First Tour de France
The inaugural Tour de France cycling race took place over 19 days and six stages
July 01, 1903
A Race Born from Rivalry
The first Tour de France was held from July 1 to 19, 1903, and was organized by Henri Desgrange, editor of the sports newspaper L'Auto, as a way to boost the newspaper's circulation in its rivalry with a competing publication. The race covered approximately 2,428 kilometers across six stages, linking Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, and Nantes before returning to Paris. Sixty riders started the race; only 21 finished. The winner was Maurice Garin, a chimney sweep turned cyclist, who completed the course in a total riding time of about 94 hours. The average stage length was more than 400 kilometers, raced mostly on rough unpaved roads.
Early Adventures and Scandals
The early Tours de France were wild and rough events compared to the highly organized modern race. Riders were essentially on their own for most of the route, navigating dark roads in the middle of the night with only oil lamps on their bikes. There was massive cheating in the 1904 Tour — some riders took trains, others accepted lifts in cars, and supporters of various riders attacked opponents on the road. The top four finishers were all disqualified, and Garin was ultimately banned from cycling for two years. Despite the scandal, the race continued and grew rapidly in both length and prestige over the following decades.
The World's Greatest Cycling Race
The Tour de France today is one of the most grueling sporting events on Earth, covering approximately 3,400 kilometers across 21 stages over three weeks, including brutal climbs in the Alps and the Pyrenees. It attracts roughly 12 million spectators along the roadside each year — more than any other annual sporting event in the world — and is broadcast in over 190 countries. The yellow jersey worn by the overall leader became one of the most recognized symbols in sport. Despite controversy — most notably the Lance Armstrong doping scandal — the race remains a pinnacle of human endurance and a celebration of the French landscape and cycling culture. Use our date calculator to see how many Tours have been run since 1903.