Tour de France: The Longest Day

Tour de France: The Longest Day

The Tour de France is the most brutal and unforgiving test of human endurance. But compared to the race’s earliest editions, today’s feats can look like child’s play.

History Tour de France

As the Tour de France peloton gathers in the lovely town of Embrun, nestled on a cliff above the Durance river, the riders may well be cursing Christian Prudhomme for sending them on a leg-sapping 222km ride down to Salon-de-Provence, the longest stage of this year’s tour. 

They should count themselves fortunate not to have been racing during the reign of Henri Desgrange, who thought nothing of taking the Tour from Les Sables d’Olonne on the Atlantic coast in 1919, all the way through the Vendée and down to Bayonne in the Basque region for a mighty 482km in the saddle, an all-time record distance. 

3/7/1922 Tour de France 1922. Stage 5 – Les Sables D’Olonne to Bayonne. Cyclists Firmin Lambot and Joseph Muller stops for a break by the water pump during the 432km stage, the longest ever stage on the Tour.

 

Early Tours were very much a circuit of France, hugging its borders without much troubling the interior, and completed by bicycle: no train transfers, making for extraordinary daily distances.

Bearing in mind the Treaty of Versailles had only been signed the day before the 67 starters left Paris, and northern Europe and its roads remained in tatters following World War One, it should come as no surprise that 1919 also holds the record for the least number of finishers in the race’s history: ten men are shown in the official records. (An eleventh, Paul Duboc, was disqualified having been found to have completed the final stage by car, and who can blame him?).

2/7/1921 Tour de France 1921. Stage 5 – Les Sables D’Olonne to Bayonne. Riders cross the bridge in the town of St Andre De Cubzac.

Indeed, by the end of the second stage, just 27 riders remained in the hunt for the maillot jaune, only introduced that year as a way of identifying the leader from a pack of grey jerseys. It was a savage race of attrition, completed by extraordinary men in extraordinary times.

And the winner of the 482km stage to Bayonne on a Sunday in July, 1919? Jean Alavoine of France, in a time a few minutes shy of 19 hours. It was followed by two consecutive rest days. You can’t say they hadn’t earned them.

This article is an extract from Rouleur #63. 

The post Tour de France: The Longest Day appeared first on The world's finest cycling magazine.

History Tour de France

READ MORE

Demi Vollering 2025

Is FDJ-Suez the team that can help Demi Vollering to Tour de France Femmes redemption?

There are big changes for the Dutch rider in 2025 - will they pay off? Or could leadership issues arise again? 

Leer más
Tadej Pogačar to Paris-Roubaix 2025 – Legendary or laughable?

Tadej Pogačar to Paris-Roubaix 2025 – Legendary or laughable?

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider has teased his participation on social media, but is it a legitimate possibility?

Leer más
James Knox at the British Road Championships

‘Credit should go to Lefevere for working the market’ - James Knox on Soudal–Quick-Step’s evolution from the cobbles to Tour de France contenders

Now in his sixth year with the Belgian squad, the British rider discusses what has changed following the arrival and performances of Remco Evenepoel

Leer más
Portrait of Lukas Nerurkar

‘An altitude camp at the age of seven’ – Lukas Nerurkar on the power of doing things differently

The British rider had a unique upbringing, spending his early childhood in Ethiopia and learning from his marathon runner father – he tells Rouleur about...

Leer más
Women's UAE Tour

Women’s UAE Tour 2025: Who will win the four-stage race in the Middle East?

The third edition of the Women's WorldTour race will begin on Thursday, February, 6 2025 

Leer más

READ RIDE REPEAT

JOIN ROULEUR TODAY

Get closer to the sport than ever before.

Enjoy a digital subscription to Rouleur for just £4 per month and get access to our award-winning magazines.

SUBSCRIBE