1906 Tour de France - Changes From The 1905 Tour de France

Changes From The 1905 Tour De France

Tour organiser Henri Desgrange had been happy with the increased length of the 1905 Tour de France, and decided to put even more stages in the 1906 version. The introduction of mountain stages had also been successful, so this year not only the Vosges were included, but also the Massif Central.

The increased length made it possible to follow the borders of France, and in 1906 the perimeter was closely followed.

The points system in the 1905 Tour de France had been successful enough in reducing cheating, so the Tour organisers used it again in the 1906 Tour de France, with a few changes: whereas in 1905, time differences still had some effect on the points distribution, in 1906 time differences were unimportant, and points were only given for the order in which the cyclists finished. The winner of the stage received one point, the second rider two points, et cetera. After the eighth stage, only 16 cyclists were remaining, and the results from the first eight stages were recalculated, with only the remaining cyclists, and the points were redistributed among the remaining riders in accordance with their positions in those stages.

The first stage ended in Lille and the second stage started in Douai; this was the first time that a stage did not start where the previous stage ended. Also for the first time, the Tour went outside France: in the second stage, Germany (Alsace-Lorraine was then part of Germany) was visited. The 1906 Tour also saw the introduction of the flamme rouge (red flame), a red flag that indicates that the cyclists only have one kilometre to go.