Controversy and Growth

The Tour's second edition in 1904 nearly killed the race before it could establish itself. Widespread cheating, including riders taking trains and competitors spreading nails on the road, led to the disqualification of the first four finishers, including defending champion Maurice Garin. Desgrange threatened to cancel the Tour permanently, declaring it had been "killed by its own success."

The Crisis of 1904

The 1904 scandal revealed the dark side of the Tour's popularity. Partisan crowds attacked riders from rival regions. In Saint-Étienne, masked men assaulted riders to help local favorite Antoine Fauré. Shots were fired, though whether in anger or celebration remained unclear. The chaos forced Desgrange to rethink the Tour's format.

His solution was radical: instead of the mass starts that allowed drafting and made supervision difficult, future Tours would feature individual time trials and mountain stages where cheating would be harder to conceal. The point system was replaced with accumulated time, making the race more transparent. These changes, born from crisis, established the fundamental structure that endures today.