1919 Tour de France

April 2019 May 2019 1919 Tour de France Route of the 1919 Tour de France.png Route of the 1919 Tour de France followed counterclockwise, starting in Paris Map of France with 15 cities marked by black dots, connected by red lines. The route formed goes from Paris, counterclockwise along France's borders, back to Paris. 360px 29 June – 27 July 1919 15 5560 km 231h 07' 15" Firmin Lambot BEL yellow Category A Jean Alavoine FRA Category A Eugène Christophe FRA Category A 1914 1920 The 1919 Tour de France was the 13th edition, taking place from 29 June to 27 July covering a total distance of 5560 km mi.Augendre 2016 108 It was the first Tour de France after World War I, and was won by Firmin Lambot. Following the tenth stage, the yellow jersey, given to the leader of the general classification, was introduced, and first worn by Eugène Christophe.http://www.letour.fr/HISTO/us/TDF/1919/histoire.html The Tour - Year 1919 Amaury Sport Organisation 13 June 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20100717070741/http://www.letour.fr/HISTO/us/TDF/1919/histoire.html 17 July 2010 dead dmy-all The fighting in World War I had ravaged the French road system, which made cycling difficult. As a result, the average speed (24.056 km/h) and the number of finishing cyclists (ten) were the lowest in history.http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdfstats.html Bike Race Info Tour de France Statistics 3 June 2009 Background Since the previous Tour de France in 1914, it was impossible to organize the Tour de France due to World War I. Tour organizer Henri Desgrange always wanted to organize a Tour after the war, and within days after the end of the war, the organization of the 1919 Tour de France started.http://www.cyclingrevealed.com/timeline/Race%20Snippets/TdF/TdF1919.htm THE RETURN of a Grand Affair - "New Tour Legend: the Maillot Jaune" Barry Boys Cycling Revealed 3 June 2009 Innovations and changes Three former winners of the Tour, François Faber, Octave Lapize and Lucien Petit-Breton had died fighting in the war. Two other former winners, Philippe Thys and Odile Defraye, started the race.http://veloarchive.com/races/tour/1919.php 1919: Christophe in Yellow - but not in Paris Tom James 15 August 2003 3 June 2009 The war had been over for only seven months, so most cyclists did not have a chance to adequately train for the Tour. For that reason, there were almost no new younger cyclists, and the older cyclists dominated the race.http://images.si.com/cycling/news/2002/07/03/timeline_5/ Tour de France: Timeline Sports Illustrated 3 June 2009 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20110805032220/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/cycling/news/2002/07/03/timeline_5/ 5 August 2011 The organization did not make it easy for the cyclists: with the addition of a stop at Strasbourg (recently recovered in the war), the length was extended to 5560 km: longer than all the previous Tours. Since then, only the 1926 Tour de France has been longer. The bicycle manufacturers also suffered from the war and were unable to sponsor teams of cyclists. They worked together and sponsored more than half of the cyclists under the name "La Sportive",McGann McGann 2006 51–56 but effectively all the cyclists rode as individuals,http://www.wielercentrum.com/tourdefrance/achtergronden/tourverhalen/1919--Wanhoopspoging-levert-Firmin-Lambot-Tourzege-op-501.html 1919: Wanhoopspoging levert Firmin Lambot Tourzege op Tourdefrance.nl nl 3 June 2009 19 March 2003 usurped https://web.archive.org/web/20120724023018/http://www.wielercentrum.com/tourdefrance/achtergronden/tourverhalen/1919--Wanhoopspoging-levert-Firmin-Lambot-Tourzege-op-501.html 24 July 2012 wearing grey jerseys.Cossins Best Sidwells Griffith 2013 58-59 The lack of team colours made riders indistinguishable and lead to the introduction of the leader's jersey. Cyclists were divided in an A-category (professional) and a B-category (amateurs). In previous years, cyclists had to take care of their own food during the race. In 1919, the tour organisation took care of this. Participants List of cyclists in the 1919 Tour de France Race overview 1919 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 8 1919 Tour de France, Stage 9 to Stage 15 thumb|Eugène Christophe lead the race for most of the 1919 Tour de France, but did not win it due to a broken fork.