1903 Tour de France

1903 Tour de France

The 1903 Tour de France was the first Tour de France, set up and sponsored by the newspaper "L'Auto", ancestor of the current daily, L'Équipe.

The race was inspired by the "Tour" in literature, especially a novel called "Tour de France par Deux Enfants" in which two boys make their way around France. The race was proposed by journalist Géo Lefèvre to his editor, Henri Desgrange, and discussed by them over lunch at the Café de Madrid - some sources say the café, which changed names several times, was called the Taverne Zimmer- in Paris on 20 November 20 1902, with the public announcement the following January. The newspaper ran the race to promote its circulation, a tactic employed by other newspapers.

The 1903 Tour began with the stage "Montgeron-Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, route de Corbeil" on July 1, and ended with the "Vile-d'Avray, restaurant du Père" stage on July 19. It had six stages compared to 20 in modern tours, with a total distance of 2428km. The stages were long, the longest between Nantes and Paris at 471km and the shortest between Toulouse and Bordeaux at 268km (compared to the 171km average of the 2004 Tour de France). Sixty riders started (189 in modern 21-team Tours), with 21 finishing. The winner won 3000 francs (about 26,250 euro in today's money, corrected for inflation).

As the "journal organisateur", "L'Auto" provided Lefèvre as director, judge and time-keeper; Henri Desgrange was the directeur-général, although he did not follow the race.

There were no teams; all entrants were individuals. They paid a fee of ten francs which translates into 87.50 euro today with inflation taken into account. [Wheatcroft, Geoffrey. "Le Tour: a history of the Tour de France, 1903-2003", London: Pocket Books, 2003.]

Different than today, a cyclist who gave up during a stage, was allowed to start again the next stage, although he was not counted for the general classification anymore. This happened with Hippolyte Aucouturier, who gave up during the first stage, but came back and won the second and third stage. Charles Laeser, winner of the fourth stage, did not complete the third stage.

Maurice Garin won the race in 94 hours 33 minutes and 14 seconds, Lucien Pothier was second at 2 hours 49 minutes and 21 seconds, Augereau third at 4 hours 29 minutes and 24 seconds. The "lanterne rouge" (final finisher) was Arsène Millocheau, at 64 hours, 57 minutes and 8 seconds.

External links

* [http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_1903_1913/tdf1903.php 1903 Tour de France Results]
* [http://www.letour.fr/HISTO/TDF/1903/us/annee.html?RaceYear=1903&x=37&y=8 Official Tour de France Archive] of the 1903 Tour de France
* [http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/images/tour_de_france/France%201903.jpgMap of the 1903 Tour de France Route]
* [http://www.radsport-seite.de/tour1903.html Jersey progression] of the 1903 Tour de France

References


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