The Story of the Tour de France, Volume 1: 1903-1975: How a Newspaper Promotion Became the Greatest Sporting Event in the World
· ISBN: 978-0-9859636-8-2
At the dawn of the 20th century, French newspapers used bicycle races as promotions to build readership. Until 1903 these were one-day events. Looking to deliver a coup de grace in a vicious circulation war, Henri Desgrange?editor of the Parisian sports magazine L’Auto?took the suggestion of one of his writers to organize a race that would last several days longer than anything else, like the six-day races on the track, but on the road.That’s exactly what happened.