|alt=Black and white image of man bending over his bicycle while several other men are watching. The first stage was won by Belgian Jean Rossius. However, he was penalised 30 minutes for illegally helping Philippe Thys (handing him a water bottle),http://bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf1919.html 1919 Tour de France by BikeRaceInfo bikeraceinfo.com en 24 November 2018 therefore giving Henri Pélissier the lead in the race.http://memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_1903_1939/tdf1919_1.php https://web.archive.org/web/20120222105212/http://memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_1903_1939/tdf1919_1.php 22 February 2012 28 October 2016 dead Mémoire du cyclisme 13ème Tour de France 1919 - 1ème étape fr It did not help Thys, however, because he had to abandon the race in the first stage after a large crash. In the beginning of the race, Henri and Francis Pélissier were the best. They both finished before the rest in stage two, with Henri crossing the line first. In the third stage, Henri, leading the race, wanted to stop. Organizer Desgrange did all he could to change Pélissier's mind, and finally Pélissier started to race again. He was already 45 minutes behind, and the next three hours he was chasing the rest. He finally caught up, and finished second in the sprint, after his brother Francis. After that victory, Henri Pélissier said that he was a thoroughbred and the rest of the cyclists were work horses, which made the other cyclists angry.McGann McGann 2006 51–56 During that third stage, Léon Scieur punctured four times, and lost two hours.http://www.veloarchive.com/races/tour/1921.php 1921: Scieur continues the Belgian domination Veloarchive Tom James 15 August 2003 10 June 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20190422205322/http://veloarchive.com/races/tour/1921.php 22 April 2019 live In the fourth stage, the rest of the cyclists (only 25 were still in race) took revenge on the Pélissier brothers. When they had to change bicycles, everybody else sped away from them. Henri Pélissier chased the rest, but was then ordered by Desgrange to stop working together with other cyclists in his pursuit. In the end, Henri Pélissier had lost more than 35 minutes, and his brother Francis over three hours. The Pélissier brothers were angry at the organisation and left the race.McGann McGann 2006 51–56 Jean Alavoine won the stage, and Eugène Christophe became the new leader in the general classification. Alavoine would also win the fifth stage, the longest ever in history at 482 km. Christophe was still in Grenoble at the start of stage eleven, when, at 2am tour organiser Henri Desgrange gave him a yellow jersey, so that he could easily be recognized.https://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/1409/history-of-the-tour-de-france-jerseys History of the Tour de France jerseys Cunningham Josh 4 July 2016 Cyclist 24 November 2018 The colour was inspired by the colour of the organizing newspaper, l'Auto,http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/dossiers/dos_1919_1.php https://web.archive.org/web/20120322021450/http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/dossiers/dos_1919_1.php 22 March 2012 28 October 2016 dead Mémoire du cyclisme fr Le premier Maillot Jaune - Tour de France 1919 although another explanation is that other colours were not available in the post-war shortage.McGann McGann 2006 51–56 Previously the leader would wear a green armband. Christophe was not happy with his yellow jersey, and other cyclists called him a canary.McGann McGann 2006 51–56 At that point in the race, it was likely that Christophe would stay the leader until the end of the Tour de France, because he remained in that yellow jersey after the Pyrenees and the Alps. In the penultimate stage, Firmin Lambot, who was in second position, more than 28 minutes behind, attacked. Christophe, still leading the race, chased him, but broke