The 1903 Tour de France was the first cycling race set up and sponsored by the newspaper L'Auto, ancestor of the current daily, L'Équipe.

Originally scheduled to start in June, the race was postponed one month, and the prize money was increased, after a disappointing level of applications from competitors.

After being forced to change the name of the newspaper to L'Auto in 1903, Desgrange needed something to keep the cycling fans; with circulation at 20,000, he could not afford to lose them.

[4] Desgrange proposed the idea to the financial controller Victor Goddet, who gave his approval, and on 19 January 1903, the Tour de France was announced in L'Auto.

[8] Géo Lefévre became the director, judge and time-keeper; Henri Desgrange was the directeur-général, although he did not follow the race.

[8] Sixty cyclists, all professionals or semi-professionals, started the race, of whom 49 were French, 4 Belgian, 4 Swiss, 2 German, and one Italian; 21 of them were sponsored by bicycle manufacturers, while 39 entered without commercial support.

[3] Garin dominated the race from the start by winning the first stage, a 471 km (293 mi) parcours from Paris to Lyon.

[18] Garin retained the lead, helped by a crash of second-placed Pagie in the second stage, which eliminated him from the race.

[20] In the fifth stage, Georget had two flat tires, and fell asleep when he stopped at the side of the road to rest; he failed to finish.

[3] Thus Garin extended his lead by winning this stage, carrying nearly three hours' advantage into the final day's racing.

Augereau quickly obtained a spare bike and continued to the finish, however Garin easily won the sprint.

[23] The last stage was the longest, at 471 km (293 mi), and ran from Nantes to the small town of Ville-d'Avray, which lies between Versailles and Paris, instead of at the Parc des Princes velodrome.

[5] After arriving at Ville-d'Avray the riders were given a board marked with their finishing time and cycled on to Parc des Princes where they made several laps of honour.

That day, 19 July, saw a large crowd at the velodrome to watch the riders and an earlier 100-km cycle race.

Maurice Garin returned for the 1904 Tour de France but his title defence failed when he was disqualified.

With the prize money that he won in 1903, which totalled 6,075 francs,[8] (approximately US$40,000 and GBP£23,000 in 2006 values[5]) Garin later bought a gas station, where he worked for the rest of his life.