One is the brevet (also called randonnée) organised by the Audax Club Parisien, in which cyclists ride individually.

The exception is riders from Oceania, for whom a different timeframe is used, to place the focus on events in the southern hemisphere summer.

Where once PBP was contested by a few professionals as a demonstration of the bicycle's potential, today the focus is on the ordinary rider.

Perhaps the most unusual entrant was a petrol-powered Peugeot Type 3 Quadricycle, driven by Auguste Doriot and Louis Rigoulot.

In order to publicly prove its reliability and performance Armand Peugeot had persuaded Pierre Giffard to have its progress certified by his network of monitors and marshals, the distance being about three times further than any road vehicle had travelled before.

[6] For comparison, by the time Doriot and Rigoulot had reached Brest, Charles Terront and Jiel Laval had already returned to Paris.

The newspapers organized a telegraph system to relay results to their Paris presses, and the public followed the exploits of Maurice Garin, who won in just over 52 hours over 112 other professionals.

So many newspapers were sold that Géo Lefèvre at L'Auto suggested an even bigger race, the Tour de France.

Five riders stayed together until nearly the last control, Emile Georget finally pulling away from Ernest Paul to finish in 50 hours and 13 minutes.

So Camille Durand (president of the Audax Club Parisien, ACP) organised another PBP at the same time on the same road.

The 1931 professional event saw victory by Australian Hubert Opperman with a sprint on the finish velodrome after his long solo breakaway was neutralized just outside Paris.

Of 52 pros, Albert Hendrickx proved strongest, winning in a sprint over fellow Belgian François Neuville.

And the randonneur division even featured racing, René Herse-sponsored Roger Baumann winning over Lheuillier in 52 hours 19 minutes.

[9] From 1948 until the 1980s, the randonneur event included a "Challenge des Constructeurs" for the bicycle maker with the three best-placed riders.

[11] In 1975, Chantal de la Cruz and Nicole Chabriand lowered the women's time to 57 hours.

This is an extremely important aspect of randonneuring, where "riders aim to complete the course within specified time limits, and receive equal recognition regardless of their finishing order."

The Paris–Brest, a French dessert made of choux pastry and a praline flavoured cream, with a circular shape representative of a tyre or wheel, was reportedly created in 1891 to commemorate the race.

9 September Il va de soi que ce n'est là qu'une mention, la constatation d'un fait.

Nous espérons, toutefois, que pour chacun des concurrents nulle objection sérieuse, ne viendra modifier leur rang au classement final.

Ils l'ont trop vaillamment conquis a la force du jarret!