his fork close to Valenciennes. The rules were such that cyclists could get no help at all, so Christophe repaired his bicycle himself. This same thing had already cost him the victory in 1913, and would happen to him for a third time in 1922.https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/in_depth/2001/tour_de_france/1364731.stm 1919-1929: 'Convicts of the road' 5 June 2001 3 June 2009 BBC Sport https://web.archive.org/web/20090604124546/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/in_depth/2001/tour_de_france/1364731.stm 4 June 2009 live It took him over two and a half hours, and he had lost the lead to Lambot. In the last stage, Christophe had a record number of punctures, and also lost his second place to Jean Alavoine. Lambot, aged 33, was at that moment the oldest Tour de France winner in history.http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/COURSE/docs/histo_01.pdf Le Tour en chiffres - Le palmarès fr ASO 3 June 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20100717024419/http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/COURSE/docs/histo_01.pdf 17 July 2010 dead dmy-all Because the organising newspaper, l'Auto, felt bad for Christophe, he received the same prize money as the winner Lambot. In addition, a collection raised money, the donors for this prize were reported in 20 pages in the newspaper.Woodland 2007 89 Altogether, Christophe received 13310 Francs, much more than the 5000 Francs that Lambot received for his victory.McGann McGann 2006 51–56 Results In each stage, all cyclists started together. The cyclist who reached the finish first, was the winner of the stage. The time that each cyclist required to finish the stage was recorded. For the general classification, these times were added up; the cyclist with the least accumulated time was the race leader. From the eleventh stage on, the leader in the general classification was identified by the yellow jersey. Stage winners + Stage characteristics and winnershttp://memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_1903_1939/tdf1919.php Mémoire du cyclisme 13ème Tour de France 1919 fr 1 June 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20090503043921/http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_1903_1939/tdf1919.php 3 May 2009 dead Augendre 2016 17http://www.cvccbike.com/tour/top_ten.html#1919 Tour de France GC top ten Arian Zwegers CVCC 30 May 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20080516071832/http://www.cvccbike.com/tour/top_ten.html 16 May 2008 live The history of the Tour de France – Year 1919 – The stage winners http://histo.letour.fr/HISTO/us/TDF/1919/vainqueurs.html Tour de France Amaury Sport Organisation 2 April 2020 2 April 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200402233132/http://histo.letour.fr/HISTO/us/TDF/1919/vainqueurs.html dead Stage Date Course Distance TypeIn 1919, there was no distinction in the rules between plain stages and mountain stages; the icons shown here indicate which stage included mountains. Winner Race leader 1 29 June Paris to Le Havre 388 km mi on 20px|alt=|link= Plain stage Jean Rossius BEL Henri Pélissier FRAThe winner of stage 1, Rossius, received a 30-minute penalty, so after stage 1 Henri Pélissier, who finished second, was leading the race. 2 1 July Le Havre to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin 364 km mi on 20px|alt=|link= Plain stage Henri Pélissier FRA Henri Pélissier FRA 3 3 July Cherbourg to Brest 405 km mi on 20px|alt=|link= Plain stage Francis Pélissier FRA Henri Pélissier FRA 4 5 July Brest to Les Sables-d'Olonne 412 km mi on 20px|alt=|link= Plain stage Jean Alavoine FRA Eugène Christophe FRA 5 7 July Les Sables-d'Olonne to Bayonne 482 km mi on 20px|alt=|link= Plain stage Jean Alavoine FRA Eugène Christophe FRA 6 9 July Bayonne to Luchon 326 km mi on 20px|alt=|link= Stage with mountain Honore Barthelemy FRA Eugène Christophe FRA 7 11 July Luchon to Perpignan 323 km mi on 20px|alt=|link= Stage with mountain Jean Alavoine FRA Eugène Christophe FRA 8 13 July Perpignan to Marseille 370 km mi on 20px|alt=|link= Plain stage Jean Alavoine FRA Eugène Christophe FRA 9 15 July Marseille to Nice 