Philippe Thys, who had won the 1913 Tour de France, returned for the 1914 Tour de France and was considered as the favourite, together with his teammate Henri Pélissier.
[1] Apart from him six other previous Tour de France winners started the race: Louis Trousselier, Lucien Petit-Breton, Octave Lapize, François Faber, Odile Defraye and Gustave Garrigou.
Four more cyclists started the race that would later win a Tour de France: Firmin Lambot, Léon Scieur, Henri Pélissier and Lucien Buysse.
This number of 11 former or future Tour de France winners on the start line is a record.
[1] In 1914, the first cyclists from Australia started the Tour de France, Don Kirkham and Iddo Munro.