how long was the first tour de france

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The Birth of the Tour de France

By: Christopher Klein

Updated: May 8, 2023 | Original: June 28, 2013

On July 1, 1903, 60 men mounted their bicycles outside the Café au Reveil Matin in the Parisian suburb of Montgeron. The five-dozen riders were mostly French, with just a sprinkle of Belgians, Swiss, Germans and Italians. A third were professionals sponsored by bicycle manufacturers, the others were simply devotees of the sport. All 60 wheelmen, however, were united by the challenge of embarking on an unprecedented test of endurance—not to mention the 20,000 francs in prize money—in the inaugural Tour de France.

At 3:16 p.m., the cyclists turned the pedals of their bicycles and raced into the unknown.

Nothing like the Tour de France had ever been attempted before. Journalist Geo Lefevre had dreamt up the fanciful race as a stunt to boost the circulation of his struggling daily sports newspaper, L’Auto. Henri Desgrange, the director-editor of L’Auto and a former champion cyclist himself, loved the idea of turning France into one giant velodrome. They developed a 1,500-mile clockwise loop of the country running from Paris to Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes before returning to the French capital. There were no Alpine climbs and only six stages—as opposed to the 21 stages in the 2013 Tour— but the distances covered in each of them were monstrous, an average of 250 miles. (No single stage in the 2013 Tour tops 150 miles.) Between one and three rest days were scheduled between stages for recovery.

The first stage of the epic race was particularly dastardly. The route from Paris to Lyon stretched nearly 300 miles. No doubt several of the riders who wheeled away from Paris worried not about winning the race—but surviving it.

Unlike today’s riders, the cyclists in 1903 rode over unpaved roads without helmets. They rode as individuals, not team members. Riders could receive no help. They could not glide in the slipstream of fellow riders or vehicles of any kind. They rode without support cars. Cyclists were responsible for making their own repairs. They even rode with spare tires and tubes wrapped around their torsos in case they developed flats.

And unlike modern-day riders, the cyclists in the 1903 Tour de France, forced to cover enormous swathes of land, spent much of the race riding through the night with moonlight the only guide and stars the only spectators. During the early morning hours of the first stage, race officials came across many competitors “riding like sleepwalkers.”

Hour after hour through the night, riders abandoned the race. One of the favorites, Hippolyte Aucouturier, quit after developing stomach cramps, perhaps from the swigs of red wine he took as an early 1900s version of a performance enhancer.

Twenty-three riders abandoned the first stage of the race, but the one man who barreled through the night faster than anyone else was another pre-race favorite, 32-year-old professional Maurice Garin. The mustachioed French national worked as a chimney sweep as a teenager before becoming one of France’s leading cyclists. Caked in mud, the diminutive Garin crossed the finish line in Lyon a little more than 17 hours after the start outside Paris. In spite of the race’s length, he won by only one minute.

“The Little Chimney Sweep” built his lead as the race progressed. By the fifth stage, Garin had a two-hour advantage. When his nearest competitor suffered two flat tires and fell asleep while resting on the side of the road, Garin captured the stage and the Tour was all but won.

The sixth and final stage, the race’s longest, began in Nantes at 9 p.m. on July 18, so that spectators could watch the riders arrive in Paris late the following afternoon. Garin strapped on a green armband to signify his position as race leader. (The famed yellow jersey worn by the race leader was not introduced until 1919.) A crowd of 20,000 in the Parc des Princes velodrome cheered as Garin won the stage and the first Tour de France. He bested butcher trainee Lucien Pothier by nearly three hours in what remains the greatest winning margin in the Tour’s history. Garin had spent more than 95 hours in the saddle and averaged 15 miles per hour. In all, 21 of the 60 riders completed the Tour, with the last-place rider more than 64 hours behind Garin.

For Desgrange, the race was an unqualified success. Newspaper circulation soared six-fold during the race. However, a chronic problem that would perpetually plague the Tour de France was already present in the inaugural race—cheating. The rule-breaking started in the very first stage when Jean Fischer illegally used a car to pace him. Another rider was disqualified in a subsequent stage for riding in a car’s slipstream.

That paled in comparison, however, to the nefarious activity the following year in the 1904 Tour de France. As Garin and a fellow rider pedaled through St. Etienne, fans of hometown rider Antoine Faure formed a human blockade and beat the men until Lefevre arrived and fired a pistol to break up the melee. Later in the race, fans protesting the disqualification of a local rider placed tacks and broken glass on the course. The riders acted a little better. They hitched rides in cars during the dark and illegally took help from outsiders. Garin himself was accused of illegally obtaining food during a portion of one stage. The race was so plagued by scandal that four months later Desgrange disqualified Garin and the three other top finishers. It, of course, wouldn’t be the last time a Tour winner was stripped of his title.

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Finish of the First Tour de France

Maurice Garin won the first Tour de France, on July 19th, 1903, by a margin of almost three hours.

Products of the bicycling craze of the 1890s in France included an army regiment mounted on bicycles and numerous flourishing bicycle-connected businesses as well as a public appetite for races. Besides track events in ‘velodromes’, there were long-distance road races, from Paris to Vienna and St Petersburg, for instance, and from Paris to Rome. The Tour de France, which began as a newspaper circulation-booster, was an unexpected by-product of the Dreyfus Affair. In 1899 the bicycle newspaper Le Vélo , which sold 80,000 copies a day, ran a pro-Dreyfus piece that caused a fierce falling out with a major advertiser, the bicycle manufacturer Comte Dion. With other manufacturers, including Clément and Michelin, Dion started a rival sports sheet called L’Auto . The editor was Henri Desgranges, winner of the world one-hour record in 1893. When one of his assistants suggested a race round France, Desgranges saw the possibilities.

The first race in 1903 took nineteen days in six formidable stages, from Paris to Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes and back to Paris. The stages varied in length from 274km (170 miles) to as much as 467km (290 miles), with a total distance of just over 2400km (1,500 miles ). A parade of cars, festooned with advertising and throwing free samples to spectators, travelled two hours ahead of the cyclists. Of sixty competitors from France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland, including professional team riders and freelance amateurs, twenty-one finished the gruelling course and the race was won by a Frenchman, Maurice Garin, ‘the Little Chimney-Sweep’, by a margin of close to three hours. The last finisher came in two days behind.

