The inaugural Tour de France in 1903 was nothing short of groundbreaking. Organized by the French newspaper L’Auto, the race was intended as a publicity stunt to boost the paper’s circulation amid intense competition with its rival Le Vélo. The idea was to stage a grueling, multi-day race that would captivate the public’s attention and make headlines. However, the Tour quickly exceeded all expectations. Covering a brutal 2,428 kilometers in just six stages, the race drew national attention and captivated the imagination of cycling fans across France. Not only did L’Auto achieve its goal, with circulation numbers soaring and public interest surging, but the race also forever altered the course of cycling history, cementing the bicycle as a symbol of endurance, competition, and national pride.
The competitors of the 1903 Tour, a mix of professionals and brave amateurs, became folk heroes overnight. Figures like Maurice Garin, the ultimate winner of the first Tour, embodied this newfound heroic status. Garin’s triumph was celebrated not just as a personal victory but as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. The Tour became more than just a race; it became a cultural phenomenon, inspiring a generation of cyclists and securing its place in French national identity. The success of the inaugural Tour inspired such public enthusiasm that the 1904 edition was bound to be even bigger, with heightened competition and greater stakes.
The 1904 Tour: From Heroic Competition to Scandalous Chaos
Yet the overwhelming success of the first edition brought unforeseen consequences when the second Tour de France rolled around in 1904. The race, now more prestigious than anyone had anticipated, quickly became the stage for intense rivalries, not only between riders but also between regional fan bases, each fiercely loyal to their local favorites. With so much at stake, the event spiraled out of control, as both competitors and spectators resorted to increasingly unsavory tactics. Riders who were once lauded as heroes became embroiled in scandal, and the race descended into what remains one of the most scandal-ridden events in sporting history.
In 1904, the allure of winning the Tour de France had grown so immense that it pushed competitors and fans alike to the breaking point. Riders found themselves targets of aggression from fanatical supporters, many of whom viewed the success of their hometown riders as a point of personal and regional pride. Spectators were no longer passive observers; in some cases, they became active participants, manipulating the race outcome. The stage between Lyon and Marseille was particularly chaotic, as local fans physically assaulted riders, pelting them with rocks and nails and at times even attempting to force them off their bikes.
One incident involved Maurice Garin, the previous year’s winner, who found himself attacked by a mob of fans loyal to one of his rivals, Antoine Faure. Garin and his fellow competitor, Lucien Pothier, were blocked on the road by Faure’s supporters, who physically prevented them from continuing until their favored rider had gained a considerable lead. These attacks weren’t isolated incidents; they represented the pervasive interference of fanatical supporters willing to do whatever it took to ensure a victory for their chosen cyclist.
Sabotage and Widespread Cheating
The mayhem didn’t stop at physical confrontations. Spectators sabotaged the race in subtler yet equally disruptive ways, scattering nails, glass, and other debris along the road to puncture riders’ tires. This method of interference became so prevalent that many cyclists were forced to drop out due to repeated tire failures. Garin and other top riders faced a nearly constant battle against both the challenging course and deliberate acts of sabotage intended to derail their performance.
In addition to the fan interference, the pressure to win led riders themselves to resort to unprecedented levels of cheating. Many cyclists accepted illicit forms of assistance, bending or outright breaking the rules in their quest for victory. Riders were caught taking lifts in cars to skip parts of the route, drafting behind motor vehicles to conserve energy, and even boarding trains to bypass entire stretches of the race. The use of hidden support crews became common, with family members and friends providing unauthorized food, water, and mechanical help along the way.
Such flagrant cheating cast a dark shadow over the race, eroding the integrity of the competition and creating a moral crisis for the Tour de France. What had been celebrated in 1903 as a test of endurance and perseverance was becoming an arena for dishonesty and subterfuge, undermining the spirit of fair play that L’Auto had hoped to foster.
A Deluge of Disqualifications and the French Cycling Union’s Investigation
As the race progressed, disqualifications began piling up as race officials, faced with overwhelming evidence of misconduct, took action to try to preserve some semblance of fairness. By the end of the Tour, accusations of cheating had reached such a scale that they threatened to overshadow the competition entirely. The chaos led the French Cycling Union to launch a formal investigation, a process that would last several months and put the Tour de France itself at risk.
The Union’s investigation, fueled by eyewitness accounts, testimonies from officials, and reports from the cyclists themselves, brought to light the rampant dishonesty that had characterized the race. In December 1904, after careful deliberation, the Union made a stunning decision: the top four finishers, including Maurice Garin, were to be disqualified. Garin’s disqualification, in particular, was a seismic event. As the defending champion and winner of the first Tour, his disqualification sent a message that no rider, no matter how prominent, was above the rules.
In an extraordinary turn of events, the fifth-place finisher, Henri Cornet, was declared the official winner. Cornet’s victory was remarkable not only because it came through a series of disqualifications but also because he was just 19 years old at the time, making him the youngest champion in the history of the Tour de France—a record that still stands.
The Lasting Fallout and Unanswered Questions
The scandal didn’t end with the disqualification of Garin and the other top riders. The investigation uncovered even more instances of foul play, leading to a total of 29 disqualifications. The extent of the cheating, and the sheer number of riders involved, raised questions about the future of the race. Public trust in the Tour de France wavered, and the scandal threatened to permanently damage its reputation. The French public, who had so passionately embraced the Tour in 1903, found itself divided, questioning the legitimacy of a race marred by dishonesty.
To this day, much of the evidence from the 1904 scandal remains a mystery, as many records were lost when the Tour de France archives were moved during World War II. The full scope of the cheating may never be known, adding an air of intrigue to an already infamous episode. Nevertheless, what is clear is that the 1904 scandal marked a critical turning point for the Tour.
Reforms and the Transformation of the Tour de France
Despite the chaos of its second edition, the Tour de France survived, largely thanks to the resilience and vision of its director, Henri Desgrange. Determined to restore the race’s integrity, Desgrange implemented sweeping reforms in subsequent editions to tighten the rules and improve organization. He introduced neutral support zones to prevent outside interference and established stricter penalties for cheating, reinforcing the need for sportsmanship and fair play. Desgrange’s reforms also included stationing more officials along the route to closely monitor riders and prevent unauthorized assistance.
Over the years, the Tour’s stage format was refined to include isolated mountain climbs and longer stretches of open road, making it more challenging for fans to disrupt the race. These changes transformed the Tour from a chaotic endurance contest into a structured competition, setting the standards that continue to define the event today.