The first Tour de France was in 1903. It was an exciting event even at its inception. The first tour had 60 cyclists, was 17 days long, 1500 miles, and set up into six stages: from Paris to Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes before returning to the French capital.

The Tour de France is also live theatre portraying human potential in the thrill of victory and in some cases truly sad loss of life of that potential along its strenuous course; and of human pathos of the agony of defeat and disqualification.