1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:17,080 Speaker 1: show that races through the mile markers of history one 4 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,639 Speaker 1: day at a time. I'm Gabe Lucier and in this 5 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:24,439 Speaker 1: episode we're looking at how an ex Chimney sweep pedaled 6 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:27,640 Speaker 1: his way to victory at the first ever Tour de France. 7 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:43,560 Speaker 1: The day was July nineteenth, nineteen oh three. French bicycler 8 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:48,240 Speaker 1: Maurice Garon took first place at the inaugural Tour de France. 9 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: He and the other twenty remaining riders had set out 10 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: the previous evening from Naant on the sixth and final 11 00:00:55,880 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: stage of the fifteen hundred mile bike race. The finish 12 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 1: line was waiting nearly three hundred miles away in a 13 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: western suburb of Paris called Ville d'avrey. Maurice Gueran, a 14 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:12,880 Speaker 1: former Chimney Sweep, was the first to arrive there, crossing 15 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: the finish line a little over seventeen hours after starting 16 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,760 Speaker 1: out from Nantes. He had won two stages of the 17 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:23,479 Speaker 1: race already, and his third win in Paris confirmed him 18 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 1: as the champion. It was a pretty decisive victory too, 19 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 1: because while Guaron wound up winning the final leg by 20 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:34,560 Speaker 1: only one minute. His margin for the full race gave 21 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: him a nearly three hour lead over the rider in 22 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: second place. It was an auspicious end for an event 23 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: billed as the grandest cycle race organized to date. Although 24 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:49,920 Speaker 1: it's now considered the most prestigious bike race in the world, 25 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 1: the Tour de France had a somewhat humbler beginning. It 26 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:57,559 Speaker 1: started out as a publicity stunt for a struggling daily 27 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: sports newspaper called Lato. One of the paper's reporters, Gillo Lefevre, 28 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,920 Speaker 1: suggested to his boss, en Rie de Grente, that they 29 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:10,800 Speaker 1: host an epic road bike race as a way to 30 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:15,079 Speaker 1: catch the public's attention and boost the paper circulation. Des 31 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: Grente loved the idea, and together the men organized a 32 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:22,079 Speaker 1: new kind of race, one that would give them lots 33 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:25,360 Speaker 1: of fodder for their articles and last through weeks of 34 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 1: daily editions. At that point, road racing had only existed 35 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: as an organized sport for about thirty years or so, 36 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:36,200 Speaker 1: and all of the races thus far had been single 37 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: day events, with courses starting in one place and ending 38 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: at another. But the Tour de France promised to be different. 39 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: Its course would be a clockwise loop of the country 40 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:51,400 Speaker 1: that covered fifteen hundred and nine miles or two thousand, 41 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:56,239 Speaker 1: four hundred and twenty eight kilometers. That immense distance would 42 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,560 Speaker 1: be broken up into six stages of about two hundred 43 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 1: and fiftyifty miles each, and a rest period of one 44 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: to three days would be scheduled between stages to give 45 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 1: the athletes a chance to recover. The grueling course would 46 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: take nineteen days to complete, but the participants who did 47 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: so would earn a share of twenty thousand francs in 48 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: prize money, with a full six thousand going to the champion. 49 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: As you've probably gathered, the first Tour de France posed 50 00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: an extremely difficult challenge for even the most seasoned cyclists. 51 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:33,399 Speaker 1: For comparison, the course for the twenty twenty three Tour 52 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: de France runs about six hundred miles longer than the 53 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:41,840 Speaker 1: first course, but it's divided into twenty one stages rather 54 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: than six, and riders have twenty three days to complete 55 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 1: it instead of just nineteen. Any would be racers at 56 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 1: the first event clearly had their work cut out for them. Nonetheless, 57 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:56,920 Speaker 1: sixty wheelmen showed up at the starting line in Paris 58 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: on the afternoon of July first, nineteen oh three. Some 59 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: of them had come from other countries to compete, including Belgium, Switzerland, 60 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 1: Germany and Italy, but most of the five dozen riders 61 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: were French, including Maurice Geron, though he had immigrated from 62 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,160 Speaker 1: Italy as a child. The anxious riders mounted their bikes 63 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 1: outside a cafe in Paris and at three sixteen p m. 64 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: They set out for an endurance test. Unlike any other, 65 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: the course would take them south from the French capital 66 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: to Lyon and then down to Marseilles before turning west 67 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:36,760 Speaker 1: to Toulouse. From there, the riders would return north to Bordeaux, 68 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 1: then on to Naunt and finally back to Paris. The 69 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:44,720 Speaker 1: extensive tour was made even more demanding by the fact 70 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 1: that cyclists had to ride over unpaved roads in especially 71 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:53,120 Speaker 1: dangerous prospect as none of the riders wore helmets. The 72 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:57,119 Speaker 1: punishing length of each stage also required participants to ride 73 00:04:57,120 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 1: through the night, often with nothing but the moon and 74 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:02,600 Speaker 1: s stars to light their way, and while that may 75 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: sound peaceful, the darkness made it that much harder to 76 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 1: avoid obstacles in the road, and for some riders to 77 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:13,679 Speaker 1: even stay awake. The bikes themselves weren't much help either. 