1904 Tour de France
Route of the 1904 Tour de France
Followed clockwise, starting in Montgeron and ending in Paris |
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| Race details | ||||||||||
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| Dates | 2–24 July | |||||||||
| Stages | 6 | |||||||||
| Distance | 2,428 km (1,509 mi) | |||||||||
| Winning time | 96h 05' 55" | |||||||||
| Results | ||||||||||
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| Winner |
 Henri Cornet (FRA)
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| Second |
Jean-Baptiste Dortignacq (FRA)
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| Third |
 Aloïs Catteau (BEL)
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The 1904 Tour de France was the second Tour de France, held from 2 to 24 July. With a route similar to its previous edition, 1903 Tour de France winner Maurice Garin seemed to have repeated his win by a small margin over Lucien Pothier, while Hippolyte Aucouturier won four of the six stages. But the race became a victim of its own success, plagued by scandals; cyclists were accused of having taken trains during the race. Twelve cyclists, including the first four of the final classification and all stage winners, were disqualified by the Union Vélocipédique Française (UVF). Henri Cornet, originally the fifth-place finisher, was awarded the victory four months after the race. The problems caused the Tour de France to be provisionally cancelled, and subsequently the 1905 Tour de France was run with different rules from the 1903 and 1904 edition.
The initial Tour de France of 1903 had been a large success, and it was quickly decided to organize it again in 1904. The route was identical, with the same six stages. The rules were the same as in 1903, with one exception: cyclists could not enter in just one stage, but had to join for the entire race. The favourites for the victory were Garin, Pothier and Aucouturier, who had performed well in the 1903 Tour de France. Among the competitors was Henri Paret who, at 50 years old, still holds the record of oldest Tour de France cyclist.
In the 1903 Tour de France, the organisation guaranteed that the first 50 cyclists in the final general classification would earn at least 5 francs per day. In 1904, if not more than 50 cyclists would finish, also cyclists who dropped out during the race would still get 5 francs for the days they had been in the race. This rule was added to attract cyclists who otherwise would not enter, because the Tour needed enough competitors to remain credible.
In the first stage, the riders fell after only a few kilometres. Lipman broke a finger, and became the first rider to abandon this Tour. Around 100 km in the race, Lucien Pothier lost ten minutes to the main group, led by Maurice Garin, because of a broken bicycle. In Cosne, at 174 km, Pothier had reached the leading group. Aucouturier had lost more than one hour at that point. Just before the next control post in Nevers, Aucouturier fell on his face, and continued the race covered in blood. In the last part of the race, Maurice Garin and Lucien Pothier rode away from the others. They were attacked by four masked men in a car, but still finished as the first two, with Garin beating Pothier by 50 m. The many flat tires and crashes of Aucouturier, seemingly the results of sabotage, gave him a time loss of several hours.
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