number of participants in the 1903 tour de france
1903 Tour de France Sixty cyclists, all professionals or semi-professionals, started the race, of whom 49 were French, 4 Belgian, 4 Swiss, 2 German, and one Italian; 21 of them were sponsored by bicycle manufacturers, while 39 entered without commercial support.[7][8][14] 24 other cyclists took advantage of the opportunity to enter specific stages: one rode in both the second and fourth stages, and additionally three cyclists took part in the second stage, one in the third stage, fifteen in the fourth stage only, and a further four only competed in the fifth stage.[8]
Tour de France No teams from Italy, Germany or Spain rode in 1939 because of tensions preceding the Second World War (after German assistance to Franco in the Spanish Civil War it was widely expected Spain would join Germany in a European war, though this did not come to pass). Henri Desgrange planned a Tour for 1940, after war had started but before France had been invaded. The route, approved by military authorities, included a route along the Maginot Line.[114] Teams would have been drawn from military units in France, including the British, who would have been organised by a journalist, Bill Mills.[114] Then the Germans invaded and the race was not held again until 1947 (see Tour de France during the Second World War). The first German team after the war was in 1960, although individual Germans had ridden in mixed teams. The Tour has since started in Germany four times: in Cologne in 1965, in Frankfurt in 1980, in West Berlin on the city's 750th anniversary in 1987 and in DÃ¼sseldorf in 2017. Plans to enter East Germany in 1987 were abandoned.
1903 Tour de France The 1903 Tour de France was the first cycling race set up and sponsored by the newspaper L'Auto, ancestor of the current daily, L'Équipe. It ran from 1 to 19 July in six stages over 2,428 km (1,509 mi), and was won by Maurice Garin.[1]
Tour de France The Tour de France (French pronunciation: ​[tuʁ də fʁɑ̃s]) is an annual multiple stage bicycle race primarily held in France,[1] while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists of 21 stages over a little more than 3 weeks.