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By Barry Boyce CyclingRevealed Historian
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“L'Argentin”
The Tour de France continued to grow and prosper in 1907. The press began to explore the various personalities of the Tour, covering all the behind the scene stories.
The powerful Alcyon team leader Emile Georget took early control of the General Classification. He had four of the first eight stages and totally dominated the GC. After an untimely crash on stage 9 Georget needed a wheel change. In an effort to help, an Alcyon teammate changed bikes with the race leader. This was a clear violation of the Tour "rules of the day". The stage 9 victory went to little known climbing specialist Lucien “Petit-Breton” Mazan . He completed a long, solo breakaway and gained 23 minutes on Georget, who finished 4th in Bayonne . Following the stage, race officials declared the infraction for illegal bike change and displaced Georget, assigning him a 44-point penalty. His team was so furious with the ruling they withdrew several of the team's riders in protest.
Lucien “Petit-Breton” Mazan, also known as “L' Argentin," proved to be very adept at avoiding incident and rode a very strong race. After the infamous stage 9 Lucien was not challenged for the race lead. He won again on stage 11 in Nantes and never finished out of the top 3 on the final four stages. He coasted into Paris for the 1907 Tour de France victory.
Stage and Distance |
Stage Winner |
Race Leader |
Stage 1 Paris-Roubaix, 272 km |
Louis Trousselier (Fra) |
Louis Trousselier (Fra) |
Stage 2 Roubaix-Metz, 398 km |
Emile Georget (Fra) |
Louis Trousselier (Fra) |
Stage 3 Metz-Belfort, 259 km |
Emile Georget (Fra) |
Emile Georget (Fra) |
Stage 4 Belfort-Lyon, 309 km |
Marcel Cadolle (Fra) |
Emile Georget (Fra) |
Stage 5 Lyon-Grenoble, 311 km |
Emile Georget (Fra) |
Emile Georget (Fra) |
Stage 6 Grenoble-Nice, 345 km |
Georges Passerieu (Fra) |
Emile Georget (Fra) |
Stage 7 Nice-Nimes, 345 km |
Emile Georget (Fra) |
Emile Georget (Fra) |
Stage 8 Nimes-Toulouse, 303 km |
Emile Georget (Fra) |
Emile Georget (Fra) |
Stage 9 Toulouse-Bayonne, 299 km |
Lucien Petit-Breton (Fra) |
Lucien Petit-Breton (Fra) |
Stage 10 Bayonne-Bordeaux, 269 km |
Gustave Garrigou (Fra) |
Lucien Petit-Breton (Fra) |
Stage 11 Bordeaux-Nantes, 391 km |
Lucien Petit-Breton (Fra) |
Lucien Petit-Breton (Fra) |
Stage 12 Nantes-Brest, 321 km |
Gustave Garrigou (Fra) |
Lucien Petit-Breton (Fra) |
Stage 13 Brest-Caen, 415 km |
Emile Georget (Fra) |
Lucien Petit-Breton (Fra) |
Stage 14 Caen-Paris/Parc des Princes, 251 km |
Georges Passerieu (Fra) |
Lucien Petit-Breton (Fra) |
| TdF July 8-Aug 4, 1907 |
| 4,488 Km |
1.
Lucien PETIT-BRETON (Fra) 47 pts |
2.
Gustave Garrigou (Fra) 66 pts |
3.
Emile Georget (Fra) 74.5 pts |
Starters: 92 |
Finishers: 33 |
Average Speed: 28.470 km/h |
TdF 1906
TdF 1908
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Return to the Race Snippets ToC |
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5th Tour de France 1907
