The very first Tour de France, the greatest cycle race in the world, was held in 1903. It began when two French journalists, Henri Desgrange and Géo Lefevre, came (1) _up_ with the idea of a race right round the country. (2) _Something_ that had never been tried anywhere before.

Nowadays we might think the aim of (3) _such_ an idea would be to bring in a lot of television money, or even tourists, but at the beginning of the twentieth century what they wanted to do (4) _was_ sell more copies of their newspaper. And they succeeded. Circulation figures, (5) _which_ had been 25,000, went to 65,000 within a year, and on to half a million by 1923.

The reporters were in fact quite closely involved in organizing the race, and Desgrange would go (6) _on_ to remain Tour Director from 1903 right up to 1939. Even (7) _so_, their initial design for the race changed in several important ways before the first one was run. For instance, they had intended (8) _it_ to be held over five weeks, but such a long race was just too much for most riders and very (9) _few_ wanted to take part.

So it became half (10) _the_ length, and it would be run entirely in July (11) _rather_ than from late May to early July. As, however, it would still go right round France, the distance travelled each day would be much longer, with cyclists sometimes (12) _having_ to ride at night.