With a route similar to its previous edition, 1903 Tour de France winner Maurice Garin seemed to have repeated his win by a small margin over Lucien Pothier, while Hippolyte Aucouturier won four of the six stages.

[1] Twelve cyclists, including the first four of the final classification and all stage winners, were disqualified by the Union Vélocipédique Française (UVF).

The initial Tour de France of 1903 had been a large success, and it was quickly decided to organise it again in 1904.

The favourites for the victory were Garin, Pothier and Aucouturier, who had performed well in the 1903 Tour de France.

[3][4] Among the competitors was Henri Paret who, at 50 years old, still holds the record of oldest Tour de France cyclist.

This rule was added to attract cyclists who otherwise would not enter, because the Tour needed enough competitors to remain credible.

Around 100 km in the race, Lucien Pothier lost ten minutes to the main group, led by Maurice Garin, because of a broken bicycle.

Just before the next control post in Nevers, Aucouturier fell on his face, and continued the race covered in blood.

They were attacked by four masked men in a car,[1] but still finished as the first two, with Garin beating Pothier by 50 m.[8] The many flat tires and crashes of Aucouturier, seemingly the results of sabotage, gave him a time loss of several hours.

[4] The news that Garin had received illegal help quickly spread, and caused the fanatical crowd to take action.

[4] For the second stage, the organisers had made the option to postpone the start by two hours, in case the mistral wind was making cycling difficult.

[12] During this stage, Antoine Fauré led close to his hometown, and 200 fans tried to stop the rest of the cyclists from following him.

Garin hurt his hand during the incident, and Giovanni Gerbi was knocked unconscious, and had to give up with broken fingers.

[13] In the third stage, the Tour reached Nîmes, near the home town of Payan, whose fans were angry because of his disqualification.

After Nîmes, a leading group of five cyclists was formed: Maurice Garin, Pothier, Aucouturier, Cornet and Beaugendre.

[1] Aucouturier won this stage, his third one, but was way behind in the general classification, which Garin led, with only 28 seconds margin to Pothier.

The Tour organisers were happy with the result, but the Union Vélocipédique Française (UVF) started an investigation after complaints from other cyclists.