7th Tour de France 1909

Invasion of the Foreigners

The Tour de France of 1909 pitted a strange battle between “Mother Nature” and Francois Faber, the gentle giant (6'2” and 200 pounds) from Luxembourg. The cold temperature, rain, snow and wind were added to the already demanding race schedule to make this Tour one of the most difficult of all time. But somehow as the weather got worse, Faber got better.

The miserable weather started in earnest on stage 2. Only Faber had the strength and ability to conquer the terrible conditions. He completed an extraordinary 200km solo breakaway in freezing rain, literally danced from rut to rut on the muddy rural roads. The next stage (3) started with 4 degree Celsius (39F) temperatures and in freezing rain. Faber attacked on the climb of the Ballon d'Alsace and broke clear of the peloton and soloed 110km for the stage win. As he sped into the last mile of the race, Faber snapped the chain off his bicycle and had to run the final distance pushing his bicycle. Despite the mishap, he still managed a ten-minute margin of victory. His Alcyon team manager called him “the God who came down to ride a bicycle.”

Faber winning Stage 3 witha broken chain

Faber's all-round consistency and race domination of the first half of the Tour, gave him enough points to ride comfortably into Paris for the overall victory. Luxembourger Francois Faber became the first foreign winner of the Tour de France.

TdF 1908

TdF 1910

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