France · Sport / Cycling. Chronological records rendered directly from the World History Database.
The plan was a five-week tour from May 31 to July 5; however, this proved too daunting, with only 15 entrants, so Desgrange cut the length to 19 days, changed the date to run from July 1 to 19, and offered a daily allowance which attracted 60 entrants. LAuto announces the 1st Tour de France
LAuto announces the 1st Tour de France
Desgrange is credited with founding the Tour de France in 1903 but the idea came from one of his journalists Geo Lefevre
The idea for a round stage race came from LAutos chief cycling journalist, 26-year-old Go Lefevre, he and the editor, Henri Desgrange then discussed it after lunch at what is now the TGI Friday bar in Montmartre in Paris.
who said he blurted out the idea because he felt under pressure to say something at a crisis meeting held at the newspapers headquarters at 10 rue faubourg Montmartre to resolve its poor circulation
All the major towns are begging for cycle races, and they are bound to go along with the idea."
Henri Desgrange then discussed it after lunch at what is now the TGI Friday bar in Montmartre in Paris.
Suggests "a several-day race, longer than anything now going on, something more on the order of a track six day race, only this time on the road.
The idea for a round stage race came from LAutos chief cycling journalist, 26-year-old George's Lefevre, he and the editor.
Geo Lefevre surveys the 1st Tour de France route and on 19 January 1903, just four days after losing the plagiarism suit to Giffard, Desgrange announced the race on the pages of the newly-christened L'Auto.
The Tour de France is announced for the 1st time.
The race was advertised as "the greatest cycling trial in the entire world.."
The route would last more than a month and run from Paris through Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, and Nantes before returning to Paris.
A race more than a month long: Paris to Lyon to Marseille to Toulouse to Bordeaux to Nantes to Paris"
Desgrange announced the race on the pages of the newly-christened lAuto. The race would be "the greatest cycling trial in the entire world.
Desgrange moved the race to July 1 to July 19, promised a five france per day living allowance to the first fifty riders and upped the prize money to 20,000 francs. 60 riders rose to the challenge.
Desgrange scheduled five weeks for this epic from May 31 to 5 July, specified "equal terms" (no pacers), an entry fee of twenty francs.
The conditions were deemed too hard, such that with a week to go, only fifteen had signed up for the event.
When Garin rode into Paris as winner, in front of a crowd of 20,000 paying spectators, Desgrange rushed out a special edition of lAuto, whose sales had rocketed to 130,000. The first running had been a resounding success
Promotion of the Tour de France proved a great success for the LAuto newspaper. Circulation leapt from 25,000 before the Tour to 65,000 after it. Follows the race as best he could, sometimes riding in the bunch on his bicycle, then catching a train to go ahead to see to the next checkpoint - a one-man, roving commissaire, organiser and reporter
A race more than a month long: Paris to Lyon to Marseille to Toulouse to Bordeaux to Nantes to Paris". Appointed Tour Director of the Tour de France
Desgrange scheduled five weeks for this epic from May 31 to 5 July, specified "equal terms" (no pacers), an entry fee of twenty francs. The conditions were deemed too hard, such that with a week to go, only fifteen had signed up for the event.
When Garin rode into Paris as winner, in front of a crowd of 20,000 paying spectators, Desgrange rushed out a special edition of lAuto, whose sales had rocketed to 130,000. The first running had been a resounding success.
Winner of the Tour de France, 1st ever winner
Follows the race as best he could, sometimes riding in the bunch on his bicycle, then catching a train to go ahead to see to the next checkpoint - a one-man, roving commissaire, organiser and reporter.
Promotion of the Tour de France proved a great success for the LAuto newspaper. Circulation leapt from 25,000 before the Tour to 65,000 after it.
Suggests the idea for the Tour de France at a meeting with Henri Desgrange, editor of the daily newspaper LAuto as a way to boost circulation. Desgrange recruited Lefevre from the rival daily sports paper, Le Velo, to work as his rugby and cycling correspondent
Winner of the Tour de France
Garin wins the 1904 Tour de France, by a small margin over Lucien Pothier, but was subsequently stripped of the title which was awarded to Henri Cornet
Winner of the Tour de France
Winner of the Tour de France
Winner of the Tour de France
The "Stade Velodrome Maurice Garin" was built in Lens, and named in Garins honour
Appointed Tour Director of the Tour de France
Winner of the Tour de France, 1st time
Winner of the Tour de France, 2nd time
Winner of the Tour de France, 3rd time
Winner of the Tour de France, 4th time
Winner of the Tour de France
Winner of the Tour de France
Winner of the Tour de France
Winner of the Tour de France
Appointed Tour Director of the Tour de France
Finishes second in the Tour de France when he loses to Greg Lemond by only eight seconds
Appointed Tour Director of the Tour de France
Appointed Tour Director of the Tour de France
Frankie Andreu and another unnamed teammate were reported to have made recent statements that they used EPO during the 1999 Tour de France
This factsheet is generated from stored World History Database records matching the country, broad category, detailed category and exact Event value shown above. Duplicate display records are collapsed; database wording is otherwise preserved. Source provenance varies by record, so formal academic citation should be checked against the relevant primary source, archive or specialist historical reference.