Henri Desgrange (
Paris,
January 31,
1865 –
August 16,
1940 in Beauvallon) was a
French bicycle racer and
sports journalist. He set twelve world
track cycling records, including the
hour record of 35.325
kilometers on
May 11,
1893. Desgrange is credited with founding the
Tour de France in
1903. Certainly, with the Baron de Dion he had co-founded the daily sports paper
L'Auto, which promoted the Tour to boost its poor circulation, but the idea came from one of his journalists,
Géo Lefèvre, just 23, who said he blurted out the idea because he felt under pressure to say something at a crisis meeting held to resolve L'Auto's poor circulation. Desgrange looked at the third man present, Georges Prade, and then back to his young journalist.
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