History Of The Tour De France

The first Tour de France was in 1903. The race originated because of a feud between 2 French newspapers – Le Velo and L’Auto-velo. A trademark hearing, that Le Velowon, over the names of the papers started the row. The editor of the losing paper, which was forced to change its anme to L’Auto decided a race would create publicity and stop the paper from losing readership. George Lefevre suggested a race over 6 days covering roads and mountains. The Tour de France was born on 19 January 1903 when ‘The Greatest Cycling Trial in the Entire World’ was announced in L’Auto – stretching over a month participants would cycle from Paris to Lyon to Marseilles to Toulouse to Bordeaux to Nantes and back to Paris. The 20 franc entry fee was clearly off putting at there were only 15 entrants for the 1903 Tour. The race was suspended and riders were incentivised with a 20,000 franc prize fund. On July 19th the first ever Tour was underway with 60 competitors.
Maurice Garin was the first ever winner of the Tour and was greeted in Paris by a crowd of 20,000 people. Circulation of L’Auto also rose- by 500%!!

The basic formula of the Tour de France has remained unchanged from the original race back in 1903. Interest has been kept alive by the route being altered from year to year, keeping the course fresh and competitors on their toes. In 1910 Desgrange added the Pyranees to the route, and the following year, the Alps.
The famous yellow jersey worn by the winner of the Tour was thought up by Desgrange in 1919 when he decided the leader of the race should wear something distinctive – and because his paper was printed on yellow paper, the jersey was to be yellow – the maillot jaune.

The distance of the race changes from year to year depending on the course but most recently it tends to stretch between 3500 and 4000 kilometres.

To enter the race is strictly by invitation. There are 20 or so teams, each with 9 riders. The prize money is now over $2 million.

The first Tour was won by Maurice Garin. The record for most wins of the tour goes to America Lance Armstrong with 7 successive wins between 1999 and 2005.
Last years winner was Floyd Landis, also of the United States. Past winners have some from all over the world. Noticeably, a British rider has yet to win the race – with a Grand Depart in London in July 2007 for the 94th Tour de france – is this year our year?

By: Lou Stevens-8962

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Lou has followed cycling, especially the Tour De France for many years