the wake of the Franco-Prussian war. The book also looks at the ways the Tour explains France itself.

Kilometre 0 by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Zwift, the app for riding, training and racing at home. Kilometre 0 is a 15-part series published on weekday mornings during the Tour de France.