A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
The 2024 Tour de France started its annual cycling marathon through the beautiful European countryside on Saturday, and the headline in the Deseret News blared:
“The Tour de France started. Does anyone in America care?”
Good question. In 1903, the answer was easy.
On July 1, 1903, the first Tour de France began. The race ended on July 19; the winner was Maurice Garin.
Here in Utah, the front page of the Deseret News touted a popular race, but it wasn’t in France. And it wasn’t for cycling.
The J. Gordon Bennett Cup auto race at Bally Shannon, Ireland, was won by Camille Jenatzy of Belgium. That made the front page of the Deseret News. Sports coverage that day in 1903 included reporting on the July 1 bicycle races at the Salt Palace track. Johnnie Chapman was the start of the night, winning the main event.
The Tour de France has had an interesting history, and it was proposed by the newspaper L’Auto to boost paper sales. And unfortunately, doping has been around as long as the race.
In the early years, Tour riders were accused of consuming alcohol and ether to dull the pain. A century later, Lance Armstrong was America’s link to the race — think the “Tour de Lance” years — but then allegations of doping toppled the once legendary cyclist.
And world events have impacted the race.
On June 28, 1914, a pack of cyclists set off from Paris on the 12th Tour de France. Hours later, an Austrian archduke stepped out in Sarajevo and was assassinated in the street, igniting the carnage of World War I.
The 1914 Tour was the last before a five-year suspension due to the war. Of the 145 riders that day, 15 of them, including three Tour champions, would die in the fighting.
In all, an estimated 45 cyclists who had raced in pre-war Tours were killed in the 1914-1918 war, according to cycling historian Jean-Paul Bourgier. The race was also not held from 1940 to 1946 due to World War II.
“Tour de France marks World War I centennial”
“Tour de France looks at past, future”
“Tour de Lance once again Tour de France”
“Confessions of a Tour de France addict”
“Cavendish honors D-Day after Utah Beach Tour de France win”
“5 questions with cyclist David Zabriskie”
Of interest, Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain have all won more than five tours. Armstrong was stripped of his titles. Last year’s winner was Jonas Vingegaard.
Earlier Monday, Eritrean Biniam Girmay won the third stage of the Tour de France in a sprint finish as Mark Cavendish missed out on his first opportunity to break Merckx’s record for career stage victories. Biniam became the first Black African rider to win a stage on the Tour de France.