Garin also won the second race in 1904, but he and the next three finishers were all disqualified for cheating. The early races were notorious for mayhem. Riders strewed broken glass and nails in the road to cause punctures behind them, competitors were given drinks that made them sick, many got surreptitious tows from cars or motorbikes, some were held up and delayed by hired thugs. The excitement was intense and L’Auto ’s circulation more than doubled. Le Vélo went bankrupt.

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The Tour de France: A Brief History

The Tour de France is an undeniably remarkable cycling event that encourages riders from all over the globe to stretch their personal physical limits and resilience.

Beginning with the first edition in 1903, the race has been through many changes, such as adding new stages and routes, and has become the massive race we know today.

In this blog, we will explore the history of this thrilling race, including the early years, the golden age where French and Italian cyclists dominated, and the modern era of cycling. It’s an inspiring journey that celebrates human achievement’s incredible power.

Humble Beginnings

The Tour de France was an incredibly audacious venture brought to life by Henri Desgrange, editor of the French sports newspaper L’Auto from 1900-1932.

Inspired by his background in cycling and organising sports events, Desgrange saw great promise in the six-day races in the United States and decided to take a chance to do something even more remarkable – a multi-stage race around France!

So it all started with Desgrange’s race announcement in January 1903. Fast forward half a year, and the first race kicked off with six stages and 2,428 km of terrain to cover in 19 days.

It was a thrilling challenge of stamina, with riders overcoming tough terrain and unpredictable weather conditions. 60 riders embarked on the race, and only 21 completed it.

Maurice Garin, a Frenchman, emerged victorious, winning three stages and finishing over two hours ahead of the runner-up and fellow Frenchman, Hippolyte Aucouturier.

The Early Years

The wild ride begins, full of controversy, discontent, and chaos. Riders resorted to cheating and sabotage in a desperate attempt to gain an edge. At the same time, the race organisers worked fruitlessly to maintain order.

The government suspended the race during World War I and II. Yet, it still managed to experience tremendous growth in popularity.

Race organisers added new stages, new riders emerged as stars, and the race helped establish cycling as a major global sport.

The first official Tour de France race takes place, consisting of six stages covering 2,428 km. Maurice Garin of France wins the race.

Mountain stages are introduced, with riders navigating the Pyrenees and the Alps.

The Tour’s organisers introduced the yellow jersey to allow spectators to identify the race’s leader quickly.

However, it was in mid-July 1919, almost a month into the race, that the jersey was awarded.

Before the yellow jersey was introduced, the race leader would wear a green armband to signal their position.

What does the yellow jersey mean?

Organisers introduced the yellow jersey (Malliot jaune) as a means for spectators to identify the race leader quickly. Organisers introduced the yellow jersey (Malliot jaune) as a means for spectators to identify the race leader quickly.

However, in mid-July 1919, almost a month into the race, they awarded the jersey.

During the Dreyfus affair , a major political scandal in France, the cost of advertising space in a leading sports paper skyrocketed, causing advertisers to become unhappy.

Advertisers withdrew their support in response to the rising cost of advertising and dissatisfaction with the paper’s support of Dreyfus. Instead, they backed the rival publication L’Auto, funded by the same advertisers.

Interestingly, L’Auto used yellow newsprint, leading some to speculate that the iconic yellow colour of the Tour de France’s yellow jersey was to match the distinctive colour in the paper purposely.

The Golden Age

The golden age of the Tour de France was a time of unparalleled greatness. French and Italian cyclists reveled in glory and became the source of national pride.

People were out in droves, cheering their heroes on and relishing their country’s great success.

It was a breathtaking sight – all around, people seemed to have come out of their homes in masses, the air thick with their passionate cheers in honour of the cycling champions, a unified spirit of love and admiration for their nation reigning strong.

Golden moments

Gino Bartali, an Italian cyclist, had a moment of glory when he achieved his second victory.

This monumental achievement was met with extreme joy from the Italian people, especially after the sorrow following the end of World War II. His victory is heroic, and he remains celebrated as a national hero in Italy.

The world held its breath as Frenchman Louison Bobet accomplished unprecedented greatness.

Bobet made history with his remarkable feat of becoming the first rider ever to win three consecutive races, an incredible accomplishment that set him apart and pushed the boundaries of what others believe can be achieved.

The legendary Jacques Anquetil rose to the challenge and achieved the impossible!

His feat of a record-breaking 5th win is a remarkable testament to his skill and unyielding dedication, making him one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen!

His accomplishment will forever be remembered and celebrated.

The Modern Era

The Tour de France of today looks drastically different from the humble event that began in France many years ago.

Just think, what was once a mere French event is now a global phenomenon, attracting riders from all corners of the world, each showing remarkable finesse and high competition standards.

Unforgettable highlights

The triumphs of French rider Laurent Fignon in 1983 and 1984 were legendary!

Famed for his daring and unorthodox approach to cycling, Fignon utilised aerodynamic equipment and a low riding position for a unique advantage over his competitors.

His feats of cycling prowess remain the stuff of legends.

The cycling world was devastated by the doping scandal, with multiple riders testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

This led to urgent action from race organisers, taking necessary steps to prevent further cheating and bringing in stricter testing protocols and punishments for cyclists who violate the rules.

What an incredible moment for Australia when Cadel Evans, who had already tasted defeat twice in 2007 and 2008, finally won in 2011! This victory had a lasting impact on cycling in Australia, inspiring a new generation of riders and cycling enthusiasts.

The legend continues

The Tour de France stands head and shoulders above other sporting events – its real presence on the world stage continues its strength.

It remains the go-to competition for top cyclists worldwide, a gruelling challenge that tests every aspect of their skill and strength.

People come from near and far to witness this awe-inspiring event, and it continues to captivate the hearts and minds of millions across the globe.

New routes and stages

In recent years, organisers have updated the course design to make the race even more exciting and captivating, including the following:

On this historic day, the 109th edition marked its inaugural start in Yorkshire, England, thus beginning a new era for the world-renowned race.

Following the English Channel crossing, the riders continued through France, with a challenging mountain stage in the Vosges and a grand finale on the towering Puy-de-Dôme volcano.

The Tour de France included a particularly difficult stage that ended with a climb up the iconic Mont Ventoux. An unfortunate motorbike incident occurred at Challet Reynard near the summit.

Several riders, including overall race winner Chris Froome, had to run with their bikes to complete the stage.

The twenty-first stage provided a thrilling conclusion as riders faced a challenging ascent of the Col du Portet in the Pyrenees, with steep inclines and decreased oxygen levels at higher altitudes.

