Race overview 1903 Tour de France

café au reveil matin in paris, 1903 tour de france.

the pre-race favourites victory maurice garin , hippolyte aucouturier. garin dominated race start winning first stage, 471 km (293 mi) parcours paris lyon. stage started @ 15:16, , cyclists rode speed of 35 km/h. first cyclists abandoned after around 50 km (31 mi). @ 23:00, garin , emile pagie, leading race, reached control point in nevers. garin expected @ point finish @ 8:00 next morning. during night, garin s main rival, aucouturier, had stomach cramps, , unable finish stage. during first stage, first breach of rules occurred: jean fischer had used car pacer, illegal. pagie fell down, got again; , garin kept leading race during night. around 9:00 in morning, both reached lyon. garin got away pagie, , finished 1 minute ahead.

the finish of first tour.

although aucouturier had abandoned in first stage, , not eligible general classification, still start rest of stages. in second stage, aucouturier able win sprint. in third stage, cyclists competing general classification started 1 hour earlier other cyclists, including aucouturier. @ end of stage, group of 4 cyclists had broken away, , eugène brange won sprint. aucouturier finished 27 minutes later, meant had run course 33 minutes faster, declared winner of stage. garin retained lead, helped crash of second-placed pagie in second stage, eliminated him race. in fourth stage, aucouturier had clear lead , seemed set win third successive stage, caught using slipstream of car, , removed race. swiss charles laeser (who had abandoned in 3rd stage) took victory, becoming first non-french winner. in third stage, cyclists departed in 2 groups, , laeser in second group because no longer contending general classification. laeser finished more 50 minutes after group of 6 cyclists, had travelled distance 4 minutes faster them, declared winner.

at point, garin leading, Émile georget 2 hours behind. in fifth stage, georget had 2 flat tires, , fell asleep when stopped @ side of road rest; failed finish. garin extended lead winning stage, carrying 3 hours advantage final day s racing. garin had requested other cyclists in leading group let him win stage, fernand augereau refused this. garin had lucien pothier throw down bicycle in front of augereau, fell, , garin bent augereau s rear wheel. augereau obtained spare bike , continued finish, garin won sprint. augereau still received prize of 100 francs velo-sport nantes fastest final kilometer of stage in nantes velodrome.

the last stage longest, @ 471 km (293 mi), , ran nantes small town of ville-d avray, lies between versailles , paris, instead of @ parc des princes velodrome. because of bylaw forbidding road races end on cycling tracks (a bylaw subsequently repealed in light of race s success). garin took third stage win, , sealed overall victory 2 hours 59 minutes 31 seconds: remains greatest margin of victory in tour de france. after celebrating champagne, riders cycled parc des princes, made several laps of honour before adoring crowd, sound of bugle.