Henri Desgrange's Vision

Henri Desgrange was a complex figure—part visionary, part tyrant. His handlebar mustache and stern demeanor became as iconic as the race itself. Born in 1865, Desgrange had set the first official hour record in cycling, covering 35.325 kilometers in sixty minutes. But it was as an organizer and promoter that he would leave his mark on history.

"The ideal Tour would be one in which only one rider survived the ordeal," Desgrange once wrote, revealing his philosophy that the race should push human endurance to its absolute limits. He saw the Tour not merely as a sporting event but as a test of character, a metaphor for life itself where only the strongest—mentally and physically—could prevail.

His assistant, Géo Lefèvre, a 26-year-old rugby and cycling reporter, had suggested the idea during a meeting at the Brasserie Zimmer in Paris. "What if we organized a race around the whole of France?" Lefèvre proposed. Desgrange was initially skeptical—the logistics seemed impossible, the expense prohibitive. But desperation breeds innovation, and by January 1903, L'Auto announced the ambitious race.