The race began in the enchanted region of Brittany and culminated in the City of Love – Paris, as is tradition! Yet, this year the cyclists were presented with new obstacles, including:

• The daunting Mont Ventoux
• The steep ascent up the Col du Portet in the Pyrenees!

With a booming start from Copenhagen, the 2022 tour began its epic 3,328km journey through Belgium, France and the Alps.

After battling six gruelling mountain stages and five altitude finishes, riders faced their final challenges in the Pyrenees mountains before the action-packed final stage on the Champs-Elysées in Paris.

This is a testament to how passionate the organisers are about creating a challenging and beautiful route that celebrates the diverse landscape of France and surrounding countries.

Experience the Ultimate Tour de France Tour

We are absolutely in love with France – the people, its unique art and culture, its incredible food and wine , its long and fascinating history, the beautiful outdoors, the magnificent mountains and its unparalleled enthusiasm for the world’s biggest sporting event.

We are excited to show you the dream Tour de France experience, including our loop rides of:

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View our Ultimate Tour de France cycling tour details for more information on an experience you won’t forget!

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1903 Tour de France

1st edition: july 1 to july 18, 1903, results, stages with running gc, startlist, photos and history.

1904 Tour | Tour de France Database | 1903 Tour Quick Facts | 1903 Tour de France Final GC | Stage results with running GC | startlist | The Story of the 1903 Tour de Franc e |

Map of the 1903 Tour de France

Les Woodland's book Dirty Feet: How the great unwashed created the Tour de France is available as an audiobook here .

1903 Tour Quick Facts:

2,428 km raced at an average speed of 25.68 km/hr.

60 starters and 21 classified finishers

Henri Desgrange , editor of L'Auto ( ancestor to today's l'Equipe) , was desperate to find a way to win a circulation war with competing sports newspaper Le Vélo . The Tour de France was suggested to Desgrange as a sales promotion. It was to be like a Six-Day race, only on the road. The race was an instant hit. L'Auto's circulation soared and Desgrange went down in history as the father of the greatest sporting event in the world.

Note that in the first edition the stages are staggeringly long. The races would have to start in the dark in order to finish stages that could take over 17 hours to complete.

A few of notes about the early Tours. Distances are approximate. Riders could abandon a stage and still start the next stage and compete for stage prizes but they were out of the race for the General Classification.

There are many different times recorded for the early Tour. Pothier's 2hr 59min 2sec second-place margin is the one given in the Tour's official centennial book.

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1903 Tour de France final complete General Classification

Rider's nationality is listed if his sponsor is not known

1903 Tour stage results and running General Classification

Stage 1: Wednesday, July 1, Paris - Lyon, 467 km

GC after Stage 1: GC times and places same as stage 1 results

Stage 2: Sunday, July 5, Lyon - Marseille, 374 km

GC after Stage 2: 1. Maurice Garin 2. Leon Georget @ 8min 52sec 3. Fernand Augereau @ 1hr 34min

Stage 3: Wednesday, July 8, Marseille - Toulouse, 423 km

GC after Stage 3: 1. Maurice Garin 2. Leon Georget @ 1hr 58min 53sec 3. Lucien Pothier @ 2hr 58min 1sec

Stage 4: Sunday, July 12, Toulouse - Bordeaux, 268 km

Stage 5: Monday, July 13, Bordeaux - Nantes, 425 km

GC after Stage 5: 1. Maurice Garin 2. Lucien Pothier @ 2hr 58min 1sec 3. Fernand Augereau @ 4hr 29min 14sec

6th and Final Stage: Saturday, July 18, Nantes - Paris, 471 km

Roster of Starting Riders

The Story of the 1903 Tour de France

This excerpt is from "The Story of the Tour de France", Volume 1 If you enjoy it we hope you will consider purchasing the book, either print or electronic. The Amazon link here will make either purchase easy.

1903. Just days after it lost the lawsuit, on Jan 19, 1903, L'Auto announced the first Tour de France. It was to be "the greatest cycling trial in the entire world. A race more than a month long: Paris to Lyon to Marseille to Toulouse to Bordeaux to Nantes to Paris." The first schedule was for a 5-week race with a May 31 start and a finish in Paris on July 5. The winner would be the racer with the lowest elapsed time racing after the 6 stages. This total time was and still is called the "General Classification".

With a week to go before the start only 15 riders were signed up. As a sign of the adaptability and willingness to change that has always characterized the Tour, Desgrange shortened and re-scheduled the race to a July 1 start and July 18 finish. There would be 2 to 4 rest days between each of the stages except for stage 4, which would be held the day after the 268-kilometer third stage. To attract more riders, expense money of 5 francs a day was promised to the first 50 racers who signed up and a 20,000 franc purse of prize money was dangled.

Desgrange got his first peloton. 60 riders departed from the now famous Cafe au Réveil-Matin in Montgeron on the southern outskirts of Paris at 3:16 PM, July 1. Of these, 21 were sponsored or professional racers. In the pack, there were a few racers who competed under a pseudonym. Racing was a sketchy business and not always held in high repute. Julien Lootens raced the 1903 Tour as Samson . Later Lucien Mazan would compete in the Tour as Petit-Breton .

Lefèvre, only 26 at the time, traveled with the race while Desgrange remained in Paris. Desgrange stationed men along the way, sometimes hidden, to make sure that the riders rode the entire route. They rode 6 stages totaling a staggering 2,428 kilometers.

Desgrange, from the very beginning, wanted his race to be a superhuman test of an individual's endurance and strength. He banned pacers from his race except for the final stage. At the time, racers employed lines of pacers to lead them, much as a protected professional rider uses his team today. At the time this was quite a change from the norm and many, including eventual winner Maurice Garin, doubted that it would work.

Maurice Garin, riding the red, white and blue tricolor bike of his sponsor, La Française, won the first stage of the first Tour, beating Émile Pagie by 55 seconds. The first stage, from Paris to Lyon, was 467 kilometers long, and it took a cruel 17 hours 45 minutes, riding both day and night, for Garin to finish. Only 37 riders were able to complete the day's racing. The 37th rider took more than 20 hours longer than Garin to get to Lyon. Hippolyte Aucouturier, one of the favorites, had to drop out with stomach cramps.

Today, that abandonment would put an end to his Tour. Back then, a racer was allowed to race for stage wins even if he had failed to finish a previous stage, which Aucouturier did. A racer who failed to finish a stage was out of contention for the overall lead. Pagie, the victim of a crash in the second stage had to abandon the Tour. He never rode the Tour again.

