How a bike race transfixed Toronto

Stray dogs, bloodied cyclists and a cheating scandal.

- EDWARD BROWN

In 1894, controversy surrounding the inaugural Dunlop Trophy Road Race rocked the city's fledgling bicycle racing community

The 110th edition of the Tour de France, a multiple-stage bicycle race steeped in history and marred by scandal, kicks off on June 29. Hundreds of thousands of fans line the streets across France and millions more watch the multi-week event on television.

Nine years before the inception of the prestigious global sporting event, the Canadian racing community was caught up in its own scandal involving the biggest names in the sport. Controversy at the inaugural Dunlop Trophy Road Race hosted in Toronto in 1894 rocked the fledgling Canadian bicycle racing community. That year, spectators lined a race course in the city’s east end to cheer on teams of cyclists in a competition that started a decades-long racing tradition — the seven foot trophy is still on display at the Royal Canadian Curling Club in Riverside.

To the shock of many observing the race, eyewitnesses claimed champion cyclist Thomas McCarthy cheated when he failed to complete the course by turning short of the midpoint indicated by a barrel on the Kingston Road course.

Scotsmen John Dunlop’s 1888 patent of the inflatable tire launched a global bicycle craze, and by the early 1890s, Toronto boasted several cycling clubs. In 1894, Dunlop Tire Co. sponsored Toronto’s significantly shorter road race to pump up tire sales. Up for grabs was bragging rights to a seven-foot, 10-inch silver and ebony trophy, thought to be the world’s largest at the time. Proceeds from the race financed the installation of cinder paths and early bike lanes in the city.