78 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: Most of them had steel frames and wooden rims, which 79 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: made them heavy and cumbersome to steer. To make matters worse, 80 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:25,839 Speaker 1: their brakes were unreliable, their tires punctured easily, and because 81 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:29,520 Speaker 1: the bikes were single speed, they were especially strenuous to 82 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:34,239 Speaker 1: ride uphill. Unlike modern Tour de France racers, the first 83 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: year's participants rode as individuals rather than as team members. 84 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:41,760 Speaker 1: They weren't allowed to receive help of any kind on 85 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:46,600 Speaker 1: the road, either from support cars or from their fellow riders. Instead, 86 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:50,559 Speaker 1: each racer was responsible for their own repairs, a rule 87 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 1: that prompted many to travel with spare tires and tubes 88 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: wrapped around their torsos just in case they got a 89 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 1: flat along the way, which many of them did. Given 90 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:05,040 Speaker 1: all those daunting challenges, it's no surprise that twenty three 91 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: riders abandoned the race in the very first stage, with 92 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:12,440 Speaker 1: more to come. One notable exception was thirty two year 93 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:17,479 Speaker 1: old professional road racer Maurice Garron, nicknamed the Little Chimney 94 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:21,480 Speaker 1: Sweep due to his short stature and former occupation Garroon 95 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:25,279 Speaker 1: clocked the fastest time in both the first and fifth 96 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:28,920 Speaker 1: stages of the race. He might have won even more, too, 97 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: if not for his frequent pit stops at bars to 98 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:37,560 Speaker 1: refuel on wine and cigarettes. The sixth and final stage 99 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,719 Speaker 1: was the longest of the race, stretching two hundred and 100 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:45,040 Speaker 1: eighty seven miles from Nantes to Paris. The riders set 101 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 1: out in the late evening of July eighteenth, so that 102 00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 1: spectators would be able to watch them arrive the following afternoon. 103 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: Public interest in the race had grown steadily from one 104 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:58,560 Speaker 1: leg to the next, much to the delight of its organizers. 105 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:03,279 Speaker 1: Newspapers circulation rose six fold during the race, and a 106 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 1: crowd of more than twenty thousand people gathered at the 107 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: finish line to see how it ended. By that point, 108 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:13,360 Speaker 1: Geron was the clear favorite to win, and on July nineteenth, 109 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:18,000 Speaker 1: nineteen oh three, he did exactly that. Geron had spent 110 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:22,360 Speaker 1: roughly ninety five hours on his bike, averaging about fifteen 111 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: miles per hour. His total time bested his nearest competitor 112 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 1: by nearly three hours, a record that still stands as 113 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: the greatest winning margin in Tour de France's history. You 114 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 1: might imagine that was the start of a long esteemed 115 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:42,280 Speaker 1: career from Maurice Gerron as a professional racer. As it 116 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: turned out, though his win at the nineteen oh three 117 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 1: Tour would be the last recognized success of his cycling career. 118 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 1: There had been some rule breaking in the inaugural Tour 119 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:56,720 Speaker 1: de France. Several racers were disqualified for riding in the 120 00:07:56,720 --> 00:08:01,240 Speaker 1: slipstream of a passing car. Garon himself was later accused 121 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:04,640 Speaker 1: of having intimidated and assaulted a fellow racer with the 122 00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:08,240 Speaker 1: help of some other riders, reportedly stomping the man's bike 123 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:12,080 Speaker 1: to pieces to keep him from competing. These illegal actions 124 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:16,640 Speaker 1: went unreported until after the race, and since witness accounts varied, 125 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:21,240 Speaker 1: no action was taken against any of the riders involved. However, 126 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,360 Speaker 1: it would be a different story the following year at 127 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:27,760 Speaker 1: the nineteen o four Tour de France. The cheating in 128 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:31,480 Speaker 1: that race was much more rampant, with racers engaging in 129 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:35,040 Speaker 1: everything from scattering tax and broken glass on the road 130 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 1: to pop their rivals tires, to hitching rides on cars 131 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,440 Speaker 1: in the night or hopping trains to get ahead of 132 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: the competition. Maurice Garron is said to have engaged in 133 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:49,560 Speaker 1: such behavior himself, though his specific offenses are now lost 134 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:53,440 Speaker 1: to history. Garon won the Tour de France that year 135 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:56,679 Speaker 1: for a second time, but the scandalous nature of the 136 00:08:56,760 --> 00:08:59,959 Speaker 1: race was too great to ignore, and four months after 137 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:04,720 Speaker 1: successfully defending his title, Garon was disqualified along with the 138 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:08,920 Speaker 1: three other top finishers. The man who took fifth place 139 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,079 Speaker 1: wound up getting the money that year, a decision Garon 140 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: described as a quote flagrant injustice. The early cheating scandal 141 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:19,760 Speaker 1: would prove to be the first of many for the 142 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:24,560 Speaker 1: world's premiere cycling competition, and although Maurice Garron was the 143 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:27,800 Speaker 1: first Tour winner to be stripped of his title, he 144 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:33,440 Speaker 1: wouldn't be the last. I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you 145 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:36,480 Speaker 1: now know a little more about history today than you 146 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:40,319 Speaker 1: did yesterday. You can learn even more about history by 147 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:45,840 Speaker 1: following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, 148 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 1: and if you have any feedback you'd like to share, 149 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:51,880 Speaker 1: please pass it along by writing to this day at 150 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:56,560 Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays and Ben Hackett 151 00:09:56,559 --> 00:09:59,079 Speaker 1: for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening. 152 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:02,640 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day 153 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: in history class.