René de Latour (born New York, United States, 30 September 1906, died Quiberon, France, 4 September 1986) was a Franco-American sports journalist, race director of the Tour de l'Avenir cycle race, and correspondent of the British magazine, Sporting Cyclist, to which he contributed to 120 of the 131 issues.
The venue for cycle-racing in the centre of Paris was the Vélodrome d'Hiver, an indoor track close to the Eiffel Tower.
There he met the Canadian star, Willie Spencer, becoming not just interpreter and guide but his odd-job boy, or runner, during races.
He returned to the Vel' d'Hiv' on leaving national service and again looked after Americans, including the motor-paced champion, Charlie Jaeger.
That brought him a job with Reggie McNamara during six-day races[2] and eventually as trainer, or at any rate advisor, to Hubert Opperman in the Tour de France.
De Latour was the last editor of Vespa Journal while he was still working at L'Équipe[4] He wrote a novel, Le Mort mène le Peloton (death leads the race) in 1951 and, in English, World Champions I Have Known[5] De Latour retired at the start of the 1980s to a cottage with a library in Quiberon.