{"id":190038,"date":"2022-07-08T13:33:46","date_gmt":"2022-07-08T13:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=190038"},"modified":"2022-07-08T13:33:46","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T13:33:46","slug":"the-origin-story-of-the-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2022\/07\/08\/the-origin-story-of-the-tour-de-france\/","title":{"rendered":"The Origin Story of the Tour de France"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first Tour de France took place over 100 years ago, back in 1903. Do you know why the race was held and who had the idea for cyclists to go around the whole of France?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The story begins at the turn of the 20th century with two French newspapers competing for readers. The editor-in-chief of the cycling newspaper Le V\u00e9lo, Pierre Giffard, held different political views from one of the newspaper\u2019s major patrons, Jules-Albert Dion. They stood on opposing sides of the Dreyfus case. Alfred Dreyfus was an Alsatian Jew who was framed with manufactured evidence and given a life sentence for supposedly passing secrets to the Germans. This issue divided France, the conservative part wanted him sentenced, while progressives wanted him exonerated. Jules-Albert Dion decided to halt his support of Le V\u00e9lo and establish a new newspaper called L’Auto-V\u00e9lo to drive Pierre Giffard\u2019s Le V\u00e9lo out of business.<\/p>\n

Henri Desgrange was chosen as the editor for the new L’Auto-V\u00e9lo newspaper. Henri Desgrange was a man of many talents, he was a lawyer, cycling promoter, and former competitor himself. He set the first World Hour Record with 35,325 kilometres in 1893. He wrote a successful book about racing, Head and Legs<\/em>. And he also managed a velodrome that got little mention from Giffard, which was further motivation for him to succeed with L’Auto-V\u00e9lo.<\/p>\n

\"Henri<\/a>
Henri Desgrange with Gin Bartali in 1930s. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1900, the first issue of L’Auto-V\u00e9lo came out printed on yellow paper to differentiate itself from the green paper of Le V\u00e9lo. Le V\u00e9lo was quick to sue the new magazine for plagiarism, claiming that they chose a name that was too similar. Le V\u00e9lo won the lawsuit and L’Auto-V\u00e9lo was forced to rename to L’Auto, the first blow to the new newspaper. As time went on, L’Auto kept losing the battle for sports readership with the more established Le V\u00e9lo. They needed something big to attract cycling fans.<\/p>\n

In November of 1902, Desgrange called his core staff for an emergency lunch to brainstorm ideas that could reinvigorate the newspaper and give it an edge. G\u00e9orges Lef\u00e8vre, a writer who was covering cycling and rugby, came prepared.<\/p>\n

G\u00e9orges Lef\u00e8vre: \u201cLet’s organize a race that lasts several days longer than anything else. Like the six-day ones on the track, but on the road. Our big towns will welcome the riders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henri Desgrange: \u201cIf I understand you correctly, petit G\u00e9o, you’re proposing a Tour de France?”<\/p>\n

G\u00e9orges Lef\u00e8vre: \u201cYes, why not?\u201d<\/p>\n

Henri Desgrange: \u201cI will ask Victor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Desgrange apparently took credit for the idea when he proposed the race to the financial controller of L’Auto, Victor Goddet. Goddet, to the surprise of Desgrange, approved the idea, despite the massive costs that would come with it. He understood the promotional value of this epic proposal.<\/p>\n

The loss of the plagiarism suit and declining readership gave L’Auto reasons to proceed with speed with the race in order to promote the magazine to cycling fans. The other sports magazines had their own races, but Lef\u00e8vre’s idea would completely leapfrog these other races in scope and appeal.<\/p>\n

They moved fast and on the 19th<\/sup> of January 1903 L\u2019Auto announced the biggest cycling race that would span 2,428 km over 6 stages from 31st<\/sup> May to 5th<\/sup> July. No assistance, no pacers, no coaches, no masseuses so that all riders have the same conditions.<\/p>\n

There were only 15 signups for this monstrous race about a week before the start. Henri acted quick. He moved the start date to the 19th<\/sup> of July and promised 5 francs per day for the top 50 riders and increased the prize pool to 20,000 francs. Soon, he has a peloton of 60 competitors ready to put on a show, 49 French, 4 Belgian, 4 Swiss, 2 German, and 1 Italian cyclist. Only 21 of these are professional cyclists and many of them aren\u2019t even full-time competitors. Most of the participants are simply adventurers or unemployed.<\/p>\n

Henri Desgrange remains sceptical of this whole risky endeavour and stays hidden in the newspaper office on the first day of the race. G\u00e9o Lef\u00e8vre is the true hero of L’Auto. He follows the whole race, sometimes on a bike himself, other times in a car or catching trains so he doesn\u2019t miss a single checkpoint. He becomes the race director, commissaire, and reporter in one.<\/p>\n

The race turns into a sensation. Hundreds of thousands of fans come to the streets to cheer the riders on their gruelling route and over 20,000 are waiting at the velodrome in Paris at the finish line. L’Auto rides the success and nearly triples its readership during the race.<\/p>\n

It only takes another year for L’Auto to completely dominate the cycling world with Tour de France\u2019s success and bankrupt its competitor Le V\u00e9lo. Pierre Giffard loses the battle of cycling newspapers and his job along with it. It doesn\u2019t take long and Henri Desgrange offers him a position as a cycling reporter in his growing magazine L’Auto.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first Tour de France took place over 100 years ago, back in 1903. Do you know why the race […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":190039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[6505,4383,6504,5394,433,5459],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-190038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-georges-lefevre","tag-henri-desgrange","tag-history-of-the-tour-de-france","tag-lauto-velo","tag-tour-de-france","tag-tour-de-france-history","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Origin Story of the Tour de France - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The first Tour de France took place over 100 years ago, back in 1903. 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