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A classic story from the early years of the Tour. Eugene Christophe is perhaps one of the unluckiest riders ever. At the start of the 6th stage of Tour de France 1913, in the Pyrenees from Bayonne to Lucon passing 4 cols (Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin, Peyresourde,total 326km!). Odiel Defraye is the leader 5 min. before Eugène Christophe. On the Tourmalet Eugene Christophe passes the top as second after the Belgian Philippe Thys. In the descent he hits a car and breaks his fork. So poor Christophe had to walk 14 km down a mountain to the little village of Sainte Marie-de-Campan where he went to the village blacksmith and beat out a makeshift repair. So strict were the rules in those days that every rider had to solve his technical problems without getting any help. Having a boy pump the bellows cost him a penalty of 1 minute! 4 hours later he continues and 'Cri-cri' finished the stage 3h50' after Philippe Thys. Under the circumstances his final seventh place 14h from Philippe Thys at the Paris finish was something of a miracle.
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All through the war Eugene Christophe plotted his revenge. Come 1919 he was ready. Midway through the race he went into the lead. It was on the stage to Grenoble that Desgrange got yet another promotional brainstorm. The next morning Christophe left town wearing the first "maillot jaune", the famous yellow jersey signifying the race leader. Yellow, because that was the color of the pages of Desgrange's newspaper.
Christophe rode an inspired race; nothing could stop his now. Nothing, that is, until another broken fork two days from Paris. Once again there was the walk to the forge and the catastrophic drop in placings. It was the last time he would ever be a contender. The little stone blacksmith shop where Christophe hammered his fork back into one piece is today a national historic site.
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