BACK IN THE CHASE : A Yankee Pioneer, of Sorts, in the Tour de France, Jonathan Boyer Has Returned as a <i> Super-Domestique</i>

When he first rode in the Tour de France, he was a stranger in a strange land, a cyclist wearing a stars-and-stripes jersey among several hundred Europeans, treading on the most sacred of their races. Now, six years later, Jonathan (Jock) Boyer has returned, and while the spectators’ shouts of ‘Allez, Jacques Boy-YAY!” trigger memories, nothing much about it is the same.

‘It feels like another lifetime,” said Boyer, 31, of the years he spent in France, Italy, West Germany, Holland and Switzerland, trying to make it in cycling on the world-class level. Sitting in his hotel, in the shadow of a large chateau, Boyer reflected on what he considers a chapter still intact, but with yellowed pages, perhaps. Wearing bright green shorts and a 7-Eleven T-shirt, Boyer looked very much American, at the same time exuding a seriousness and maturity that many of his teammates lack.

A junior cyclist at 17, Boyer believed there was but one way for him to really learn to race, and that was to learn with the best. With the name of a friend of a friend in hand--”an address really, not even a contact”--and an intensive French language course behind him, Boyer crossed the ocean and set out to learn his trade.

Bouncing around from the south of France to Geneva, to Italy and then Paris, Boyer rode with clubs as an amateur until turning pro in 1977, and eventually joined the Renault team to ride in the 1981 Tour de France. As the first American ever to ride in what is considered the ultimate in cycling, Boyer’s name popped up in the fine print on sports pages of American newspapers, more for the curiosity factor than for concern about the outcome of the race.

There would be an occasional story, or mention of his name on television coverage of what networks consider fringe sports, but for the most part he was alone on his mission. While most Americans focused on the American and National League standings, Boyer spent his summers impressing Europeans with a fifth place in the 1980 World Championships, stage wins in major European races and a 12th place in the 1983 Tour de France.

After his last Tour, three years ago, Boyer had high hopes of organizing an American team and returning with a group of Yanks. But the plans fells through, so he concentrated instead on building up his young business in Monterey, Calif., importing a line of high-tech bicycle components and clothing.

Boyer worked with the 7-Eleven team to build its racing program, although he did not make the team’s debut at the Tour last year because of a commitment to do the television commentary for the Spartakade in Moscow. But he joined the team full-time this year and is offering invaluable help to the younger riders in his role as super-domestique.

A domestique on a team is the rider who works for the leader. That means sacrificing his own place in the race to support the team’s leader--giving up his own bike or wheel, for example, or taking food or water up to the leader.

Asked if he has any faint hope of winning this Tour, or even placing high, Boyer responded quickly. “I finished in the top 20 before, and I can do it again if the race goes well, if I feel good. But I certainly am here to help Andy (Hampsten) out and make sure he and Raul (Alcala) get through it without any major disasters.”

In Boyer’s case, the role of domestique is more than just physical support, as he has also become something of a mentor for the riders five and six years his junior.

“I often have a lot more insight in the racing than the younger riders,” he said. “I can help Andy out, because I have gone through so much of it, so I know what he feels and what he’s going through. I can relate to exactly how he’s feeling better than any other rider. I can take my experience and tell him exactly what’s going to happen; not to worry about this, or not even think about that--it takes a load off his mind.

“Last year he was very up-tight, and one of my major points to him was to calm down. Now I think he’s much more controlled, he’s more relaxed. He doesn’t have to feel he has everything to lose. He has nothing to lose.”

Hampsten, who placed fourth in last year’s Tour and won the Tour of Switzerland the last two years, said unhesitatingly Boyer’s help has made a significant difference.

“For me, he’s becoming invaluable in the Tour,” said Hampsten. “He knows bike racing, knows so many teams, knows the other riders so well, and now he’s teaching me. I’ve been racing for a long time, and I don’t think it’s flattering myself to say I’m not the stupidest rider out there. But he knows so much more. He’s a really strong individual and he’s willing to share that strength with me.”

Hampsten added that now, as the race is in the tough mountain stages that can make or break a rider, Boyer has helped him see things more positively. “I’m much calmer now and he’s really my barometer for that. It’s taken me a long time to learn to relax.”

On Boyer’s first Tour, in 1981, he was married but found it virtually impossible to visit with his wife under the watchful eye of a French team. On the 7-Eleven team, which has two women on the support crew, riders are not forbidden from such activities.

“Europeans live here, so during the season they can go home even for a half-day trip, because they live just an hour or two away,” said Boyer. “We don’t see our girlfriends or wives for months at a time. It’s only natural they’d encourage us to bring the gals over once in a while so we don’t have to go home all the time. Plus, the Europeans are so uptight about that. They’re so archaic in their views.”

There are fewer hassles, too, in being on a team where he does not have to struggle to communicate with his own teammates. Not to say that he always felt like an outsider, however. “I got along well in France,” Boyer said. “I lived here 12 years, I feel at home here . . . well, relatively at home, at the same time missing America. But I did go 10 years without any other American to ride with.”

The Tour de France, he said, has not gotten any harder, just bigger. Fewer than 150 riders competed when he started out; this year, 207 began the race. ‘The caliber is just the same, though,” he said, pointing out that he was on the same team as Bernard Hinault, five-time Tour winner. “That was hard. It’s always hard. You do one Tour and it changes your whole outlook on everything. There is no comparison to any other race.”

As if to prove how he felt, Boyer took up a dare in 1985 and entered the 3,000-mile Race Across America. He won, finishing four hours ahead of the nearest competitor.

Boyer said he still feels cycling has a long way to go in the United States, largely because of the lack of experienced, retired riders around to organize the scene.

“In Europe there are countless number of them; in America there are none,” Boyer said.

Acknowledging that the sport has grown from the days when he had to turn to Europe for his training, Boyer said he believes the chances are considerably better now for younger riders.

‘A lot of Americans are doing it now, compared to when I was 14 and rode my bike back and forth to prep school every day,” he said. But he still cannot explain why he took the road he did, the one never before traveled by an American. “Why does anybody do anything?”

For better or worse, the pioneer has something to show for the experience, memories that will never be erased.

“This is my life--17 years of it, anyway,” said Boyer, adding that he feels good to be back on the Tour. Almost every day, he said, he has a reunion with someone who greets him at the finish line, a Frenchman from his past life.

One day last week, said Boyer, the race passed through many familiar villages, including the site of his last race as an amateur.

“It seems like it was forever ago.”