1912 Tour de France
The Tour de France 1912 took place from July 28 June 30. The stage hosts were exactly the same as a year earlier; However, the track was shortened by a few kilometers. The last time the winner was determined by a point system. From 131 riders started only 41 finished the tour.
Race course
Lucien Petit- Breton, traded in advance of the tour as one of the favorites, crashed on the second stage at Armentieres along with a runaway cow and had to abandon the race. The Belgian champions Odiel Defraeye took over after the third stage of the overall lead and gave this not let up until the end. Although Eugène Christophe was initially thanks to three stage wins reduce the residue, but this was significantly distanced from Defraeye in the first stage in the Pyrenees. On the same day of the tournament favorites, Octave Lapize gave up the race, his team-mates did not recur on. So the first Tour victory of a Belgian was ultimately safely.
A technical innovation was the first use of the freewheel. However, tour director Henri Desgrange forbade its use on several stages. In his opinion, the driver did not set back so that the effective distance, because they were no longer forced to constantly kick.