100 years of the Tour de France 1903-2003

On that first of July 1903, a group of young men were ready in Montgeron, opposite the café 'Réveil Marin', to start in a few minutes for a race that no one knew how it would go or how it would end. Henri Desgrange and his assistant Géo Lefèvre had drawn up the route for a long tour around France. Six stages for a total distance of 2426 adventurous kilometres. Sports-loving France was more than suspicious: 'You have to be really crazy to start that!' When Maurice Garin arrived in Paris as the winner after so many days of hellish fighting, the die was cast. Success has many fathers, but here all the credit goes to Henri Desgrange.