1910 Tour de France - Changes From The 1909 Tour de France

Changes From The 1909 Tour De France

The courses of the Tour de France in 1907, 1908 and 1909 had been nearly identical. In 1910, the Pyrenees were included, an initiative from Adolphe Steinès, who had drawn the course for the Tour de France since the first Tour in 1903. Compared to the 1907, 1908 and 1909 Tours, the stages Nîmes-Toulouse and Toulouse-Bayonne were replaced by three stages, Nîmes–Perpignan, Perpignan–Luchon and Luchon–Bayonne. Tour organizer Henri Desgrange at first refused the inclusion of the Pyrenees, but later gave in and sent Steinès to the Pyrenees by to see if it was possible to send cyclists up the mountains. Steinès encountered many difficulties. He went there at 27 January 1910, and asked an innkeeper for directions over the Tourmalet. The innkeeper replied that it as barely crossable in July, so practically impossible in January. Steinès hired a car anyway and rode up the mountain. Close to the top, there was so much snow that the car could not go further, and he continued on foot. Steinès walked during the night, and fell down a ravine. At 3 a.m. he was found by a search party. He quickly got some food and a hot bath. The next morning, he sent a positive telegram to Desgrange: "Have crossed the Tourmalet on foot stop Road passable to vehicles stop No snow stop". When it was announced that the Pyrenees were included in the race, 136 cyclists had entered the race. After the news, 26 cyclists removed themselves from the starting list. Other newspapers reacted to the Tour's route as "dangerous" and "bizarre".

Also new in 1910 was the broom wagon, to pick up the cyclists that abandoned during the race. This was a reaction of the Tour organizers to the criticism of the cyclists on the difficult mountains. In the tenth stage, over the four mountains in the Pyrenees, cyclists were allowed to finish the stage in the broom wagon and still start the next stage.

Technically, a new addition were gears. Lucien Petit-Breton, Maurice Brocco, Henri Cornet, Charles Pavese and Jean Alavoine rode with gears.

What had not changed was the points system. A cyclist received points, based on their rankings. As in 1909, the points system was "cleaned up" two times: after the 9th stage and after the 14th stage. Cyclists who had abandoned the race were removed from the rankings of the previous stages, and the classification was recalculated.

Although cyclist were in 1909 able to register for the Tour with a sponsor, they were still considered to be riding as individuals; in 1910 they competed for the first time in teams.