On this day in 1903, a new bicycle race was announced. It was called the Tour de France. It was created in order for a French newspaper to gain popularity over their competitor. If it weren’t for the “Dreyfus Affair” (one of the biggest political scandals in French history), the Tour de France would probably never have occurred.
The L’Auto newspaper was losing views to their competitor, Le Vélo. In order to surpass Le Vélo, the editor of L’Auto, Henri Desgrange pitched a desperation attempt in order to surpass their competition, the Tour de France. Maurice Garin, a Frenchman won the very first Tour de France in 1903. All of the top five finishers were from France.
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Thanks for sharing this. I always loved to watch the Tour de France as a young adult.
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