TOUR HISTORY
he idea fi rst
appeared as a
mere snippet in
the columns of
L’Auto, the newspaper that
launched Le Tour, on the
morning of 10 July 1919.
The 13th edition of the race
was already in the Pyrenees,
having left Paris in late
June. The headline of the
very brief article – it took up
just 11 lines – sums it up:
“To recognise the leader”.
And the text below was to
the point: “A nice idea from
our editor-in-chief! In order
to enable ‘sportsmen’ to
recognise the leader of our
great trek without hesitation
when he’s within the Tour de
France peloton, our editor-
in-chief, Henri Desgrange,
has decided that in future
the rider holding fi rst place in
the general classifi cation will
wear a special jersey.”
T
Yellow like L’Auto
Why yellow? The colour
now so symbolic of cycling
success was similar to
that of the paper on which
L’Auto was printed. As a
result, the bold new jersey
combined the practical
(making the leader more
easily recognisable) with
the commercial. But Henri
Desgrange, the Tour
founder, was also inspired
by an idea that came from
Alphonse Baugé, then
sports director of the La
Sportive consortium, which
required its soigneurs and
support staff to wear yellow
clothes so they could be
more easily identifi ed by
their riders, especially at
night. So the sunny top also
sprung from the darkness
of early morning Tour de
France stage starts that were
commonplace at the time.
The popular Eugène
Christophe had been the
leader of the 1919 race since
the fourth stage fi nish in Les
Sables-d’Olonne, and the
Tour was in the midst of a
short break in Grenoble prior
to stage 11 when he received
the very fi rst yellow jersey.
Many years later, in his clear,
sing-song voice, he related
his version of this moment:
“In Les Sables-d’Olonne,
Baugé had chatted with
Desgrange. ‘See for yourself,
people are trying to spot the
race leader. But there’s no
way of picking him out. It’s
odd... The rider in fi rst place
should have a special jersey.
How could we go about that?
What about a jersey that’s
yellow like L’Auto!’ Then
Desgrange said to Baugé,
‘You’re right. Let’s do it, order
some yellow jerseys for me
immediately.’ That evening
Baugé called Paris to get
some made. But by the time
they’d been made and sent
to me, I was in Grenoble.
ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Tour de France organisers Amaury
Sports Organisation and yellow jersey
manufacturers Le Coq Sportif have
created 20 individual yellow jerseys for
this year’s race.
From the start of stage 2 in Brussels,
each day will see the race leader wear
a uniquely designed jersey bearing
subtle images that mark signifi cant
climbs, buildings and individuals from
the race’s past.
It was there that I received
a beautiful package of six
jerseys.”
On this occasion, eight
lines within L’Auto’s ‘About
the Race’ column were given
over to the occasion: “This
morning I handed over to
the valiant Christophe a
superb yellow jersey. You
already know that our director
has decided that the man
at the top of the general
classifi cation should wear
a jersey in L’Auto’s colours.
The battle for possession
of the jersey is going to be
passionate!”
Without any great fuss, the
presentation took place at
the Café de l’Ascenseur in
Grenoble’s Cours Gambetta.
It was from there that Eugène
Christophe set out in the early
morning of 19 July wearing
the Tour’s very fi rst yellow
jersey to tackle the Grenoble
to Geneva stage over the
Galibier pass.
A worthy fi rst
“No rider deserves it more
than him,” said the Tour
boss at the time. Indeed,
Christophe had already
established himself as
one of the Tour’s heroes
before the First World
War. Unfortunately, he was
plagued by bad luck. He
would never carry the yellow
jersey into Paris. Just as in
1913, when he had to repair
With the race starting in the Belgian
capital, the fi rst of the jerseys will depict
the famous Atomium in Brussels.
During the three weeks, mountains
such as the Col du Galibier, Col de
l’Iseran and Col du Tourmalet will
also feature. There will also be a day
dedicated to each of the fi ve-time Tour
winners starting with Eddy Merckx
his forks at the forge in
Sainte-Marie-de-Campan, he
would fall victim to a similar
incident on the cobblestones
at Haisnes during the
penultimate Metz-Dunkirk
stage – in a landscape
devastated by the confl ict. He
was only 30 minutes ahead
of Belgium’s Firmin Lambot
in the overall standings. It
took him more than an hour
to complete his repair in
Valenciennes. The yellow
jersey was already weaving
its own legend, combining
glory with tragedy. And
Christophe didn’t keep any of
his six jerseys: “They fell apart
during the war. I used them as
vests and simply wore them
out. Aft er all, back then, we
didn’t know what was going
to happen.”
Oddly, apart from those
two brief mentions of the
yellow jersey’s creation in
the columns of L’Auto, there
wasn’t another reference
to the yellow jersey in its
coverage of the Tour de
France during the rest of
this edition, not even when
Christophe lost it due to
that mechanical incident,
nor when the Belgian Firmin
Lambot became the fi rst rider
to carry it into the Parc des
Princes. It hadn’t yet become
part of the Tour’s lexicon.
Symbols require time to get
established – but this one had
gained its fi rst foothold. ●
on Stage 3. Stage 5 will remember
Jacques Anquetil, Stage 8 Bernard
Hinault and Stage 15 Miguel Indurain.
Replicas of three of these special-
edition jerseys – the ones showing
the Brussels Atomium, a mountain
landscape and the Arc de Triomphe
in Paris – will be available for the public
to purchase.
2 0 1 9 TO U R D E FR ANCE
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