1908 жылғы Тур де Франс: Люсиен Пети-Бретонның жеңісі және жаңа технологиялар

The 1908 Tour de France was the sixth running of the annual Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It was organised by the newspaper L'Auto, and took place between 13 July and 9 August. The Tour was split in 14 stages, with a total distance of
The pre race favourite was Lucien Petit Breton, winner of the previous Tour. Petit Breton dominated the race; he won the general classification and five of the fourteen stages, and thus became the first cyclist who won the Tour twice. For the first time, the final podium in Paris was not completely French: François Faber from Luxembourg ended as second in the general classification, after winning four stages.

The 1908 Tour de France followed nearly the same route as the 1907 Tour de France, following the borders of France clockwise. The rules were also the same; the points system was still used instead of the time system to determine the winner. Before the start, the Tour de France organization announced that all necessary measures had been taken to prevent the regrettable incidents as in 1905, and that the 'Apaches' had 90% chance of being caught and spending time in jail. Dismountable tyres were used for the first time; this meant that cyclists could repair their bicycles easier, and a flat tire cost them less time. Cyclists entered the race individually, not in teams; nevertheless some shared the same sponsor and cooperated as if they rode in teams. The favourite for the victory was Lucien Petit Breton, the winner of the previous edition. He was sponsored by Peugeot, which sponsored also several other strong cyclists; in the five previous editions of the Tour de France, these Peugeot sponsored cyclists had together won 20 stages. In addition, Petit Breton was a skilled bicycle mechanic, which was important because the rules said that cyclists had to repair their bicycle without help. The strongest opposition was expected from the cyclists sponsored by Alcyon, led by Georges Passerieu and Gustave Garrigou. The Labor sponsored cyclists started the race in yellow jerseys; in 1908 the yellow jersey for the race leader was not used yet.

At one stage, Henri Desgrange's car broke down, and the tour organiser had to finish the stage in a horse drawn carriage. In the first stage, from Paris to Roubaix, the cobbles caused many crashes and flat tyres. while other sources show Passerieu as single leader. In the third stage, started by Count Zeppelin, the Labor boss sent a telegram to the manager of the team after another crash by a Labor team member (Jean Novo): "After Novo's crash and the mediocre results of the other riders, I have decided to abandon the race. You can all ease up and come back by train." The stage was won by Faber. Faber had finished at 49th place in the second stage, so he was no direct threat for the general classification. The fourth stage to Lyon was during a snow storm. The seventh stage passed through Crau, in desert like conditions. Petit Breton was best suited to this type of weather, and easily won. In the ninth stage, won by Petit Breton, Faber jumped to the second position in the overall classification, with 57 points, while Petit Breton was still leading with 18 points. Petit Breton was at that moment almost guaranteed of the victory, because the remaining stages were all flat, which suited him well. Petit Breton crushed the other cyclists in the eleventh stage, dropping all other cyclists one by one. In the remaining stages the other cyclists tried to beat Petit Breton by escaping on turns, but Petit Breton reeled them in each time. In the 13th stage, 415 km from Brest to Caen, the winner Passerieu needed more than 16 hours to finish the stage; the last cyclist to finish that stage, Louis Di Maria, finished 23 hours after Passerieue. Faber could pose no threat to Petit Breton, and Petit Breton won the Tour de France easily. His worst placement had been the 10th stage where he finished 10th at one second from the winner; all other stages he was in the top four, winning five of the stages.

Second placed François Faber became the winner of the "pneus démontables" category. The organising newspaper l'Auto named Gustave Garrigou the meilleur grimpeur. This unofficial title is the precursor to the mountains classification.

In total, 25000 Francs were distributed in the 1908 Tour de France. The 1908 Tour was split into fourteen stages, and in all but the last stage, the best cyclists received prize money. Between 400 and 500 French Francs was for the winner of each stage, down to 40 Francs for the seventh cyclist to finish. After the last stage, prizes were given for the position in the general classification: 5000 Francs for the winner, down to 100 Francs for the 25th place. All riders that finished were given at least 5 Francs per day. The winner Petit Breton won 8050 Francs in this way; runner up Faber won 4595 Francs.

Lucien Petit Breton became the first cyclist to win two Tours de France. He wrote a book about his life, "Comment je cours sur route". This became a success, and he started to write cycling columns for newspapers. In the next Tour in 1909, Petit Breton did not participate as a cyclist, but followed the race as a columnist.