On the first stage, a racer was caught cheating. Jean Fischer was seen pacing behind a car. I haven't found any particular record of a sanction for this breach of the rules. If Desgrange could have known what 1904 was to bring, perhaps he would have made an example of Fischer.

Aucouturier, who was quite revived after dropping out of the first stage, won the second and third stages, from Lyon to Marseilles and Marseilles to Toulouse. Garin maintained his lead, by this time almost 2 hours over second place Léon Georget who would drop out of the race in stage 5. Garin won the penultimate stage, still in the lead.

On July 19, 21 of the 60 finished. The 20,000 spectators at Paris' Parc de Princes velodrome saw Maurice Garin win the final stage and win the Tour. The final finisher came in over two days later. While the famed "Yellow Jersey" worn by the man leading the Tour would not be adopted until 1919, Garin was given a green armband to signify his lead during the 1903 Tour, and the Lanterne Rouge or Red Lantern was used to designate the rider in last place. Arsène Millocheau has the dubious fame of being the first Lanterne Rouge by coming in at 64 hours, 57 minutes, 8 seconds behind Garin in total time.

Garin, riding for the powerful La Française team, was nicknamed "the Chimney-Sweep" for his occupation before he became an accomplished professional bicycle racer. He won the first stage and held the lead throughout the Tour. His win was no accident. He was by far the finest and strongest racer in the Tour. He was already a two-time winner of Paris-Roubaix as well as a victor of Bordeaux-Paris and Paris-Brest-Paris.

Garin pocketed 6,125 francs for his exploit, enough to buy a gas station where he worked the rest of his life after retiring from racing. To this day, a gas station still stands on the spot of Garin's old station. But as Les Woodland noted in The Unknown Tour de France , no one working there has any idea about the importance of the former owner of the site. Garin is quite forgotten.

Adjusting for currency and inflation across a century is highly inaccurate, but those 6,000 francs Garin won should be something like $40,000 in U.S. dollars. Garin's winning margin of 2 hours and 49 minutes remains the largest in Tour history. The first Tour at 2,428 kilometers remains the second shortest ever. The 1904 Tour was shorter than the 1903 version by 8 kilometers. The average speed for this first Tour was 25.679 kilometers per hour. The 50th Anniversary Tour in 1953 averaged 34.593 kilometers per hour and the speed of the Centennial 2003 Tour was 40.94 kilometers per hour. There were dramatic changes in equipment, training, roads, diet, Tour rules and sometimes even doping over the next 100 years that made this increase possible.

The Tour was a fantastic success. Circulation of L'Auto boomed. 130,000 copies were printed for the final stage (an increase of 100,000). Le Vélo went out of business and the Tour de France was born. Desgrange, knowing talent when he saw it, hired Giffard to write for L'Auto.

Final 1903 Tour de France General Classification:

© McGann Publishing

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The First Tour de France (1903)

The 2013 Tour de France marks the 100th of the event's history, which began in 1903 (the competition was put on hold during the two world wars). Strangely, this inaugural event of 1903 had it's origins in one of France's greatest political scandals - the Dreyfuss Affair. In 1894 a young French artillery officer of Jewish descent, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, was convicted of high treason but then, years later, was proven to be innocent in the light of new evidence, evidence which the military attempted to suppress. The ensuing debate over Dreyfuss' innocence, and the wider issues of anti-semitism in which it was embedded, divided the nation. One such division occurred within France's most popular cycling magazine L'Velo , causing it to split into two when an anti-Dreyfuss contingent broke away to form L'Auto-Velo . L'Velo 's owner won a court case forcing L'Auto-Velo to change their name, which they did, to L'Auto , a move which saw their sales subsequently plummet. In an effort to boost their waning popularity, and win back their cycling fans, L'Auto set up the Tour de France in 1903. It was a hugely successful campaign which caused their sales to increase 6-fold during and after the race and, eventually, pushed L'Velo into bankruptcy.

The 1903 competition was run only in six fairly flat stages, unlike the mountainous 21 stage event it would grow to become, however, each of these 1903 stages were extraordinarily long, with an average distance of over 400 km (250 mi), more than double the distance of today's. 60 cyclists, all professionals or semi-professionals, started the race, of whom 49 were French, 4 Belgian, 4 Swiss, 2 German, and one was Italian, Maurice Garin, the pre-race favourite who eventually went on to win the event. Garin would go onto also win the next year's race only to then be disqualified along with eight other riders for cheating including the illegal use of cars and trains.

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• 20th Century

The winning scene at the finish of the first Tour. In the middle on the right: the winner, Maurice Garin, to his left: most likely Leon Georget - Source

Advertising poster for the event - Source

The first kilometre in the history of the Tour de France - Source

Marcel Kerff - Source

The finish in Bordeaux, which saw the first ever foreign winner of a stage, the Swiss Charles Laeser - Source

Lucien Pothier - Source

The winner Maurice Garin - Source

Jul 18, 2013

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The First Tour de France of 1903 Through Fascinating Historical Photos

First held in 1903, the Tour de France came about as a publicity stunt dreamed up by newspaper journalists. A ragtag bunch of cyclists set off from outside a bar on the outskirts of Paris. The Tour was transformed into a race with iconic leaders’ jerseys and a wanderlust that took it to the farthest corners of France.

The editor of L’Auto (the precursor of today’s l’Equipe) was desperate to find a way to win the circulation war with Le Vélo. The Tour de France was proposed to Desgrange as a sales promotion. The race was to last for five weeks, from 1 June to 5 July. The entry fee was 20 francs. The conditions attracted a minimal number of cyclists: only 15 had registered one week before the race was due to begin. The event was then rescheduled from 1 to 19 July, the prize money increased to 20,000 francs, the entry fee was lowered to 10 francs, and the first 50 cyclists in the classification were guaranteed at least five francs a day. In the end, 79 cyclists registered for the race, 60 of whom actually started it.

The 1903 Tour de France had six stages. A typical stage race distance was over 400 km, which is exceptionally long compared to modern stage races. Between each stage, cyclists had one to three rest days. The route was essentially flat, with one mountainous stage. Cyclists did not race in teams but as individuals. Cycling professionals often hired pacers to lead them during races in 1903. After the fifth stage, Desgrange decided not to allow pacers. It was initially planned to allow pacers in the final, longest stage. Stewards were stationed at various points to ensure that cyclists rode the entire route. There was no yellow jersey for the leader in the general classification, but a green armband identified the leader.

