How the Tour De France Began

The Tour de France is the greatest of all the annual sports events. With 2,500 miles of gruelling cycling, over often mountainous terrain, the race demands more of its superstars than any other sport. Held for the first time in 1903, it is now one of the most looked forward to of events; but how did it start? What demented mind came up with the challenge, and why?

The answer lies in part with Count Albert de Dion, French industrialist and politician. A strong nationalist supporter whose money was used to finance the French newspaper Le Velo, the Count attended Auteuil racecourse one day as a demonstrator supporting the nationalist party and, rather foolishly, Le Velo's account of the action was, to say the least, critical. The Count had a fierce temper, he was a noted duellist, and was not one to forgive easily. He dropped his support for Le Velo and started up another paper in direct opposition to it. The new paper was called L'Auto, edited by Henri Desgrange, a keen cyclist, who had set the first world unpaced hour record back in 1893.

L'Auto needed a big publicity stunt to attract readers and its chief cycling reporter, Geo Lefebvre came up with the idea of a cycling race that would cover the whole of France. A great idea, all agreed. But, was it possible for anyone to ride that far? They would need plenty of rest days to recover after each stage, and the route would have to combine mountain courses with flat stages. It would need a lot of organization, and Henri Desgrange set himself the task of making the dream come true.

L'Auto announced the event, "From Paris to the blue waves of the Mediterranean; from Marseille to Bordeaux, passing along the roseate and dreaming roads sleeping under the sun, across the calm of the fields of Vendee, following the Loire which flows on still and silent, our men are going to race madly, unflaggingly." (Geoffrey Nicholson's translation, from his book The Great Bike Race - Magnum Press 1977)

Sixty riders set off in 1903 in front of a good crowd, cycling from Villeneuve-Saint-Georges near Paris on their journey of 2,428 kilometres (1,520 mile). The race comprised a mere 6 stages but, incredibly they averaged 405 km (250 mile)! By the time they reached Lyon, the end of the first stage, eighteen hours had passed, and only 36 riders remained.

A rule that has since disappeared, allowed riders who had dropped out to start the next stage, although their times would not count for the overall classification. Aucouturier, who had been forced to quit with stomach pains on the first stage, won the second into Marseille. He followed up with a second win at Toulouse. However, that was his last victory; Garin took the final two stages and became the overall winner, finishing almost 3 hours ahead of the next man.

So ended the first Tour, and it was a big success, firmly establishing L'Auto as one of the leading papers, to the great delight of Count Albert de Dion. The Tour has gone from strength to strength since its early days. The stages are thankfully shorter, and there are more of them, but the cyclists themselves are still regarded as superheroes by their adoring fans.