The 1919 Tour de France was the 13th edition, taking place from 29 June to 27 July covering a total distance of 5,560 kilometres (3,450 mi).

Following the tenth stage, the yellow jersey, given to the leader of the general classification, was introduced, and first worn by Eugène Christophe.

[2] The fighting in World War I had ravaged the French road system, which made cycling difficult.

As a result, the average speed (24.056 km/h) and the number of finishing cyclists (ten) were the lowest in history.

[5] Three former winners of the Tour, François Faber, Octave Lapize and Lucien Petit-Breton had died fighting in the war.

[8] The organization did not make it easy for the cyclists: with the addition of a stop at Strasbourg (recently recovered in the war), the length was extended to 5560 km: longer than all the previous Tours.

[10] The lack of team colours made riders indistinguishable and lead to the introduction of the leader's jersey.

However, he was penalised 30 minutes for illegally helping Philippe Thys (handing him a water bottle),[12] therefore giving Henri Pélissier the lead in the race.

[7] Henri Pélissier chased the rest, but was then ordered by Desgrange to stop working together with other cyclists in his pursuit.

[6] Christophe was still in Grenoble at the start of stage eleven, when, at 2am tour organiser Henri Desgrange gave him a yellow jersey, so that he could easily be recognized.

[9] At that point in the race, it was likely that Christophe would stay the leader until the end of the Tour de France, because he remained in that yellow jersey after the Pyrenees and the Alps.

[4] Because the organising newspaper l'Auto felt bad for Christophe, he received the same prize money as the winner Lambot.

On 12 August 1919, Paul Duboc (8th overall), was disqualified for borrowing a car to go and repair his pedal axle, which left only 10 cyclists in the final classification.