Faber meets his Galibier


Paul Duboc won two successive stages but, in Bayonne, collapsed with poisoning - a victim, it was said, of a spiked drink. He dropped right out of contention for the overall classification after finishing 20 places behind Garrigou on the stage. Nonetheless, he recovered sufficiently to win two more stages and finish the race in a strong second place overall.

The success of the 1910 Tour led Desgrange to ever more radical steps: not content with once again including the giants of the Pyrenees, he also sent the riders through the Alps including, for the first time, the Col du Galibier - at 2556 metres, the highest point yet climbed by the Tour. The early stages of the Tour saw a battle played out by the 1909 victor François Faber and Gustave Garrigou, but Garrigou got the upper hand on the Galibier. He finished third on the stage but over an hour - and more importantly, 9 points - ahead of his Alcyon teammate. Thereafter, as Faber faded, Garrigou was threatened by the La Française rider Paul Duboc. Duboc won two successive stages but, in Bayonne, collapsed with poisoning - a victim, it was said, of a spiked drink. He dropped right out of contention for the overall classification after finishing 20 places behind Garrigou on the stage. Nonetheless, he recovered sufficiently to win two more stages and finish the race in a strong second place overall.

Desgranges, needless to say, was delighted with the race over the Galibier and his prose ran more purple than ever: next day, l'Auto carried the following sentiments:

"Today, my brothers, we gather here in common celebration of the divine bicycle. Not only do we owe it our most pious gratitude for the precious and ineffable love that it has given us, but also for the host of memories sown over our whole sports life and which today has made concrete.
In my own case I love it for its having given me a soul capable of appreciating it; I love it for having taken my heart within its spokes, for having encircled a part of my life within its harmonious frame, and for having constantly illuminated me with the victorious sparkle of its nickel plates.
In the history of humanity, does it not constitute the first successful effort of intelligent life to triumph over the laws of weights?"

They don't write like that anymore...

Stage winners

 StageWinnerOverall Leader
Stage 1Paris - Dunkerque, 351kmGustave GarrigouGustave Garrigou
Stage 2Dunkerque - Longwy, 388kmJules MasselisJules Masselis
Stage 3Longwy - Belfort, 331kmFrançois FaberFrançois Faber
Stage 4Belfort - Chamonix, 344kmCharles CrupelandtGustave Garrigou
Stage 5Chamonix - Grenoble, 366kmEmile GeorgetGustave Garrigou
Stage 6Grenoble - Nice, 348kmFrançois FaberGustave Garrigou
Stage 7Nice - Marseille, 334kmCharles CrupelandtGustave Garrigou
Stage 8Marseille - Perpignan, 335kmPaul DubocGustave Garrigou
Stage 9Perpignan - Luchon, 289kmPaul DubocGustave Garrigou
Stage 10Luchon - Bayonne, 326kmMaurice Brocco (Note 1)Gustave Garrigou
Stage 11Bayonne - La Rochelle, 379kmPaul DubocGustave Garrigou
Stage 12La Rochelle - Brest, 470kmMarcel GodivierGustave Garrigou
Stage 13Brest - Cherbourg, 405kmGustave GarrigouGustave Garrigou
Stage 14Cherboyrg - Le Havre, 361kmPaul DubocGustave Garrigou
Stage 15Le Havre - Paris, 317kmMarcel GodivierGustave Garrigou

Notes

  1. Brocco won the stage by 34 minutes. However, he was disqualified later that evening for not having tried hard enough on the previous stages!

In a nutshell

Results

Overall

1st: Gustave Garrigou, (France), Alcyon, 5344km at 27.322km/h, 43 points
2nd: Paul Duboc, (France), La Française, 61
3rd: Emile Georget, (France), La Française, 84
4th: Charles Crupelandt, (France), La Française, 119
5th: Louis Heusghem, (Belgium), Alcyon, 135
6th: Marcel Godivier, (France), La Française, 141
7th: Charles Cruchon, (France), La Française, 145
8th: Ernest Paul, (France), Alcyon, 153
9th: Albert Dupont, (France), Le Globe, 157
10th: Henri Devroye, (Belgium), Le Globe, 171

(28th: Lucien Roquebert, (France), "Isole", 391)

<< 1910 || 1912 >>