The race featured sixty cyclists, all professionals or semi-professionals, of which 49 were French, 4 Belgian, 4 Swiss, 2 Germans, and one Italian; 21 of them had sponsors, while 39 didn’t have any. Maurice Garin won the first stage and retained the lead throughout. He also won the last two stages and had a three-hour margin over the next cyclist. In addition to champagne, the riders rode to Parc des Princes, where they made several laps of honor in front of an adoring crowd over the sounds of a bugle.

After the race was over, a special edition of 130,000 copies was printed, and the normal circulation increased from 25,000 to 65,000 copies. After the immense success of 1904, the Tour de France was scheduled again for 1905. In addition to winning the next year’s race, Garin would be disqualified along with eight other riders for cheating, including using cars and trains illegally. The cyclists had also become national heroes.

#1 The winning scene at the finish of the first Tour.

In the middle on the right: the winner, Maurice Garin, to his left: most likely Leon Georget.

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#2 The riders get ready to start. Note that what constitutes effective cycle clothing hadn’t been settled.

#3 Advertising poster for the event.

#4 The first kilometer in the history of the Tour de France.

#6 The ancient bidon and the feeding zone.

#7 Marcel Kerff.

#8 The first stage finish line in Lyon.

#9 The finish in Bordeaux, which saw the first-ever foreign winner of a stage, the Swiss Charles Laeser.

#10 Maurice Garin, in his trademark white coat and flat cap racing in the 1903 Tour.

#11 Maurice Garin is greeted by enthusiastic fans.

#12 Leon Georget signs in under the watchful eye of an official.

To minimize cheating riders signed in a stops along each stage.

#13 Willie Hume.

#14 The winner Maurice Garin.

#15 Lucien Pothier.

#16 The 1903 Tour de France winner Maurice Garin.

#17 Maurice Garin pictured after his victory in the first stage.

#18 Maurice Garin.

#19 The Tour De France became a tradition. Pictured here are the cyclists in 1906.

Written by Alicia Linn

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Everything you need to know about cycling in France your independent guide

The first-ever Tour de France

In this extract from a race for madmen , chris sidwells says the first ever tour de france riders were racing the unknown for almost 2,500km..

Au Reveil Matin, the cafe in Montgeron where the first Tour started in 1903. Photo: Offside/L’Equipe

The first Tour de France was 2,428 kilometres long, split into six stages with between two and four days of rest between each one. You don’t have to be a mathematician to work out that 2,428 divided by six means a lot of kilometres per stage: the shortest was 268 kilometres and the longest 471. Two or three days between stages were not only needed for the top men to recover, but for the stragglers to finish. The last man on the first stage was on the road for ten hours short of two days!

And no wonder. The riders had to make over 480 kilometres on highways of hammered stone chips, or country roads rutted by cart wheels and pock-marked by livestock. If it was hot, the roads were iron hard and covered with choking dust. If it rained, they became a sea of mud.

Then there were the bikes. Steel frames and handlebars, wooden wheel rims and big balloon tyres. Brakes worked by pulling a lever so a steel rod pushed a leather pad directly on to the tyre tread. The bikes were heavy, 15 kilograms or more, and they had just one gear. Well, they had two, but the rider had to stop and remove the rear wheel to place the chain on the other sprocket.

It would be tough. The 78 men who finally signed up for the whole Tour – a few extra riders elected to ride a single stage that was local to them – were racing into the unknown. They were a mix of racing stars and have-a-go heroes. A few raced under pseudonyms because the pro riders were a rough breed of mercenaries and some participants, who maybe came from posh families, didn‘t want their real names to be known. The one that stands out most on the start list was a Belgian who called himself Samson.

In the end 60 entrants came to the start outside a café called Au Reveil Matin in Montgeron, which is now part of Paris but was then a small satellite town. It was three o’clock in the afternoon on 1 July 1903. The café is still there, on the Rue Jean-Jaurès, and a plaque outside it records the first Tour. There have been changes during the intervening 106 years, but it is still a working café and restaurant. The surprise, though, is that there are no souvenirs from the first Tour de France – they have all been stolen.

A Race For Madmen: The Extraordinary History of the Tour de France , by Chris Sidwells, is out now.

Read more from A Race for Madmen

The birth of the Tour de France The birth of the famous Yellow Jersey The Tour de France goes into the mountains The 1910 Tour de France: Taking on the Pyrenées

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18 Photographs of the Very First Tour de France in 1903

The Tour de France was founded in 1903 to promote L’Auto, the ancestor of the current newspaper L’Équipe. What is today without a doubt the biggest celebration of cycling in the world was a much, much smaller event back at the beginning of the 20th century. It consisted of just six stages but those six were extraordinarily long, with the average distance of over 400 kilometres. That’s why the riders had to have 1-3 days off between those long rides and the whole Tour ran from 1st to 19th of July. The stages were almost completely flat, just one of them featured a significant mountain.

You can check out the unique atmosphere from the beginning of this huge cycling phenomenon in the photographs below.

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The first Tour de France

The first Tour de France – the world’s greatest bicycle race – took place in 1903. Created by Henri Desgrange, the editor of L’Auto, and George Lefèvre, the rugby and cycling reporter, to help publicise and improve circulation of this sports newspaper, the first event was a six-stage race covering 2428km. The riders left Paris for Lyon, then cycled on to Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, and finally back to Paris. The average stage distance was 405km, which meant the competitors had to cycle nights as well as days! They also had to carry out their own repairs if necessary.

Cycling the Route des Grandes Alpes

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Guidebook to cycling the 720km Route des Grandes Alpes through south-eastern France. From Lake Geneva to Mediterranean Nice via numerous high Alpine passes, taking in the Vanoise, Écrins and Mercantour National Parks, the route is challenging, although entirely on roads. However, with plenty of charging points, it is well suited to eBikes.

Maurice Garin won that first Tour in front of 20,000 Parisiens, and L’Auto’s circulation quadrupled, heralding the birth of something very special. Yet the following year’s Tour was almost the last, with many riders cheating by catching trains on occasion and even sabotaging each other’s bicycles. Fortunately the organisers decided to stage the race again in 1905 with more concrete rules and they introduced the first mountain stage, the Ballon d’Alsace. Desgrange added a stage through the Pyrénées in 1910, and one in the Alps a year later. By now the Tour had more than doubled in overall distance and number of stages, but the average stage distance was still frighteningly long at 356km.

