1903 Tour de France
Route of the 1903 Tour de France
Followed clockwise, starting in Montgeron and ending in Paris |
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| Race details | ||||||||||
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| Dates | 1–19 July | |||||||||
| Stages | 6 | |||||||||
| Distance | 2,428 km (1,509 mi) | |||||||||
| Winning time | 94h 33' 14" | |||||||||
| Results | ||||||||||
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| Winner |
 Maurice Garin (FRA)
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| Second |
Lucien Pothier (FRA)
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| Third |
Fernand Augereau (FRA)
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The 1903 Tour de France was the first cycling race set up and sponsored by the newspaper L'Auto, ancestor of the current daily, L'Équipe. It ran from 1 to 19 July in six stages over 2,428 km (1,509 mi), and was won by Maurice Garin.
The race was invented to boost the circulation of L'Auto, after its circulation started to plummet from competition with the long-standing Le Vélo. Originally scheduled to start in June, the race was postponed one month, and the prize money was increased, after a disappointing level of applications from competitors. The 1903 Tour de France was the first stage road race, and compared to modern Grand Tours, it had relatively few stages, but each was much longer than those raced today. The cyclists did not have to compete in all six stages, although this was necessary to qualify for the general classification.
The pre-race favourite, Maurice Garin, won the first stage, and retained the lead throughout. He also won the last two stages, and had a margin of almost three hours over the next cyclist. The circulation of L'Auto increased more than sixfold during and after the race, so the race was considered successful enough to be rerun in 1904, by which time Le Vélo had been forced out of business.
After the Dreyfus affair separated advertisers from the newspaper Le Vélo, a new newspaper L'Auto-Vélo was founded in 1900, with former cyclist Henri Desgrange as editor. After being forced to change the name of the newspaper to L'Auto in 1903, Desgrange needed something to keep the cycling fans; with circulation at 20,000, he could not afford to lose them.
When Desgrange and young employee Géo Lefèvre were returning from the Marseille–Paris cycling race, Lefèvre suggested holding a race around France, similar to the popular six-day races on the track. Desgrange proposed the idea to the financial controller Victor Goddet, who gave his approval, and on 19 January 1903, the Tour de France was announced in L'Auto.
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