Forty years on, Clare Greenwood is ready to share the real reason she attacked on the Champs Élysées. "I'd had a bidon that had lasted me the whole three weeks," she says. "I decided: Right, I'm going to act like one of the guys - I'm going to finish my drink, then toss it to the crowd". On one of the most iconic roads in cycling, with 'Great Britain' emblazoned over her heart, Greenwood did just that. But the move backfired. "It hit a lamppost and ricocheted back into the peloton at the height of everybody's head". She heard a shouted complaint from behind and thought, "Oh hell, I'm in trouble now". Her only means of escape, she figured, was to attack. "Needless to say, it only lasted a few seconds"
The race was the 1984 Tour de France Féminin, the first women's Tour held alongside the men's. Only five editions took place, followed by a decades-long haitus. The women rode truncated stages ahead of the men before being bundled into cars by gendarmerie to clear the finish area.
