1908 Tour de France - Race Details

Race Details

At one stage, Henri Desgrange's car broke down, and the tour organiser had to finish the stage in a horse-drawn carriage.

The Labor team started the race in yellow jerseys; in 1908 the yellow jersey for the race leader was not used yet. In the first stage, from Paris to Roubaix, the cobbles caused many crashes and flat tyres. It was won by Georges Passerieu, while Petit-Breton finished second. The second stage, from Roubaix to Metz, passed the Alsace-Lorraine, then part of Germany. As in previous years, nails had been thrown on the road. This stage was won by Petit-Breton with Passerieu in second place. Having both won a stage and finished second in the other, Petit-Breton and Passerieu both had 3 points. Some sources show them joint leaders after that stage, while other sources show Passerieu as single leader. In the third stage, started by Count Zeppelin, the Labor boss sent a telegram to the manager of the team after another crash by a Labor team member (Jean Novo): "After Novo's crash and the mediocre results of the other riders, I have decided to abandon the race. You can all ease up and come back by train." The rest of the Tour would be dominated by the Peugeot team, who won all the stages. At the third stage, Passerieu finished in 30th place; because Petit-Breton finished second, he was now leading the race by a big margin.

The fourth stage to Lyon was during a snow storm. Faber won that stage. Faber had finished at 49th place in the second stage, so he was no threat for the general classification.

In the sixth stage, the Côte de Laffrey and the Col Bayard were climbed, and André Pottier, the younger brother of 1906 Champion René Pottier, reached the tops first. He could not keep his lead, as the stage was won by Jean-Baptiste Dortignacq. In the 9th stage, won by Petit-Breton, Faber jumped to the second position in the overall classification. In the 13th stage, 415 km from Brest to Caen, the winner Passerieu took more than 16 hours to finish the stage. The last cyclist to finish that stage, Louis Di Maria, would need a record extra 23 hours to complete the stage.

Faber could pose no threat to Petit-Breton, and Petit-Breton won the Tour de France easily. His worst placement had been the 10th stage where he finished 10th at one second from the winner; all other stages he was in the top four, winning five of the stages.