Can We Survive A Stage Of The 1903 Tour De France?

Just how hard was the first ever Tour de France? The 1903 edition of the race started with a 467km stage between Paris and Lyon, a real test of endurance. Hank and Mark went to France to find out, in period-correct kit and on vintage bikes!

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Would you consider riding this far on your bike? Let us know in the comments below! 💬

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🎵 Music - licensed by Epidemic Sound 🎵
Aemular - Valante
All The Freedom You Need (Instrumental Version) - Terin Ector
Beloved - Gavin Luke
Changing Tides - Daniel Kaede
Crystalis - Joseph Beg
Etude No 1 For String Quartet - Peter Sandberg
Fake Busy - Dylan Sitts
Fragmented - Gavin Luke
Heavy Words We're Holding - Trevor Kowalski
Near Dawn - S.A. Karl
One With the Tribe - Bonnie Grace
_Ride With Me - Chaxti
Thoughts in the Rain - Elm Lake
To All the Glory - Howard Harper-Barnes

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[gcn]

Would you be mad enough to take on this challenge?! 🤯

[MrGrenadeMcBoom]

If you made this into an hour to hour and a half documentary retracing the course and telling the story of the first race I would PAY MONEY to watch that.

[IraklyShanidzeX]

I can only imagine what passing drivers thought about two so sharply dressed monsignors riding bicycles apparently stolen from a local museum.

[jrsuk]

Every time I start telling myself my bike isn't good enough, or is too heavy, I'm going to remind myself of this video and save myself a fortune.

[johnfrancisdoe]

Good work lads. But we all know the first Tour de France was done by Asterix and Obelix more than 2000 years ago. :-)

[colinltube]

Cool project guys, BUT you forgot a detail - obviously you couldn't remove the tarmac, but remember at that time they hydrated with wine and "opened their lungs" smoking :-D

[jokernepalm]

This is EXACTLY the type of content we want to see on GCN.

[arcreehysteria]

The first year the tour went to the mountain chain Pyrénées (south west of france), It was 300km with more than 10 super hardcore mountains to climb on dirt roads.
When the winner arrived, he looked in the eyes at the director of the race and said "You are a murderer"

[bluej]

This may be the best video you guys have ever put out, great to see all the collabs with Mark, you guys should make him a regular i bet he's quite insightful. Great video, as someone who lives on the French Riviera and rides around this is a fantastic video. Should do a video of each decade with corresponding bikes, maybe the most epic stage from each decade.


Like if you'd like to see it, let's get it going.

[ChrizzzyEGolf]

The founder of the Tour De France, Henri Desgrange, once said that his ideal version of the race would be so brutal that only one rider would make it to Paris. This video does a tremoundous job of demonstrating the difficulty of one 400+ km stage, but remember that in the first Tour de France, they had to do FIVE more stages of similar length. Great video fellas!

[jonashobrack]

"Forget what is laying ahead, because right now you are okay" those are some nice words to live by...

[iMetuz]

"If it's not abundantly clear, I am broken."

One of the most relatable quotes I have ever heard.

[grahamwood]

I was waiting for them to raid a cafe and down a brandy and bottle of wine to make the ride experience more authentic

[schuletrip]

Imagine how bad the roads were back then, how much more difficult it would be.

[hardeho]

This may be one of the best videos GCN has done.

[marvinkitfox]

Its amazing to see how those two AGED by 15 years in the course of just one day's riding.

[MBosworth]

GCN - you should sign Mark Beaumont up as a permanent presenter. Great guy!

[ollietee]

Mark: "Are you any good at big-miles riding?"
James: "No"

[frazergoodwin]

Bonkers. Absolutely totally bonkers. What where you guys thinking!?! Total respect for completing such a massively hard challenge though and - as usual now - fantastically shot and edited. Brilliant.

[dragoncivicnola]

I really...REALLY wanted to see them try and use that carbide lamp.