The Tour de France is the largest annual event in the world of cycling, with almost 200 runners and covering 3,300 km in their 21 races, and with international broadcasts reaching millions of people in real-time, and 116 years of Legends.
The first Tour was opened at 3: 16 pm on July 1, 1903. After an excellent publicity effort by the local newspaper “L’auto,” it aimed to create a race of cyclists who would travel the best French landscapes, and earn a permanent place in the heart of their compatriots (and on the way to expand their audience for the newspaper). Typically, the Tour takes place within the French territory, but occasionally visits its neighbors: Andorra, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland (all of them have hosted some other part of the tour, or even a complete Stage), these escapes to neighboring countries are known as Grand Departs.
People usually refer to the Tour de France as “The Tour” and is the second of the Grand World Tours (The Giro d’ Italia is the first one, and The Vuelta an España, the third) in the calendar of the World Tour. The tour is the oldest of this trio and is considered the most prestigious. You probably have friends who don’t share our passion for bicycles, but it would cost you to meet someone who hasn’t heard of the Tour.
The location of their stages changes every year, but the format remains the same; a balanced combination of mountain climbs, flat sprints, and team and individual time frames. Since 1975, a last ceremonial race was added to celebrate the closing ceremony at the Champs-Elysées in Paris.
Each year, the runner with the best time accumulated in the 21 stages is crowned Tour champion and takes home the Jaune Jersey (yellow T-shirt). In addition to the time champion in the rankings, there are three other leotards for the most outstanding runners: the one in the mountains (with red polka dots), plus points (Green) and the best young runner (White). In addition to these trophies for lucky runners, the teams and the most combative Runner (The one that showed the most magnificent spirit and effort at each stage of the Tour) are also awarded.
If a runner is skilled enough to win two of the jersey, he will use the most outstanding, passing the other to second or third place. For example, if a cyclist is at the top of the ranking, and leads on the climbs, he would use the yellow jersey, to leave the red polka dots to the runner who follows him in the mountains.
The 1903 Tour de France was the first edition of the 1903 Tour de France. Cycling race organized by the newspaper L’auto, it takes place in six stages. The route connects the main French cities, Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes. One of the favorites of the race, Maurice Garin, won three stages and the overall classification with nearly three hours’ advantage on the second, Lucien Pothier, which is the most significant gap between the winner of the Tour and his runner-up in the history of this competition. The length of the stages, played at night, varies from 268 to 471 km, for a total of 2 428 km.
Fifty-nine riders took the start, against the café “Le Réveil-Matin” of Montgeron, but only twenty-one of them were in the overall classification at the end of the six stages. In the event of abandonment, the riders can nevertheless compete in the following steps, without, however, is included in the general classification. This is what allows the French rider Hippolyte Aucouturier and the Swiss rider Charles Laeser to win a stage victory on this Tour, without being ranked at the finish in Paris.
Suggested to Henri Desgrange, the director of the newspaper, by his collaborator Geo Lefèvre, the creation of the Tour de France aims to encourage the Daily’s sales in front of its main competitor, the bicycle while promoting the cycle industry that financially supports the car. A real popular success, hailed by various media outlets, the Tour de France was organized the following year again, in 1904 and will be every year until today, outside of war.