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Home » Tour de France the early years (1903-1914) » Favourite Tour de France stories from the early year

Favourite Tour de France stories from the early year

Cyclist riding in form of spectators whenTour de France visited Metz during the early years of its history.

When Tour de France went abroad before 1914

Defining historical events of the 20th century often left  their marks on road cycling history. Just think about, for istance, the impact of World War 1 on the mythology of some famous races, like Paris-Roubaix. The born of the famous phase of “Hell of the North” is a quite well known story among cycling fans.       On the other hand, even when someone is quite familiar with the history of Tour de France’s early years, sometimes just bumps into something, which could raise so many questions. Like those few Tour de France editions, when the race visited Alsace -Lorraine, the territory occupied by the Germans in those days. TOUR DE FRANCE CROSSING THE… Read More »When Tour de France went abroad before 1914

French cyclist Henri Pépin on a magazin portrait from 1894

The Tour de France contestant who hired two other cyclists just for having fun

Henri Pépin was neither an eccentric aristocrat, nor a rookie cyclist when he hired two other persons to join him to ride the Tour de France just for fun. Pépin (1864-1915) was an active cyclist in the 19th century already. He even published a book about him and (possibly) his son riding a tandem from Paris to Agen in 57 hours and 45 minutes in 1895. (The short book was published two years later). He used to tour around Europe by bicycle and take photographs. Carrying the heavy set with him seemed to be a bit more complicated, than we can imagine from our 21st century point of view. He certanly was a man of… Read More »The Tour de France contestant who hired two other cyclists just for having fun