In a combination of what Desgrange had done with his race in the past – first basing it on overall time, then on points, and then back to cumulative time – for the first time in 1923, a two-minute time bonus to the winner of each stage was introduced. It was a practice that was to fall in and out of favour over the years.
Pélissier clashed again with Desgrange at the 1924 Tour and, following his retirement from cycling in 1927, Pélissier’s life took a turn for the worse. After his wife committed suicide in 1933, he was shot and killed in 1935 by his mistress, who had acted in self-defence.
Ottavio Bottecchia became the first Italian to don the iconic maillot jaune
“One of these days he’s going to make us put lead weights in our pockets because he thinks that God made man too light.”
1923 Tour champion Henri Pélissier after quitting the 1924 Tour in disgust at what for him were Henri Desgrange’s constant efforts to make the race even harder
| Start: Paris, France, on 22 JuneFinish: Paris, France, on 20 July | |
| Total distance: 5425 km (3371 miles)Longest stage: 482 km (300 miles) | |
| Highest point:Col du Galibier: 2556 m (8386 ft) Mountain stages: 6 | |
| Starters: 157Finishers: 60 | |
| Winning time: 226 h 18’ 21”Average speed: 24.250 kph (15.068 mph) | |
| 1. Ottavio Bottecchia (Ita)2. Nicolas Frantz (Lux) at 35’ 36” 3. Lucien Buysse (Bel) at 1 h 32’ 13” |
With the life of the winner of the 1923 Tour, Henri Pélissier, ending in tragedy, what an ill-fated time it was in the Tour’s history, when 1924 and 1925 champion Ottavio Bottecchia was also found dead in mysterious circumstances years later.
Bottecchia was found unconscious at the side of the road in June 1927, close to his home near Udine, in northern Italy, seemingly having crashed on his bike. He had a fractured skull and never regained consciousness, dying twelve days later. Officially, his death was attributed to injuries sustained from the crash. The conspiracy theory, however, is that he was murdered by Mussolini-supporting fascists for voicing his low opinion of the Italian prime minister.
Bottecchia won the first stage of the 1924 Tour – a stage that had become the regular opener, between Paris and Le Havre – and then held on to his lead along each side of ‘the hexagon’, over fifteen stages, and back to Paris. Bottecchia had become the first Italian to finish on the podium the year before, and stepped up to take cycling’s ultimate prize. So pleased was he with his yellow jersey, in fact, that he wore it all the way home to Milan on the train.
With no French rider even on the podium in 1924 – yet another argument between the two Henris, Desgrange and Pélissier, saw the defending champion quit the race early on – this early mondialisation of the Tour came at France’s expense. Things were really going to change in 1925 – bar Bottecchia winning again.
Ottavio Bottecchia climbs through the crowds on the Col du Tourmalet
| Start: Paris, France, on 21 JuneFinish: Paris, France, on 19 July | |
| Total distance: 5430 km (3374 miles)Longest stage: 433 km (269 miles) | |
| Highest point:Col du Galibier: 2556 m (8386 ft) Mountain stages: 6 | |
| Starters: 130Finishers: 49 | |
| Winning time: 219 h 10’ 18”Average speed: 24.820 kph (15.422 mph) | |
| 1. Ottavio Bottecchia (Ita)2. Lucien Buysse (Bel) at 54’ 20” 3. Bartolomeo Aimo (Ita) at 56’ 37” |
While Ottavio Bottecchia again won the Tour de France in 1925, fundamental changes were made by organiser Henri Desgrange to help push his race forward. The Tour increased its number of stages – up to eighteen from the fifteen it had been run over for so long – and the time bonuses for stage wins were done away with, for the time being. Desgrange even went as far as proposing that every rider was to eat the same amount of food, but that idea was dropped after the riders threatened to strike.
The race also started a little further outside Paris, in the suburb of Le Vésinet, while new stage start/finish towns included Mulhouse, near the Swiss border and, a little further south, spa town Évian.
Bottecchia started where he had left off, winning the first stage to Le Havre before losing the jersey two days later to unheralded Belgian Adelin Benoît. There was to be no repeat of the Italian’s 1923 Tour win when he wore the famous golden tunic from start to finish, but Bottecchia was back in yellow after winning the flat stage 7 between Bordeaux and Bayonne.
Benoît then showed the race his climbing legs, winning the tough first day in the Pyrenees and reclaiming the race lead before Bottecchia took control once more the next day – and this time retained yellow all the way to Paris.
It was also Eugène Christophe’s last Tour – the unlucky Frenchman whose dreams of winning the race were dashed by broken forks, but who nonetheless would always be remembered as the first ever wearer of the yellow jersey in 1919. Christophe finished a lowly eighteenth overall, almost seven hours down on the Italian winner. In fact, no French rider was even to finish in the top ten; Romain Bellenger was the highest-placed home rider in eleventh.
A weary Bartolomeo Aimo struggles up to the Col d’Izoard