The first daily sports newspaper in France at the end of the 19th century was Le Vélo. It sold 80,000 copies a day. France was split over a soldier,

The first daily sports newspaper in France at the end of the 19th century was Le Vélo. It sold 80,000 copies a day. France was split over a soldier, Alfred Dreyfus, found guilty of selling secrets to the Germans. Le Vélo stood for Dreyfus's innocence while some of its biggest advertisers, notably Albert de Dion, owner of the De Dion-Bouton car works, believed him guilty. Angry scenes followed between the advertisers and the editor, Pierre Giffard, and the advertisers started a rival paper.


The Tour de France began to promote that rival, L'Auto. It was to outdo the Paris-Brest et retour organised by Giffard. The idea for a round-France race came from L'Auto's chief cycling journalist, 26-year-old Géo Lefèvre. He and the editor, Henri Desgrange discussed it after lunch on 20 November 1902. L'Auto announced the race on 19 January 1903. The plan was a five-week race from 31 May to 5 July. This proved too daunting and only 15 riders entered. Desgrange cut the length to 19 days, changed the race dates to 1 July to 19 July, and offered a daily allowance. He attracted 60 entrants, not just professionals but amateurs, some unemployed, some simply adventurous.

The demanding nature of the race (the stages averaged 400 km and could run through the night), caught public imagination. L'Auto's circulation rose from 25,000 to 65,000;[8] by 1908 it was a quarter of a million, and during the 1923 Tour 500,000. The record claimed by Desgrange was 854,000 during the 1933 Tour.

No teams from Italy, Germany or Spain participated in the 1939 Tour de France because of political tensions preceding World War II, and the race was not held again until 1947, although other races were held in that period (see Tour de France during the Second World War).

Today, the Tour is organized by the Société du Tour de France, a subsidiary of Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), which is part of the media group that owns L'Équipe.


Mountains
Desgrange worried he was asking too much of competitors and stayed away in 1903, sending Lefèvre instead. His route included one mountain pass - the Ballon d'Alsace in the Vosges - but the Pyrenees were not included until 1910. In that year the race rode, or more walked, first the col d'Aubisque and then the nearby Tourmalet. Desgrange once more stayed away. Both climbs were mule tracks, a demanding challenge on heavy, ungeared bikes ridden by men with spare tyres around their shoulders and their food, clothing and tools in bags hung from their handlebars. The eventual winner, Octave Lapize, was second to the top of the Aubisque. He told waiting officials that they were "killers" (assassins).

Desgrange was confident enough after the Pyrenees to include the Alps in 1911.

Passes such as the Tourmalet have been made famous by the Tour and attract amateur cyclists every day in summer to test their fitness on roads used by champions. The difficulty of a climb is established by its steepness, length and its position on the course. The easiest are graded 4, most of the hardest as 1 and the exceptional (such as the Tourmalet) as beyond classification, or hors catégorie. Famous hors catégorie peaks include the Col du Tourmalet, Mont Ventoux, Col du Galibier, the climb to the ski resort of Hautacam, and Alpe d'Huez.