The 1910 Tour has given rise to no end of nonsense, not least the claim that Octave Lapize called the race organisers assassins as he crossed the Col d’Aubisuqe an hour behind schedule + 15 minutes behind a nobody.
From 1933 to 1938 the American star of the Jazz Age played a role in the Tour’s grand départ and in doing so helped reshape the Tour for a new audience.