Le Vélo

[2] Its demise was a consequence of the creation of the Tour de France by L'Auto, a rival newspaper that had been founded in 1900 from the intense animosity generated by the Dreyfus affair.

[3][2] Le Vélo was easily recognised by the green-tinted newsprint on which it was published, so L'Auto (née L'Auto-Vélo) was distinguished by a yellow tint, and thus the 'Yellow Jersey' worn by the leader of the 'Tour de France'.

[4][5] Pierre Giffard was a French journalist, a pioneer of modern political reporting, a newspaper publisher and a prolific sports organizer.

Everyone would be assured of an enthusiastic welcome as most of our citizens have never had the privilege of seeing the spectacle of a major road race and we count on enough friends to believe that Roubaix is truly a hospitable town.

The following morning Breyer — later deputy organiser of the Tour de France and a leading official of the Union Cycliste Internationale — continued by bike.

[3][2] The comte was arrested and spent 15 days in gaol after a melee at the Auteuil horse-race course in 1899, because he had struck the President of France (Émile Loubet) over the head with a walking stick.

Giffard's tone of reporting this led to a group of 'anti-Dreyfusards' including de Dion, Adolphe Clément and Édouard Michelin to withdraw advertising.

[13] The deliberate similarity of the names triggered a court case by Le Vélo for infringement of title, which it duly won on January 16, 1903 and thus L'Auto was renamed.

Le Vélo had always achieved good circulation boosts from the cycle races it sponsored, including the second edition of the 1200 km Paris–Brest–Paris in 1901, as well as the yearly Bordeaux–Paris and Paris–Roubaix one-day classics.