They cycled for weeks in blistering sun and cold night rains. Spectators compared them to bulls and gave them nicknames such as "the Brute" and "the Chimney Sweep."
They straggled into Paris caked in mud and sweat -- some after riding over broken glass strewn in the road by their rivals.
Much has changed in the 100 years since the Tour de France was first run in 1903 as a sports newspaper's publicity stunt, but one thing has stayed the same: the race remains a grueling battle of brawn, brains and ambition.
"It's the biggest race, I think the hardest race, the race that everybody wants to win, to do well in," said Bjarne Riis of Denmark, who won the 1996 Tour and raced in it nine times before retiring.
This year's Tour will be no exception. The race, broken up into 20 stages, will run 3,350km, starting in Paris on July 5 and going clockwise around France, through the Alps and Pyrenees, and finishing on the Champs-Elysees July 27.
The focus again will be on Lance Armstrong, winner of the last four Tours and poised for his fifth in a row. A victory by the Texan would tie the record set by Miguel Indurain of Spain, who won it from 1991-1995. Three others have won five Tours, though not consecutively: Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault of France, and Eddy Merckx of Belgium.
Despite the enduring dominance of Armstrong -- and his own comment earlier this month that a tighter finish would be more exciting -- the contest has always been a spectacle, even when it was founded in the early days of the 20th century.
The race was the pet project of Henri Desgrange, editor of upstart French sports newspaper L'Auto, and his assistant, Geo Lefevre. The two were searching for a publicity coup to knock established paper Le Velo from its pedestal.
A highly publicized bicycle race all around France -- touted by L'Auto as "the greatest cycling trial in the entire world" -- seemed to fit the bill. Within a couple of years, Le Velo was out of business and the Tour was a brilliant success.
The early tours were as brutal -- and cutthroat -- as they were exciting.
Riders cycled through the night, and rules dictated they repair their own bicycles, fix flat tires and wear the same clothes from start to finish. They were known as ``convicts of the road,'' and Desgrange heaped even more punishment by adding backbreaking mountain stages.
The cyclists themselves often did anything to win. Riders scattered broken glass and fans tossed nails on the road to confound rivals. One rider in 1903 claimed he was poisoned. Competitors were accused of widespread cheating.
The scandals fit in with riders' rough, working-class image. Racer Leon Georget was known as "the Brute"; Maurice Garin, who won the first Tour, was known as "the Chimney Sweep." The penchant for harsh nicknames far outlasted the early years: Eddy Merckx of the 1960s and 1970s was known as "the Cannibal."
"You can just feel it, the aura, the mystique is around you. Whole towns turn out hours in advance of the race coming through," said Graeme Fife, author of Tour de France: The History, the Legend, the Riders.
"You just have to be in a town like that, and the whole place hums with expectation," he said.
The route this year was set to recall the 1903 race, starting in Paris and then going through some of the same cities: Lyon, Marseille, even Ville d'Avray.
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