Touriste-routiers, individuals etc.

This overview is several years old. A better overview, with some errors removed and additional info added, is in my book about Tour de France rules. Many links below have died unfortunately, but I keep them in because knowing the original link may find other people to find back the source.

In the early days of the Tour de France, there were other classifications besides the general classification, which included some riders and others not. Because these classifications no longer exist, they're not widely researched, and there's little information available about them, spread across many locations. Here's a summary of what I've managed to glean.

This overview is a bit outdated (I have found a little bit more than what is below: more info is in my book about Tour de France rules and statistics.

Machines poinçonnées: 1904–1907

In 1905, Pautrat was the winner of the "Machines poinçonnées" classification. (source) "Machines poinçonnées" means something like "stamped machines" and is also sometimes translated as "leaded bicycles," and the riders in this category had a stamp on their bikes to ensure they didn't change bikes. At that time, gears weren't yet used in the Tour, and when a climb or descent was approaching, riders in the other category ("coureurs de vitesse") could change bikes. This category was also used in 1906 and 1907, both times won by Lucien Petit-Breton. (source, source)

1905

Van 1905, I only know the winner (Philippe Pautrat), but no final standings. The category wasn' that important that year either: manufacterers did not want to limit their riders, and only entered unimportant ones into this category. (source)

1906

In 1906, manufacturers were more interested, having discovered that it was good publicity for a bicycle if a a rider could finish the Tour de France on it without changing. (source) I couldn't find a list of participants, but I did find a final result:

Final classification machines poinçonnées 1906 Tour de France
source
PositionRiderPosition in general
1Lucien Petit-Breton4
2José Catieau6
3Edouard Wattelier7
4Eugène Christophe9
5Antony Wattelier10
6Georges Fleury11
7Ferdinand Payan12

None of these riders achieved stage wins. There may also have been riders in this category who didn't finish and therefore weren't included in the final results. Of the riders who did win a stage, at most Jean-Baptiste Dortignacq (winner of stage 8) could have been in this category.

1907

In 1907, the final classification in this category was:

Final classification machines poinçonnées 1907 Tour de France
source
PositionRiderPosition in general
1Lucien Petit-Breton1
2François Beaugendre5
3Eberardo Pavesi6
4François Faber7
5José Catieau8
6Ferdinand Payan10
7Georges Fleury12
8François Lafourcade13
9Marius Julien Villette14
10Alcide Vivier15
11Gaston Tuvache16
12Eugène Delhaye17
13Henri Timmermann20
14Georges Bronchard21
15Marceau Narcy22
16Albert Baudet25
17Alfred Quenon27
18René Fleury29
19Octave Noél30
20Albert Géraud31
21Marcel Dozol32
22Albert Chartier33

I did not find full confirmation on how this was calculated, but I am 99% sure that it was just made by taking the general classification and removing all riders that swapped bicycles at some point in the race.

I don't have a full list of riders starting in this category (more explicitly: I don't know the status of riders who abandoned during this Tour), but it is clear that Petit-Breton was the only rider in the machine poinçonnées category that won a stage: he won the 6th, 9th and 11th stage. He is also the only rider from this category leading the general classification this year.

From 1908, riders were no longer allowed to change bicycles, and in case of problems had to repair their own bicycles. From that point on, basically all riders rode in the machines poinçonnées category, so there was no special classification anymore.

For completeness: I found hints that Faber won this classification in 1908, but I don't trust this, and I think this source mixes it up with the "pneus démontables" category, see below. (source)

Pneus démontables: 1908

In 1908, the "pneus démontables" category was used. "Pneus démontables" means removable tyre. The first five riders in this category received a prize from tyre manufacturer Wolber. Faber won this prize. (source) I think this was not an initiative of the Tour organization, but it was tolerated.

Isolated riders: 1909–1914

In 1909, riders could enter the Tour de France with a sponsored team. That automatically generated the category of riders that were not part of such a team, the isolated riders. (Frans: Isolés). These isolated riders were not the top riders: in the six years that they participated, they only won three stages in total, all other stages were won by sponsored riders.

