Many battles have been won and lost over the Tour’s mountain stages. Whether it is in the Alps, Pyrenees or the Massif Central, riders need grit, determintaion and extraordinary fitness to overcome the punishing ascents of these now famous climbs.
The Winners
Tour wins by country
Riders make their way from Lyon to Marseille during stage 2 of the first Tour de France. Only twenty-one competitors would complete the race, covering 2428 km (1509 miles) in six days.
“The ideal Tour would be one that only one rider was capable of finishing.”
Henri Desgrange, founder of the Tour de France
| Start: Paris, France, on 1 JulyFinish: Paris, France, on 19 July | |
| Total distance: 2428 km (1509 miles)Longest stage: 471 km (293 miles) | |
| Highest point:Col de la République: 1161 m (3809 ft) Mountain stages: 1 | |
| Starters: 60Finishers: 21 | |
| Winning time: 94 h 33’ 14”Average speed: 25.679 kph (15.956 mph) | |
| 1. Maurice Garin (Fra)2. Lucien Pothier (Fra) at 2 h 59’ 02” 3. Fernand Augereau (Fra) at 4 h 29’ 24” |
Just six stages made up the route of the first Tour de France in 1903. Rather than the race being easy by today’s standards, however, the shortest stage – between Toulouse and Bordeaux – was still 268 km (167 miles), while most of the rest were well over 400 km (250 miles).
Where the stages were easier compared to today’s, however, was in their relative lack of climbing, with a route that avoided both the Alps and the Pyrenees, instead focusing on featuring France’s major towns and cities.
While the Ballon d’Alsace, in the Vosges, is widely credited with being the first major climb to have been included on the Tour route, in 1905, the inaugural race did in fact include a number of climbs, although they were not noted as particular challenges to the riders.
Stage 1, between Montgeron, on the southeast edge of Paris, and Lyon featured both the Col des Echarmeaux and the Col du Pin-Bouchain – 712 m (2336 ft) and 759 m (2490 ft) high, respectively – while on the second stage riders had to tackle the Col de la République, near St-Étienne, with France’s Hippolyte Aucouturier the first rider to reach the top of the 1161-m (3809-ft)-high pass.
Named as one of the pre-race favourites, Aucouturier, riding as an ‘independent’, had failed to finish the Tour’s opening stage due to stomach cramps, but was allowed to start stage 2 under rules that said that he could no longer remain in the hunt for the overall prize. He went on to win the second stage in Marseille, and repeated the feat on stage 3.
The first Tour ended in front of an enthusiastic crowd at the Parc des Princes velodrome, where another pre-race favourite, Frenchman Maurice Garin, riding in the colours of bicycle manufacturer La Française, took his third stage win of the race, and with it the honour of being the first Tour de France winner, having held the lead since his victory on the opening stage in Lyon.
The Tour was born, but its second edition was to be a lot less celebrated.
Maurice Garin (in white) becomes the Tour’s first champion
“The Tour de France is over, although its second edition will have been, I fear, its last – a victim of its own success.”
Henri Desgrange, founder of the Tour de France, following the 1904 race
| Start: Paris, France, on 2 JulyFinish: Paris, France, on 24 July | |
| Total distance: 2428 km (1509 miles)Longest stage: 471 km (293 miles) | |
| Highest point:Col de la République: 1161 m (3809 ft) Mountain stages: 1 | |
| Starters: 88Finishers: 15 | |
| Winning time: 96 h 05’ 55”Average speed: 25.265 kph (15.699 mph) | |
| 1. Henri Cornet (Fra)2. Jean-Baptiste Dortignacq (Fra) at 2 h 16’ 14” 3. Aloïs Catteau (Bel) at 9 h 01’ 25” |
It’s become somewhat of a cliché, but the second edition of the Tour de France, in 1904, was almost its last.
Geographically, the 1904 Tour followed the same route as the first edition the previous year, again starting in Paris and taking in the major cities of Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes, before finishing once more in the Parc des Princes, Paris.
However, the race was marred by interventions from a by-now feverish public, while following the race it was discovered that the first four in the overall classification, including defending champion Maurice Garin, had cheated, and were disqualified from the race, handing victory to 19-year-old Henri Cornet, who remains the race’s youngest-ever winner.
On the race’s second, hilliest stage, between Lyon and Marseille, local Lyon lad Antoine Fauré led the race over the Col de la Rébublique while behind him the race favourites, including Garin and his brother, César, were set upon by masked men, believed to be Fauré’s supporters.
That year was also the first recorded instance of tacks being thrown onto the road by partisan crowds – something that would happen intermittently throughout the Tour’s history, including as recently as the 2012 Tour when the race passed over the Mur de Péguère on stage 14.
It took some time for the organisers of the 1904 Tour to wade through all the accusations and rumours at the end of the race, but in November they came to the decision to ban the two Garin brothers – who had finished first and third – with the older Maurice having apparently