1910 Tour de France

The 1910 Tour de France was the eighth edition, held from 3 to 31 July, and the first to cross the Pyrenees, won by Octave Lapize. Course designer Adolphe Steinès had pushed for the mountains against Henri Desgrange's initial refusal, scouting the Tourmalet himself in January; when the Pyrenees were announced, 26 of the 136 entrants withdrew, and Desgrange left the race before the tenth stage, handing its direction to Victor Breyer. On that stage over four passes, with the Tourmalet the high point of the race, riders were allowed to finish in the new broom wagon and still start the next day; only ten completed it on their bikes, and the unknown regional rider François Lafourcade led over the top.

Riders competed in teams for the first time, Alcyon, Le Globe and Legnano with ten riders each, and Alcyon won nine of the fifteen stages. Its two leaders, 1909 winner François Faber, a sprinter, and the climber Lapize, had roughly equal chances under the points system: Faber won stage 2 and led until a puncture on the stage to Brest, Lapize took over with Gustave Garrigou's help, and although Faber attacked from the start of stage 14 and finished ahead in the last stage, he recovered only two of the six points he needed.