This was a children’s book/ picture book I remember from my first grade teacher’s classroom in 1979. There was either a bike race happening, like the Tour de France, or the characters were using bikes in pursuit of or running away from something, and one of the characters was a tall and kind of lanky frog (wearing a beret or newsboy cap). He was dressed kind of like a Provencal country gentleman. He ended up going through underground tunnels (or sewers) either to escape or catch up. I remember artwork showing the frog climbing out through a manhole. This has bugged me for years and no one seems to have any idea of what I’m talking about.
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
This might be one of the Frog Band books by Jim Smith, possibly The Frog Band and the Onion Seller. There are several books in the series, and I haven’t read all of them, but several of his books involve chase scenes and underground tunnels. You can see images of several of the book covers here:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14211564.Jim_Smith
Maybe one of the Anatole books by Eve Titus?
Triplets of Belleville? Very strange story, but I only know it as a film. Has bicycles and frogs in France.
Was this the Wind in the Willows?
Frog and Toad Are Friends comes to mind. I think there’s a series of them and at least one involves a bike.
Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel!