10th Tour de France 1912

The Belgium Coalition

The international prestige of the Tour de France soared under the direction of Henri Desgranges. This brought great Belgian teams that were produced in the early days of bicycle racing to the start of the Tour. Their decade long dominance of the TdF began in 1912.

Octave Lapize and Gustave Garrigou were the pre-race favorites, but young, Tour of Belgium winner Odiel Defraye came with great fitness. Defraye gained the stage 2 win and grabbed the overall leader on stage 3.

At this point of the race an interesting set of circumstances occurred. Belgian riders, regardless of team affiliation, began to take pride in a fellow countryman having the lead in the TdF. This was much to the dismay of race director Desgranges. A Belgian coalition had been indirectly and unofficially formed. Stage 9, the first day in the Pyrenees Mountains, Lapize was riding aggressively in the lead group, but found himself constantly outnumbered by Belgian riders. Midway on the climb of the Portet d'Aspet, a frustrated Lapize surrendered the battle. He reversed his direction and rode back down the mountain. After the stage a furious La Francaise team abandoned in protest. “All the Belgians are riding together!” said an emotional Lapize later that evening. Henri Desgranges would struggle for year trying to find ways to encourage individual efforts for each racer. When the modern day term “domistique” (a rider hired to sacrifice individual goals and help with the team effort) was first used, it was a derogatory term.

After the Pyrenees stages Odiel Defraye and the Belgians were not seriously challenged for the General Classification. Odiel Defraye scored the first ever Tour de France victory for Belgium.

SPECIAL NOTE: The margin of victory did not reflect the entire story of the race. Had the race been decided on time instead of points; Eugene Christophe would have ridden into Paris with the race lead, a fact that didn't go without race director Desgranges' notice. Henri Desgranges struggled with this fact and during the off-season he contemplated classification changes for the 1913 Tour.

TdF 1911

TdF 1913

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