1904 Tour de France

Garin won on the road, lost it to the judges, and Cornet got the title four months later.

The 1904 Tour de France was the second edition of the race, held from 2 to 24 July over the same six stages as the first. On the road Maurice Garin, the 1903 winner, appeared to have won again by a narrow margin over Lucien Pothier, while Hippolyte Aucouturier took four of the six stages. The race was then wrecked by scandal: riders were accused of taking trains, and the Union Vélocipédique Française disqualified twelve men, including the first four finishers and every stage winner. Henri Cornet, originally fifth, was declared the winner four months later. The affair led the organisers to cancel the Tour provisionally, and the 1905 race was run under different rules. For the first time riders had to enter the whole race rather than single stages, and the 50-year-old Henri Paret remains the oldest man ever to ride it.