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
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
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
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 … Read more
The 12th Tour de France started on the very same day (28th June), when Austrian-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo. 11 former or future Tour de France winners participated the race: Philippe Thys,Louis Trousselier, Lucien Petit-Breton, Octave Lapize, François Faber, Odile Defraye, Gustave Garrigou, Philippe Thys, Firmin Lambot, Léon Scieur, … Read more
Although Henri Desgrange was always keen to preserve Tour de France as a competition for individuals1, cyclists who were sponsored by the same bicycle manufacture naturally worked as a team. Alcyon for example, delivered four overall victories (François Faber, 1909; Octave Lapize,1910 ; Gustave Garrigou, 1911; Odyle Defraye, 1912) before 1914 and dominated most of … Read more