12th Tour de France 1914

Last Tour before the “Great War”

Political tensions throughout Europe were very high as the Tour de France prepared for its 11th edition. Within hours after the start of the 1914 TdF, a Serbian nationalist fired a shot that killed Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. As the race progressed through the countryside of France, the rest of Europe was mobilizing for war.

Defending champion Philippe Thys (Bel) came to the Tour determined to take home the championship again in 1914. Thys was not the flashiest rider in the Tour but raced with an 'aggressive consistency' that few could match. When the gun fired to start stage one, Thys attacked won the stage and took control of the race. Henri Pelissier kept the pressure on the race leader through the early stages. By the end of stage 6, the hardest day (the “Circle of Death”) in the Pyrenees Mountains, Thys had over a 34-minute advantage on second place Pelissier. The persistent Pelissier began to chip away at the lead but could only get back to 31 minutes and 50 second by the end of stage 13. This was a lead that Thys took into the fateful stage 14 from Longwy to Dunkerque.

One year earlier on stage 14 Thys crashed heavily and lost almost 55 minutes but managed to hold on to the lead. Again this year on stage 14, Thys crashed heavily, breaking the front fork of his bike. Quickly receiving repairs at a local bike shop, Thys was able to regain the lead group and finish third on the day. After the race, it was determined that the repairs to Thys' bike had been completed with illegal help and a 30-minute penalty was assessed. Thys still had a 1 minute and 50 second lead going into the final stage. A very determined Henri Pelissier attacked relentlessly all the way to Paris. The race leader matched each Pelissier's moves and Philippe Thys rode into Paris with his second Tour de France victory.

SPECIAL NOTE: Patriotism abounded in France following the declaration of war by Germany and the start of WW1. Tour de France heroes, who were experienced at cycling battles on the roads of France, enlisted in large numbers to fight a huge battle for France. Several weeks after the end of the 1914 TdF, Henri Desgranges published an open letter to all cyclists in his newspaper Le Auto.  The letter said: “For 14 years, Le Auto has appeared every day. It has never let you down. So listen my dear fellows, my dear Frenchmen. There can be no question that a Frenchman succumbs to a German.  GO! Go without Pity!”

TdF 1913

TdF 1919

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