1909 Tour de France

The Tour de France 1909 took place from August 1st of July 5. The route was identical to that in the previous two sweeps. Was newly introduced category for drivers who were not at a company team under contract.

Race course

This tour went down in history as the one with the worst external conditions. In the first half of July, France was struck by a distinctive cold snap. Because of the constant rain, the roads were softened, the drivers had to fight through the mud and were even surprised in the mountains of Schneegestöbern. After the sixth stage 69 of the 150 drivers had already abandoned the race. A total of 95 riders abandoned the Tour, so only 55 reached the target.

Only the later Tour winner François Faber seemed to have nothing adverse circumstances; He won five consecutive stages. Particularly impressive was his performance in the third stage, when he arrived with about 33 minutes head start in Belfort after a solo flight of 255 km. The Luxembourg defended the top position to the finish in Paris and was the first foreigner to win the Tour.

On the last leg was Jean Alavoines bike no longer be used after an accident. The Frenchman was not on, but carried his bike on the shoulders down to just ten kilometers away goal and won the stage.

The stages

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