Tour de France celebrates 100th anniversary 1903: Henri Desgrange, editor of L’Auto newspaper, conceives major cycling race to build sales. First Tour, won by Maurice Garin, is so successful that rival paper Le Velo shuts down 1904: Cheating crisis – riders take trains and fans leave nails in road to scupper favourites’ rivals 1910-11: High mountain stages through Pyrenees and Alps introduced 1919: Yellow jersey introduced to help spectators identify race leader 1930: Radical changes include cycle manufacturers’ teams replaced by national squads and riders all on identical bikes 1937: Derailleur systems permitted – enabled change of gear without having to remove wheels 1952: Tour televised for first time 1953-55: Louison Bobet seals first straight hat-trick of Tour victories 1957: Great time-trial list Jacques Anquetil wins first of five Tours 1967: Death of Briton Tom Simpson on Mont Ventoux leads to Tour’s first drug tests 1969: In a stunning debut, Belgian Eddy Merckx wins by 17 mins and also claims points classification green jersey and climbers’ prize – only rider to date to win all three categories in one year 1975: Polka dot King of the Mountains jersey adopted 1985: Bernard Hinault joins Anquetil, Merckx on 5 wins 1986: American Greg LeMond becomes Tour’s first non-European winner 1989: New aerodynamic bike allows LeMond to overhaul 50-second lead of Laurent Fignon on final stage to win by eight seconds – narrowest ever victory 1991-95: Spaniard Miguel Indurain’s unique physique – resting heartbeat of 29 beats per minute and lungs able to scoop in eight litres of air – enable him to win five straight Tours 1998: Tour rocked by doping scandal 2003: Following his amazing comeback from cancer, American Lance Armstrong is now aiming to equal Indurain’s record of five wins in a row 1905: René Pottier wins inaugural mountain climb on Ballon d’Alsace 1907-08: Lucien Petit-Bresson becomes first double winner Multiple champions 5 Jacques Anquetil FRA 1957, 61-64 5 Eddy Merckx BEL 1969-72, 74 5 Bernard Hinault FRA 1978-79, 81-82, 85 5 Miguel Induráin ESP 1991-95 4 Lance Armstrong USA 1999-2002 3 Phillippe Thys BEL 1913-14, 20 3 Louison Bobet FRA 1953-55 3 Greg LeMond USA 1986, 89-90 2 11 riders René Pottier Eddy Merckx Miguel Indurain Jacques Anquetil Lance Armstrong © GRAPHIC NEWS