The story of this first Tour de France in 1903 created by a Eurélien. Eurelian Chronicles #58

Find on Actu Chartres, every Sunday, a Eurelian chronicle of History and stories proposed by Alain Denizet. Professor, historian, writer from Eure-et-Loir, he has for years brought together all of his chronicles on his site.

Tour de France 1903: six stages, 2428 kilometres.

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The idea of ​​the Tour de France had been put forward on December 2, 1902 by Géo Lefèvre, former student of Lycée Marceau in Chartres (Eure-et-Loir).

Seven months later, on July 1, 59 riders set off from Montgeron for a 2,428 kilometer long Tour de France, divided into six stages which connect Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes and Paris.

Or as a daily average, more than 400 kilometersall without technical assistance and on bikes without derailleur. The route is most often done at night to avoid the heat.

On the road to legend

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July 1st in one of The CarGeo Lefevre anticipates the legend of the Tour, the suffering bodies, the men bent over the bike, the bad weather, the falls. “These men are more than men[1] “, he hammers.

On July 19, on the eve of the arrival in Paris, in the same vein, he promised these “veterans of the battles of the road… rest after those interminable hours of struggle and suffering.” In March 1903, his former English teacher at Lycée Marceau, Gaston Sevrette– decisive in his sporting vocation – published in the columns of The Car an article where he also celebrated the practice of sport, a guarantee of virtue and self-transcendence [2].

Last stage of the Tour de France in Eure-Loir and Chartres

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Nantes-Paris: with its 471 kilometersthe last step is also the longest.

Leaving Nantes at 8 p.m., the convicts of the road cross the Eure-et-Loir par Guillonville, Sancheville, Villars, Montainville, Dammarie, Morancez, Chartres, Coltainville, Gallardon et Ecrosnes.

Between Patay and Dammarie, the Vové athletic club provides oversight [3] of the race before the scheduled finish two hundred meters before Trois-Ponts, at the entrance to Chartres.

The organization wanted to avoid “a fight in the city”. At 11:05 a.m., ten escapees show the end of their handlebars. And it was Garin, the leader, who put the others in agreement by winning the sprint and the twenty-five francs offered by the Union chartraine du commerce [4]. It is by far the freshest [5] ».

Tour de France, Chartres: waiting at Place des Epars

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The official control of the race was installed Place des Epars at the Grand Café de France, decked out in the national colors.

Journalists, representatives of the Chartrain Sports Bike as well as Gaston Sevrette, honorary president of the Centre-Ouest regional committee.

The enthusiasts arrived at 9:30 a.m. – do you ever know? – At 10.30 a.m. a compact crowd, barely maintained by the constabulary, invaded the square, impatiently awaiting “these brave men who offered themselves pedals with legs– s’amuse The Journal of Chartres – this nice part of an excursion through France”.

The atmosphere is electric. “Photographers put their cameras on standby ready to capture the face of the favorite in flight. We snatch the sports newspapers that street vendors are shouting at the top of their voices.

Here they are !

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At 10:30 am, a motorcyclist wearing an armband arrives and gives news of the riders who are coming. At 10:45 am a short cry: here they are!

Heads are tilted… No, it’s a little butcher boy carrying a basket on the handlebars to get an order… At 11.06 am, there’s still a loud cry, here they are! This time, the alert is not in vain…

In the middle of a cloud of dust, we see the arrival of the ten riders of the first peloton. They are in a rather pitiful state, covered in mud, dust, sweat, torn, muddy, winnowed, hardly men. [6]. The heroes of the day rush to checkpoint, take off their teeth, wolf down sandwiches and grab a chocolate at the Café de France: it’s Garin who treats himself with his twenty-five francs earned in the Trois-Ponts sprint. [7].

After Chartres, direction Paris

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The passage of the Tour de France “ was a complete success “. The public was at the rendezvous “and everywhere the competitors received the best reception”, welcomes The Eure-et-Loir Dispatch [8].

Nevertheless, The Journal of Chartres notes that “the passage of the riders from the Tour de France aroused less emotion than the passage of the competitors from the death race [9] ».

Allusion to the Paris-Madrid car race of the previous May. It resulted in eight deaths, including the Irish pilot Porter, victim of an accident at Bonneval.

Already a media success

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But Geo Lefèvre, the former Chartrain, is over the moon. The Tour has won the bet of media coverage. In Chartres, “The Auto is in everyone’s hands” and ” The Journal of Chartres, the Progress of Eure-et-Loir, the Dispatch of Eure-et-Loir dedicate good lines to racing [10]. »

Garin, who had left Chartres in the lead, won the last stage and won the first Tour de France with a lead of 2 hours and 59 minutes over the second, Lucien Pothier. He cycled a total of 94 hours 33 minutes at an average speed of 26 km/h. The average of the stages was 18 hours…

[1] The Car July, 1st

[2] “Don’t you think that the working-class spread of our athletic sports could help in the fight against alcoholism and tuberculosis? which was thus elevated to the rank of a remedy for the social and health issue. The Car 14 mars.

[3] The Eure-et-Loir DispatchJuly 19, 1903

[4] The Eure-et-Loir Dispatch July 19, 1903.

[5] The bikeJuly 20, 1903.

[6] Chartres NewspaperJuly 21, 1903

[7] Currently leaving Chartres via Le Coudray

[8] The Dispatch July 21

[9] Chartres NewspaperJuly 21, 1903

[10] The CarJuly 19, 1903. Above all, the direct competitor of the Auto, Le Vélo, covered the event as well as the national press.

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