The yellow jersey

Immediately after World War I Desgrange introduced the yellow jersey (maillot jaune). He chose this colour for two reasons: the roadside spectators could pick out the race leader easily and, perhaps more significantly, L’Auto was printed on yellow paper. Eugene Christophe was the first man to don the yellow jersey on 18 July 1919. The first Italian to win the Tour – previously dominated by the French and Belgians – was Ottavio Bottecchia in 1924. He notched up another victory the following year.

The longest-ever race in Tour history took place in 1926, covering a total distance of 5745km. Such monstrous rides had become a thing of the past by the early 1930s when the Tour was opened to other advertisers, coverage was broadcasted live on the radio, and French riders won the race six years in a row. In 1937 the first derailleurs were allowed in the Tour de France. A year later the Italian cyclist Gino Bartali won the Tour, then won it again 10 years later in 1948 at the age of 34. Bartali was physically assaulted on the Col d’Aspin in the Tour of 1950, but went on to win the stage before he and his Italian team-mates (including Fausto Coppi, the 1949 victor) withdrew in protest.

Tough climbs and tragedy

Two of the toughest climbs of the Tour de France were introduced in the early 1950s: Mont Ventoux in 1951 and l’Alpe d’Huez in 1952. Coppi won the first historic stage of l’Alpe d’Huez, and then went on to win the Tour that year. French riders, including Louison Bobet and Jacques Anquetil, dominated the next five Tours, and the great Spanish climber Federico Bahamontes won the 1959 event. Anquetil went on to win four consecutive Tours between 1961 and 1964, becoming the first of only five riders to notch up more than three victories to date. The Tour’s most recent tragic fatality occurred in 1995, when Fabio Casartelli crashed at 88 km/h (55 mph) while descending the Col de Portet d'Aspet, while previously in 1967 Tom Simpson collapsed near the summit of Mont Ventoux, and Francesco Capeda died on the Galibier in 1935.

The Belgian Eddy Merckx became the second man to win five Tours (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1974), subsequently matched by Bernard Hinault (1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985). Laurent Fignon, winner of two Tours, and Greg Lemond, the first American to win a Tour in 1986, battled against each other for victory in Paris in 1989. It came down to the final time-trial in the capital, which Lemond famously won by the slimmest of margins in the history of the Tour de France: 8 seconds! The 2017 Tour has set most of the General Classification contenders within seconds of each other for much of the three week race.

The early 1990s belonged to one man in particular, Miguel Indurain. He won five Tours in a row from 1991 and 1995 and, like Lemond, was strong in all disciplines.

The rise and fall of Lance Armstrong

During Indurain's reign another American was emerging; Lance Armstrong won a stage in the 1993 and 1995 Tours. Diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996, Armstrong was given a slim chance of living, since it had also spread to various parts of his body and brain. Following an operation and painful chemotherapy, he fought back with a vengeance and won the 1999 Tour de France. He never looked back, joined the élite club of Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault and Indurain by winning five Tours... and then went two better. However, he had these winnings stripped after a lengthy doping investigation.

British winners of the Tour

Despite, ahem, a slow start, Britain has, in recent years, become a major player in the Tour. Brits have dominated since Bradley Wiggins of team Sky became the first British rider to win in 2012. After "Wiggo" broke the lengthy losing streak Chris Froome has won the Tour four times, in 2013, 2015, 2016 and again in 2017.

Sprinter Mark Cavendish , known as 'the Manx Missile' from the Isle of Man, holds the record for the most mass finish stage wins with 30 as of stage 14 in 2016.

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July 20, 2023

On the first of July, 1903, Henri Desgrange wrote, “L’Auto, newspaper of ideas and action, will from today send across France those insouciant and hearty sowers of energy, the professional road racers,” and splashed it across his paper’s front page.

That day, one of the most popular sporting events in the world was born. Today, the Tour de France is watched by over a billion people every July. In France, it is a national summer festival that travels from region to region across the country for most of a month. Crowds wait in every town, city, and village that the Tour passes through to see the peloton and enjoy leisurely picnics with family and friends. They throng to the high mountain passes in the Pyrénées and Alps where the race is often decided, climbing them on foot or on bike, or camping for days ahead of time, to see their favorite cyclists race up France’s great cols. They cheer until the last rider passes them.

It all started with a crazy idea conceived in a Parisian restaurant. A reporter named Géo Lefevre convinced his editor Desgrange to put on the race over a long lunch. The Tour should be six stages, like the track races that were so popular in those days, but with rest days in between, he said, since the riders would be riding incredible distances. They would invite the most famous road racers of the time and anyone brave enough to take on the first Tour de France.

Sixty riders took to the start at the Café au Reveil Matin on the outskirts of Paris that first morning. Standing there in the early-dawn cool, they had only an idea in front of them — an idea of a nation and race that would take them around it, a race that no one yet knew if anyone could finish.

At the time, most people in France rarely traveled beyond their own department. Most spoke their own regional dialect. None of the racers could have imagined the work ahead of him, the strain the countryside would inflict on his body, the exhaustion he’d sink into, as he struggled over the land on a heavy steel, single speed bike.

Only 21 of those first 60 starters reached the finish 2,428 kilometers later, after circumnavigating France from Paris to Lyon to Marseille to Toulouse to Bordeaux to Nantes and back to Paris in stages that ranged from 270 to 470 kilometers.

For each of those finishers, France became real during the Tour. They saw its fields with their own eyes, felt its heat rise up from the road, encountered its people in every village and city they passed through, a people who were still just beginning to think of themselves as French.

Every day, Desgrange’s reporters sent dispatches from the race back to the capital, which were published in the next morning’s paper. L’Auto’s readership jumped from 25,000 per day to more than 130,000, encouraging the paper to invest in a second edition of the Tour the following summer, which began a cycle that continued for the next century and onwards, interrupted only by the two world wars.

During that long century, Desgrange and Lefevere’s race became a national institution, an indispensable feature of the French summer vacation.

Now, July means Le Tour for the rest of the world as well.

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A history of foreign starts at the Tour de France

As Copenhagen marks the 24th foreign Grand Départ, we take a look back at memorable starts through the years

Friday's Tour de France Grand Départ in the Danish capital of Copenhagen will mark the 24th time the race has kicked off with a start outside of its home country, a tradition dating back all the way to 1954.

The 2022 Tour start will be the most far-flung yet, even if it doesn't quite match up to the Giro d'Italia's starts in Greece and Israel over the years. It's the first time the race – or any Grand Tour – has started in Denmark.