338 km mi on 20px|alt=|link= Stage with mountain Honoré Barthélemy FRA Eugène Christophe FRA 10 17 July Nice to Grenoble 333 km mi on 20px|alt=|link= Stage with mountain Honoré Barthélemy FRA Eugène Christophe FRA 11 19 July Grenoble to Geneva 325 km mi on 20px|alt=|link= Stage with mountain Honoré Barthélemy FRA Eugène Christophe FRA 12 21 July Geneva to Strasbourg 371 km mi on 20px|alt=|link= Stage with mountain Luigi Lucotti ITA 1861 Eugène Christophe FRA 13 23 July Strasbourg to Metz 315 km mi on 20px|alt=|link= Plain stage Luigi Lucotti ITA 1861 Eugène Christophe FRA 14 25 July Metz to Dunkerque 468 km mi on 20px|alt=|link= Plain stage Firmin Lambot BEL Firmin Lambot BEL 15 27 July Dunkerque to Paris 340 km mi on 20px|alt=|link= Plain stage Jean Alavoine FRA Firmin Lambot BEL Total 5560 km 0 onAugendre 2016 108 General classification thumb|upright|Firmin Lambot, the winner of the 1919 Tour|alt=Man sitting on bicycle. Of the 67 cyclists that started the race, only 11 cyclists finished. On 12 August 1919, Paul Duboc (8th overall), was disqualified for borrowing a car to go and repair his pedal axle, which left only 10 cyclists in the final classification. In total, 43 cyclists started as category A, and 24 cyclists as category B. + Final general classification (1–10)The history of the Tour de France – Year 1919 – Stage 15 Dunkerque > Paris http://histo.letour.fr/HISTO/us/TDF/1919/1500/etape.html Tour de France Amaury Sport Organisation 2 April 2020 2 April 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200402214436/http://histo.letour.fr/HISTO/us/TDF/1919/1500/etape.html dead Rank Rider Category Time1 Firmin Lambot BEL A 231h 07' 15"2 Jean Alavoine FRA A + 1h 42' 54"3 Eugène Christophe FRA A + 2h 26' 31"4 Léon Scieur BEL A + 2h 52' 15"5 Honoré Barthélemy FRA A + 4h 14' 22"6 Jacques Coomans BEL A + 15h 21' 34"7 Luigi Lucotti ITA 1861 A + 16h 01' 12"8 Joseph Van Daele BEL A + 18h 23' 02"9 Alfred Steux BEL A + 20h 29' 01"10 Jules Nempon FRA B + 21h 44' 12" Aftermath The yellow jersey, which was introduced in this tour, was so successful that it has been used ever since. Thys claimed to have worn the first yellow jersey when leading in 1913: Desgrange had requested him to wear a distinguishable coloured jersey, so his team manager found him a yellow jersey.Cossins Best Sidwells Griffith 2013 58-59 The winner of the race, Lambot, would later also win the 1922 Tour de France, but has become a half-forgotten figure in the Tour's history. The fight between cyclist Pélissier and tour organiser Desgrange would continue for many years. Pélissier would win the 1923 Tour de France. Notes References 30em Bibliography Jacques Augendre Jacques Augendre http://netstorage.lequipe.fr/ASO/cyclisme/le-tour/2016/histoire/TDF16_GH_Interactif-PROD.pdf Guide historique Historical guide 2016 fr 27 October 2016 Tour de France Paris Amaury Sport Organisation https://web.archive.org/web/20160817121602/http://netstorage.lequipe.fr/ASO/cyclisme/le-tour/2016/histoire/TDF16_GH_Interactif-PROD.pdf 17 August 2016 live Cossins Peter Best Isabel Sidwells Chris Griffith Clare Le Tour 100: The Definitive History of the World's Greatest Race https://books.google.com/books?id=-eRYAQAAQBAJ 2013 Hachette UK London 978-1-84403-759-9 McGann Bill McGann Carol The Story of the Tour de France: 1903–1964 1 https://books.google.com/books?id=jxq20JskqMUC Dog Ear Publishing Indianapolis, IN 2006 978-1-59858-180-5 Woodland Les The Yellow Jersey Companion to the Tour de France https://books.google.com/books?id=QdMSjfvjDhUC 2007 1st. pub. 2003 Yellow Jersey Press London 978-0-224-08016-3 Further reading Mapping Le Tour Ellis Bacon HarperCollins Publishers Glasgow 2014 48–49 9780007543991 872700415 https://books.google.com/books?id=CWxkwQEACAAJ We rode all day: The story of the 1919 Tour de France Gareth Cartman Self-published 2019 978-1-916019-70-6 https://books.google.com/books?id=31jazQEACAAJ Sprinting Through No Man's Land: Endurance, Tragedy, and Rebirth in the 1919 Tour de France Adin Dobkin Little A 2021 978-1-542018-82-1 External links 1919 Tour de France 1 8 9 15 Tour de France Category:Tour de France by year Tour De France, 1919 Tour de France Tour de France