1909

In 1909, 112 isolated riders started the Tour. (source) The other riders, in sponsored teams, were in the category of "coureurs groupés". Technically, in 1909 these sponsored riders were not part of teams yet, but were spnosored individually, but effectively this worked the same. (source: Thompson, p.36) For the isolated riders, separate prizes were available: the best isoalted rider in a stage received 100 francs, and the second 40 francs. The prizes won were shown in newspapers as a classification, and the final reported classification was:

Prizes won by isolated riders 1909 Tour de France
Blaise, Lafourcade and Combelles did not complete the Tour.
source
PositionRiderPrizes
1Ernest Paul780 Fr.
2Eugène Christophe560 Fr.
3Aldo Bettini220 Fr.
4Antoine Fauré40 Fr.
André Blaise140 Fr.
François Lafourcade40 Fr.
Noël Combelles40 Fr.

Added together, this is 1820 francs, which corresponds to 13 stages, while this Tour had 14 stages. It seems that the last stage was missing in the overview. To check this, I did my own calculation:

Prizes won by isolated riders 1909 Tour de France, own calculation
PositionRiderPrizes
1Ernest Paul820 Fr.
2Eugène Christophe560 Fr.
3Aldo Bettini320 Fr.
4André Blaise140 Fr.
5Noël Combelles40 Fr.
6François Lafourcade40 Fr.
7Alfred Faure40 Fr.

Ernest Paul was the only isolated rider who won a stage in 1909 (stage 7).

1910

In 1910, 80 riders started in this category. (source) The other riders now really started in teams, named after their main sponsor. (source:Thompson, p.36) The same prizes as in 1909 were given to isolated riders. Sponsored rides had supporting staff and could get new tyres, but isolated riders had to do everything by themselves. (source)

Prizes won by isolated riders 1910 Tour de France
source
PositionRiderPrizes
1Charles Cruchon840 Fr.
2Ernest Paul720 Fr.
3François Lafourcade280 Fr.
4Augustin Ringeval80 Fr.
5Maurice Pardon40 Fr.

Added up, this is 1960 francs, enough for 14 stages, while this Tour had 15 stages. Maybe again the last stage was missing, so I calculated it myself:

Prizes won by isolated riders 1910 Tour de France, own calculation
PositionRiderPrizes
1Charles Cruchon880 Fr.
2Ernest Paul820 Fr.
3François Lafourcade280 Fr.
4Augustin Ringeval80 Fr.
5Maurice Pardon40 Fr.

Just as in 1909, Ernest Paul was the only isolated rider who won a stage (11).

1911

In 1911, 47 riders started in this category. (source) The other riders started again as individually sponsored riders. (source: Thompson p.36) In 1911, a real classification for isolated riders was made, based on points. These points were ccalculated in the same way as the general classification, but based on the stage result only including isolated riders.

Final classification isolated riders 1911 Tour de France
(source)
PositionRiderPoints
1Paul Deman31
2Jules Deloffre43
3Ottavio Pratesi54
4Vincent D'Hulst58
5Louis Colsaet67
6Marius Julien Villette79
7Pietro Ghislotti104
8Lucien Roquebert104

No isolated rider won a stage in 1911. The best result was the 5th place of Jules Deloffre in the 15th stage.

1912

In 1912, 81 riders started in this category. (source) Also in 1912, grouped riders started as individually sponsored riders. (source: Thompson, p.36) The points system of 1911 was kept in 1911. The winner of this year, Deloffre, only passed the runner-up Pratesi in the final stage. They were so closely matched, that in the general classification with a slightly different points system, Pratesis was ranked before Deloffre.

Final classification isolated riders 1912 Tour de France
Calculated myself, but the order matches source
PositionRiderPoints
1Jules Deloffre41
2Ottavio Pratesi42
3Pierre Everaerts64
4François Lafourcade78
5Eberardo Pavesi82
6Maurice Leliaert90
7Georges Oudin129
8Fernand Courcelles140
9Raymond Harquet141
10Émile Druz164
11Charles Dumont165
12Émile Eigeldinger171
13Henri Alavoine192
14Émile Caudrelier213
15Gaston Neboux222
16Maurice Dartigue224

No stages were won by isolated riders in 1912. The best result was the shared 7th to 18th place in the 11th stage by Pierre Everaerts and Jules Deloffre, or the 10th place of Ottavio Pratesi in the 12th stage, depending on how shared places are counted.