Over the past 68 years, the Tour has begun in almost every major western Europe country, barring Italy (which could host the 2024 Grand Départ ). The likes of Switzerland, Ireland, Germany, and Spain have all hosted Tour starts in that time.

This weekend, the peloton will take in three stages in Denmark, with a time trial and two sprints on the menu before they fly back to the north of France on Monday. Ahead of the 2022 start and all the action that lies ahead, we've taken a look back at some of the most memorable Grand Départs of years gone by.

1954: Amsterdam, Netherlands

The 1954 Tour would eventually be won by Louison Bobet, the second victory of the first Tour three-peat. The Frenchman was already on the podium on stage 2, winning as the peloton raced from the Flemish city of Beveren to Lille in northern France.

A day earlier, the race had kicked off in Amsterdam, where Dutch rider Wout Wagtmans gave the home crowds something to celebrate as he took the second of four career stage victories at the race just over the Belgian border in Brasschaat.

Massive crowds lined the roads for the opener, which saw Wagtmans attack to the win late on, just about holding off the peloton. He would hold yellow for three days before ceding it to Bobet, and later enjoyed another four days in the lead as the race snaked down to the Pyrenees. (DO)

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1973: Scheveningen, Netherlands

Joop Zoetemelk had already stood on the final Tour de France podium on two occasions before he had the opportunity to start the 1973 Tour – his fourth – at home, just minutes away from his hometown of The Hague.

He hadn't won a stage of the race by this point, having already accrued two runner-up spots in addition to his two overall second places, but pulled out all the stops on home ground for the short 7.1km prologue.

Under 10 minutes after setting off, Zoetemelk would have his first career Tour stage win, getting the beating of 'the eternal second' Raymond Poulidor by just one second.

He'd end the race fourth overall, and would have to wait seven more years to seal the yellow jersey, while the 1973 race spent three more (half) stages working its way across the Netherlands and Belgium, including a mini 12.4km time trial. (DO)

1987: West Berlin, Germany

By the late 1980s, the Tour was regularly visiting neighbouring countries for Grand Départs, with three in the Netherlands, two apiece in Belgium, and West Germany, and one in Switzerland.

1987 brought a third start in West Germany, and what would be the final visit to the country before reunification. It would be the most far-flung Tour start at the time, and there would be a full five days of racing in Germany before the race even hit the border and returned to France.

A 6km prologue on the opening day brought glory for Dutchman Jelle Nijdam, who utilised two disc wheels to take the win by three seconds as eventual race winner Stephen Roche rounded out the top three.

Nijdam's countryman Nico Verhoeven won stage 1, sprinting home from a small breakaway group, while Roche's Carrera Jeans squad beat Saronni's Del Tongo in the stage 2 time trial.

Portuguese rider Acácio Da Silva and solo breakaway man Herman Frison won stage 3 and 4 into Stuttgart and Pforzheim before the race headed to Strasbourg on stage 5, concluding what would be the last Grand Départ in Germany for three decades. (DO)

1992: San Sebastián, Spain

While the Vuelta a España was at this point in the midst of what would be a 33-year avoidance of the Basque Country (the race returned in 2011), the Tour chose the region to host its first Spanish Grand Départ three decades ago.

The prologue was overshadowed by a bombing in an underground car park in Fuenterrabia the night before, a reminder of the tensions in the region that saw the Vuelta stay away.

The race itself, however, went off without any such problems, and was instead a celebration of reigning champion Miguel Indurain, who hailed from the town of Villava in the eastern Basque Country.

The Banesto leader duly pleased the home crowds with a victory in the 8km prologue, beating ONCE's Alex Zülle by two seconds. Indurain would cede the lead to the Swiss rider on the first road stage a day later, though he'd be back in yellow in the Alps en route to a dominant four-minute overall victory. (DO)

1998: Dublin, Ireland

The 1998 Tour start in Ireland was not completely overshadowed by the Festina scandal that almost caused the entire race to grind to a halt, but the storm clouds were looming fast.

Festina soigneur Willy Voet had been arrested earlier that week on the French border with a trunkload of doping products in his car, the team had already gone into full denial mode over his whereabouts, and riders were already pouring their doping products down the wash-basins and toilets of their hotels.

Given the meltdown that then unfolded in that Tour, with the glorious gift of hindsight it almost seemed irrelevant that Chris Boardman claimed his third Tour prologue win in five years on a rain=soaked Dublin Friday evening. Or indeed that Boardman, while in the leader’s jersey, then crashed out en route to Cork and the ferries assembled to take the race back to France that evening.

But at the time, the massive crowds that lined the route in Dublin despite the weather, and again on the stages taking the race inland that followed, seemed to hold out hope that the Tour start in Ireland would be remembered as a success. But that was all quickly eclipsed by what unfolded in France. (AF)

2007: London, United Kingdom

Pre-empting the British cycling explosion that saw the founding of Team Sky, the 2012 Olympic Games, and the rise to superstardom of Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas, and Chris Froome, the Tour headed to Britain for the first time 15 years ago.

The home start came a year too early for Cavendish, who broke out with four stages in 2008, though time triallists Wiggins and David Millar – as well as Liquigas domestique Charly Wegelius and Barloworld neo-pro Thomas were also holding up the home end.

Wiggins and Millar were both among the favourites for the opening prologue around the streets of central London, though it was Swiss star Fabian Cancellara who dominated the day (as he had in 2004 and as he would in 2009, 2010, and 2012) to win by 13 seconds as Wiggins was the top Brit in fourth.

The next day Millar gave home crowds something to cheer, taking the polka dot jersey from the break on the flat stage to Canterbury as Robbie McEwen sprinted to victory. Three weeks later, Alberto Contador claimed his first Tour win after a controversial race which saw Iban Mayo, double stage winner Alexandre Vinokourov, and yellow jersey Michael Rasmussen all leave the race under doping clouds. (DO)

2010: Rotterdam, Netherlands 

Three days across the Low Countries kicked off the 2010 Tour as the Netherlands hosted the Grand Départ for the fifth time.

Once again it was Fabian Cancellara's time to shine as the Swiss rider, hot off a superb spring with wins at E3 Harelbeke, the Tour of Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix, beat Tony Martin by 10 seconds over the 9km course in Rotterdam. 

Alessandro Petacchi shot to sprint glory on stage 2 in Brussels, while the hilly third stage to Spa was perhaps the most memorable of the lot. There, Sylvain Chavanel soloed to the yellow jersey as the peloton staged a go-slow after the carnage and mass crashes on the wet, slippery roads.

