On the 28th of June 1914, Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated. A month later the First World War broke out.
When the peloton of the 12th Tour de France rolled out from Paris in the early morning on the same day, the cyclists were, of course not aware of what would happen few hours later in Sarajevo, and that it would change the life of many of them.
The first stage, a 388 km long etap between Paris and Le Havre was won by Philippe Thys, the future winner of that edition.
The race ended on the 26th of July, just only few days before the war started.
World War I and road cycling
The slowest and the fastest Tour de France
You might wonder which Tour de France edition was the slowest and wich. one the fastest. Here you have the answer.The slowest Tour de Francewas the 13th edition, held between 29th June and 27 July in 1919. The 5560 km long route of the race was divided into 15 stages. (And it wasn’t even the … Read more
Tour de France winners died in the First World War
As in almost every part of European life, also in the world of cycling races World War I was a significant watershed. Not only the naivity of some athletes ((who thought previously, that fighting on the battlefield would be the same like competing at the Olympics – read more about it in Graham Healy:The Shattered … Read more
5 facts about Tour de France 1919
The 13th Tour de France, held between 29 June and 27 July was the first edition after First World War. The yellow jersey was introduced during this edition of Tour de France. Most of the cyclists were racing in grey jersey, thus there must have been something, a colorful jersey for example, to distinguish the … Read more