Henri Desgrange

Henri Desgrange was a prominent French bicycle racer and influential sports journalist.

He is most famous for founding the Tour de France, one of the world's greatest athletic events. Desgrange was also a record-breaking athlete in his own right. He set twelve world track cycling records throughout his career. On May 11, 1893, he set the prestigious hour record at the Buffalo velodrome in Paris. He also established records for distances of 50 km, 100 km, and 100 miles. In that same year, he became a tricycle champion. His life combined the physical grit of a racer with the organizational power of a media leader.

Desgrange's career in journalism began through competition and business necessity. He was unhappy with the leading sports paper, Le Vélo. He felt its advertising rates and political stances were problematic. This led him to become the editor of a new competitor, L'Auto-Vélo, in October 1900. After a legal dispute regarding the name, it was renamed L'Auto. This newspaper became the platform for his greatest creation. In 1903, his journalist Géo Lefèvre suggested a massive cycling race. Desgrange used the paper to announce and promote the Tour de France. The race transformed the newspaper's reach. Circulation rose from 25,000 copies before the race to 65,000 after the first edition. By 1923, daily sales reached 500,000 copies. Eventually, in 1933, the paper reached a record circulation of 854,000 copies.

Managing the Tour de France was a complex and often difficult task. Desgrange acted as a strict authority who imposed his own rules. He often clashed with the Union Vélocipédique Française (UVF), the official French cycling authority. In 1904, the UVF disqualified the first four riders of the Tour. This included Maurice Garin, who had already been fined 500 francs for taking food in a restricted area. Desgrange was angry because the UVF withheld documents and acted months after the event. He feared the controversy would kill the race. He even wrote that the Tour de France was "finished" due to these suspicions. However, he did not give up. He continued to run the race for another three decades with a very firm hand.

Desgrange's leadership style was known for being uncompromising and demanding. He believed that true sport required extreme tenacity and even pain. This "draconian" approach sometimes led to conflict with the athletes. In 1920, the famous rider Henri Pélissier left the race because Desgrange penalized him two minutes for a flat tire. In 1924, Pélissier and two others walked out of the race in Coutances. They were protesting rules regarding whether riders could remove clothing in the heat. Desgrange dismissed Pélissier as a "pigheaded, arrogant champion." Other riders, like Marcel Bidot, described Desgrange as a boss who tolerated no disagreement.

Beyond cycling, Desgrange founded the Audax movement in 1904. This movement was inspired by long-distance endurance riding. He wanted to encourage and regulate people who challenged themselves to ride great distances in set times. The movement began with Audax Français to organize such events in France. It grew from cycling into many other physical disciplines. In 1913, the movement expanded to include swimming through "Audax brevets," or certificates. It later included rowing and, much later in 1985, skiing. This movement helped create a global community of endurance athletes through the Union des Audax Parisien.

Desgrange was also a passionate advocate for national health and physical education. He believed that a lack of physical fitness had weakened France during the Franco-Prussian war. He fought against "Original Inertia," which he saw as the softening of the body in modern society. He practiced what he preached by running for at least an hour every day. He often ran up the fierce slope of Jardies hill in the Parc de St-Cloud. This commitment to physical effort was meant to build character and stoicism. He even trained thousands of soldiers for the Front at the start of the First World War.

Even during the First World War, Desgrange showed immense personal bravery. Although he was over 50 years old, he enrolled as an ordinary soldier, known as a "poilu." He served in combat and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. During this time, he used the pseudonym "Desgrenier" to continue his writing. After the war, he returned to edit L'Auto and restore the Tour de France. His work had a lasting impact on how people viewed their country. By printing maps of the race routes, the Tour helped people visualize the shape of France. This helped popularize the idea of France as a "hexagon."