the very first Tour de France, the greatest cycle race (0) .!n' tne world, was held in1903. lt began when two French journalists, Henri Desgrange and G6o Lefdvre, came(13) ..... with the idea of a race right round the country, (14) ..... that had never been triedanywhere before.Nowadays we might think the aim of (15) ..... an idea would be to bring in lots of televisionmoney, or even tourists, but at the beginning of the twentieth century what they wanted to do(16)..... sell more copies of their newspaper. And they succeeded. Circulation figures, {17).....had been 25,000, went to 65,000 within aYear, and on to half a million by 1923'The reporters were in fact quite closely involved in organising the race, and Desgrange wouldgo (18)..... to remain Tour Director from 1903 right up to 1939. Even (19)..... , their initialdesign for the race changed in several important ways before the firSt one was run' Forinstance, they had iniended (20) ..... to be held over five weeks, but such a long race was justtoo much for most riders and very (21) ..... wanted to take part'So it becam e half (221..... length, and it would be run entirely in July (23) ...'. than from lateMay to early July. As, however, it would still go right round France, the distance travelled eachday would be much longer, with cyclists sometimes (241 ..-..to ride at night.
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