The Frenchman would hand yellow back to Cancellara the next day as the race hit France – and the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix – but would be back in the lead for another day with another breakaway win on stage 7. In Paris, it was Alberto Contador (later Andy Schleck) who took the overall glory. (DO)

2014: Leeds, United Kingdom

Seven years on from the London start, the Tour revisited the UK once more, with two days in Yorkshire followed up by one into London before the race travelled back across the Channel.

It was the year following the triumphs of Wiggins and Froome, and so the roads of Yorkshire were packed with fans there to cheer on Team Sky as well as Cavendish, who by that point had 26 Tour stage wins to his name.

As was the case in 2007, though, there would be little home glory for the Brits. In Harrogate and London, Marcel Kittel, the dominant sprinter of the previous year, would take the wins, while eventual winner Vincenzo Nibali nipped away to stage 2 victory in the hills of Sheffield.

Cavendish, meanwhile, left the race after stage 1 after crashing hard in Harrogate, while defending champion Froome made it to France and the cobbled stage – but not the cobbles – 5 before crashing out. 

The Grand Départ had a lasting effect on cycling in the region, spawning the Tour de Yorkshire men's and women's race before COVID-19 and financial problems saw both events cancelled from 2020 through this year. (DO)

2019: Brussels, Belgium

The last Tour to start outside of France came three years ago with the fifth Grand Départ from Belgium – the first time the race had kicked off in the capital, Brussels, since 1958.

The city hosted both the opener and the second stage of the race, before a third stage from the Walloon town of Binche took the peloton on a hilly stage into France.

Jumbo-Visma dominated the first two days of the race as Wout van Aert (who would later win stage 10 in Albi) making his Tour debut. The opening stage, which featured the Muur van Geraardsbergen early on, would be prime Van Aert territory today, but then it was Dylan Groenewegen set to sprint for the Dutch squad.

He was taken down by a mass crash late on, though, and instead it was Mike Teunissen who took a surprise victory, holding off Peter Sagan and Caleb Ewan to take yellow. The squad would go on to dominate the stage 2 TTT, too, putting a full 20 seconds into second-placed Ineos over the 27.6km course. (DO)

Foreign starts at the Tour de France

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Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews , he has also written for The Independent ,  The Guardian ,  ProCycling , The Express and Reuters .

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How Long Is the Tour de France?

The 2023 course has some big climbs and surprise locations.

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The Tour de France is cycling’s most well-known stage race, taking place over the course of three weeks. This year’s race starts on Saturday, July 1, 2023 through Sunday, Jul 23, 2023. A truly international race, this year’s event will begin in Bilbao, Spain, although it will, as it traditionally does, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

To that point, the race course is different every year. This summer, the riders will travel 3,404 kilometers, or just a few feet over 2,115 miles, according to the Amaura Sport Organisation (ASO), which announced the route in October 2022.

Remember, the United States is one of the few places that uses miles to measure distance so when you watch coverage, remember to “think metric.” One kilometer is equal to .621 miles. A 5K, for example, is 3.2 miles.

In other words, it’s not just the length of the course that’s challenging, but the terrain. This year’s race, many feel, is “for climbers.” There are also time trials to test the cyclists’ abilities.

How long is the average Tour de France?

The Tour de France is always three weeks long and typically split into 21 stages—days of riding—with one or two rest days. Depending on how the dates are organized, though, some years it’s been only 20 stages, while other years have had as many as 25 stages. The first two Tours in the early 1900s only had six stages.

The total mileage of the 21 stages combined tends to hover around 2,200 miles, which averages to around 100 miles of racing most days .

Is every stage the same length?

Not at all! Stages in the Tour de France vary wildly in length. Some days involve 180-plus mile long races while others are 30-miles fast and furious. The styles of racing also change: There are individual time trials, team time trials, and standard road races that take place with a mass start. Here are the stages of the 2023 Tour .

What’s the shortest Tour de France stage?

Since the entire course changes each year, so do the lengths of the stages. In 1988, the second shortest race of the modern era (2,042 miles) also had the shortest time trial and flat stage. The one-kilometer individual time trial from the prologue of the 1988 Tour de France is the shortest race ever run during the Tour. Guido Bontemp won it in 1 minute and 14 seconds. The 1988 race also contained the shortest flat stage at 23.6 miles. Adri van der Poel won that stage in 46 minutes and 36 seconds. Ardent cycling fans might recognize Adri as the father of multi-time cyclocross world champion, road and mountain bike superstar Mathieu van der Poel .

What was the shortest Tour de France?

Depends on what you mean by the shortest! The second Tour de France ever run—back in 1904—was only six stages long—but it covered 1,483 miles, so some stages lasted for nearly a full day. In the last two decades, the shortest Tour was in 2002 and covered 2,035 miles across 20 stages.

What was the longest Tour de France?

That would be the 1926 Tour de France, which covered 3,569 miles in an attempt to ride around the border of France... but close behind that is the 1919 Tour de France, which also has the dubious honor of being the slowest Tour de France in miles-per-hour.

Despite the fact that it was almost 200 miles shorter than the 1926 route, it was only a few hours faster in overall ride time for the winner. It also had the longest one-day stage—265 miles—and it reportedly took the winner almost 19 hours to complete it. That year’s Tour also only had 10 finishers out of 69 starters, the lowest number of Tour finishers ever. Yes, 1919 was rough.

What about elevation gain?

Remember, a lot of the stages of the Tour de France go up and down mountains, so not only are riders contending with 100-plus mile days in the saddle, they’re climbing thousands of feet in the process. In 2020, one stage included 14,435 feet of climbing over the course of 118 miles. That's a half-Everest in a single stage.

How fast do riders go?

In recent years, the average speed has hovered around 24.8 miles per hour (40 kilometers per hour), though it changes a bit from year to year depending on the riders, the elevation gain, the temperature, and the length of the stages. But it stays fairly close to that 25 MPH speed.

Molly writes about cycling, nutrition and training, with an emphasis on women in sport. Her new middle-grade series, Shred Girls, debuts with Rodale Kids/Random House in 2019 with "Lindsay's Joyride." Her other books include "Mud, Snow and Cyclocross," "Saddle, Sore" and "Fuel Your Ride." Her work has been published in magazines like Bicycling, Outside and Nylon. She co-hosts The Consummate Athlete Podcast.

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