Thys in spite of Pélissier

Henri Pélissier just failed to win the 1914 Tour de France after, he claimed, being baulked by spectators in the run in to the finish in Dunkerque. He eventually went on to win the Tour in 1923.

The 1914 Tour marked the final ever event before the Great War changed life for good. Indeed, it only just occurred: within hours of the starter's pistol being fired in Paris on 28th June 1914, Gavrilio Princip had fired a far more devastating shot for Serbian nationalism. As the 147 Touristes made their way around France, the clockwork timetables of the Great Powers conspired to plunge Europe into a devastating war

One wonders how much all this effected the race, or the minds of the riders. Sufficient to say, Philippe Thys took a strong lead after his teammate Henri Pélissier faltered in the Pyrenees. Pelissier fought back, but once again, a mechanical incident had a hand in determining the race. When Thys' forks broke on the way to Dunkerque, Thys dashed into a nearby bicycle shop and begged the owner to fix them. The owner protested that to do so would land Thys with a penalty, but Thys was prepared to take the risk: better than most others, perhaps, he knew what had happened to Eugène Christophe in 1913. Soon on his way, Thys was able to catch the leaders by the finish. He was fined: 30 minutes, which cut his lead from 31'50" to just 1'50". Nonethless, he held on, once again, to win in Paris - perhaps, by now, he was getting used to the drama.

And that was it until 1919. When the peloton reassembled for that Tour, it was without a host of great riders: Lucien Petit-Breton, Octave Lapize, François Faber, Edouard Wattelier, Emile Engel... The loss would be felt for years to come.

Stage winners

	Stage	Winner	Overall Leader
Stage 1	Paris - Le Havre, 388km	Philippe Thys	Philippe Thys
Stage 2	Le Havre - Cherbourg, 364km	Jean Rossius	Philippe Thys and Jean Rossius, equal
Stage 3	Cherbourg - Brest, 405km	Emile Engel	Philippe Thys and Jean Rossius, equal
Stage 4	Brest - La Rochelle, 470km	Oscar Egg	Philippe Thys and Jean Rossius, equal
Stage 5	La Rochelle - Bayonne, 379km	Oscar Egg	Philippe Thys and Jean Rossius, equal
Stage 6	Bayonne - Luchon, 326km	Firmin Lambot	Philippe Thys
Stage 7	Luchon - Perpignan, 323km	Jean Alavoine	Philippe Thys
Stage 8	Perpignan - Marseille, 370km	Octave Lapize	Philippe Thys
Stage 9	Marseille - Nice, 356km	Jean Rossius	Philippe Thys
Stage 10	Nice - Grenoble, 323km	Henri Pélissier	Philippe Thys
Stage 11	Grenoble - Geneva, 325km	Gustave Garrigou	Philippe Thys
Stage 12	Geneva - Belfort, 325km	Henri Pélissier	Philippe Thys
Stage 13	Belfort - Longwy, 325km	François Faber	Philippe Thys
Stage 14	Longwy - Dunkerque, 390km	François Faber	Philippe Thys
Stage 15	Dunkerque - Paris, 340km	Henri Pélissier	Philippe Thys

In a nutshell

11 past or future Tour winners are on the start line: Louis Trousselier (1905), Lucien Petit-Breton (1907 and 1908), François Faber (1909), Octave Lapize (1910), Gustave Garrigou (1911), Odile Defraye (1912), Philippe Thys (1913, 1914 and 1920), Firmin Lambot (1919 and 1922), Léon Scieur (1921), Henri Pélissier (1923) and Lucien Buysse (1926)

Results

Overall

1st: Philippe Thys, (Belgium), Peugeot-Wolber, 5405km in 200h 28' 48" (27.028km/h)
2nd: Henri Pélissier, (France), Peugeot-Wolber, @ 1' 50"
3rd: Jean Alavoine, (France), Peugeot-Wolber, @ 36' 53"
4th: Jean Rossius, (Belgium), Alcyon-Soly, @ 1h 57' 05"
5th: Gustave Garrigou, (France), Peugeot-Wolber, @ 3h 00' 21"
6th: Alfons Spiessens, (Belgium), J.B. Louvet-Continental, @ 3h 53' 55"
7th: Emile Georget, (Belgium), Peugeot-Wolber, @ 4h 20' 59"
8th: Firmin Lambot, (Belgium), Peugeot-Wolber, @ 5h 08' 44"
9th: François Faber, (Luxembourg), Peugeot-Wolber, @ 6h 15' 53"
10th: Louis Heusghem, (Belgium), Peugeot-Wolber, @ 7h 49' 02"

(54th: Henri Leclerc, (France), "Isole", @ 99h 04' 45")

<< 1913 || 1919 >>