ABSTRACT
The year 1903 is an important date in the history of trench sport. The year of the birth of the cycle Tour de France, 1903 must above all be thought of as a time of rupture. The year 1903 marks, in effect, the end - ithin the confines of France - of an era. The golden age of the bicycle came to a close and the practice of the velocipede, spearhead of upper-class values at the end of the nineteenth century, was losing its fashionableness amongst the moneyed classes, who were now dreaming more of engines, cars and planes. But the creation of the Tour de France was also a sign of a new beginning. The falling price of bicycles was allowing them to be bought by other classes, and the sporting press, bicycle manufacturers and cycle races were giving more and more coverage to cycling activities.