1913

In 1913, 89 riders started in this category. (source) This time, the other riders really rode in teams. By this year, the time classification had returned, and the classification for isolated riders was simply made by removing the sponsored riders from the general classification. What remained:

Final classification isolated riders 1913 Tour de France
source
PositionRiderTime
1Camillo Bertarelli214h 15' 38"
2Jules Deloffre+2h 09' 52"
3Vincent D'Hulst+3h 48' 34"
4Louis Petitjean+5h 38' 49"
5Maurice Leliaert+9h 56' 47"
6Giuseppe Contesini+14h 15' 56"
7Louis Colsaet+15h 25' 12"
8Achille Desmedt+38h 22' 29"
9Charles Dumont+48h 11' 57"
10Celidonio Morini+60h 20' 09"
11Henri Alavoine+60h 34' 14"

Henri Van Lerberghe was the only isolated rider who won a stage in 1913 (stage 5). In this stage, there was a separate start: the isolated riders started 15 minutes after the sponsored riders. (source)

1914

In 1914, 76 riders started in this category. (source) The rules were the same as in 1913.

Final classification isolated riders 1914 Tour de France
Unfortunately no source yet
PositionRiderTime
1Camille Botte210h 43' 21"
2Julien-Leon Tuytten+4h 19' 41"
3Pierre Everaerts+9h 06' 31"
4Ottavio Pratesi+10h 17' 07"
5Jules Deloffre+11h 48' 42"
6Adrien Alpini+15h 56' 49"
7Émile Guyon+20h 40' 37"
8Mario Spinelli+24h 59' 02"
9Charles Dumont+27h 27' 58"
10René Cottrel+27h 27' 58"
11Sante Goi+42h 00' 59"
12Emilio Cucchietti+49h 05' 43"
13Gaston Neboux+49h 44' 28"
14Henry Allard+57h 31' 51"
15Henri Alavoine+62h 40' 48"
16Marcel Rottié+73h 48' 37"
17Henri Leclercq+88h 50' 12"

No isolated rider won a stage in 1914. The best result was the shared 5th to 13th place of Julien-Leon Tuytten in the 3rd stage or the 8th place of Camille Botte in the 9th stage, depending on how these shared places are counted.

Category B/2e category: 1919–1924

After the Second World War, the economy hadn't recovered sufficiently to sponsor the Tour de France riders. Therefore, the former sponsors joined forces and sponsored everyone collectively, as it was cheaper. Two stages were won by riders from the second division, in 1921 and 1924.

1919

In 1919, the riders were divided into two categories: Category A and Category B. The riders in Category A were the better riders. Twenty-five riders started in this category. (source)

Jules Nempon was the only B-rider in 1919 that finished the Tour de France, so he was automatically the winner of this category. (source) No stages were won by B-riders.

1920

In 1920, riders were divided into the 1st and 2nd classes, but the principle remained the same. 82 riders participated in the second class. (source) The best rider in this category was José Pelletier. (source)

Final classification second class 1920 Tour de France
 
PositionRiderTime
1José Pelletier248h 40' 15"
2Theodore Wynsdau+5h 09' 30"
3Noël Amenc+13h 21' 15"
4Joseph Muller+13h 44' 18"
5Henri Ferrara+14h 27' 55"
6Guglielmo Cecherelli+28h 36' 02"
7Marius Matheron+31h 06' 32"
8Etienne Dorfeuille+33h 05' 28"
9Pierre Hudsyn+35h 32' 10"
10André Coutte+35h 53' 14"
11Charles Raboisson+48h 55' 33"

No stages were won by 2nd-class riders. Closest were Henri Ferrara in the ninth stage and Joseph Muller in the 11th stage, both in 8th place.

1921

Again in 1921, rider were separated in the first class and the second class. In the second class, 99 riders started. (source) Victor Lenaers was the winner of the second class.(source) Newspapers from 1921 also indicated which rider from the second class ranked highest in each stage, and which ranked highest in the general classification. (source, source, source, source, source)

Final classification second class 1921 Tour de France
(First five)
In total, 30 riders from the second class finished the Tour.
PositionRiderTime
1Victor Lenaers226h 43' 49"
2Léon Despontin+8' 31"
3Camille Leroy+3h 03' 04"
4Eugène Dhers+4h 51' 13"
5Henri Ferrara+7h 05' 11"

Because the jury thought that the 12th stage had not seen enough combativity, the 13th stage had a separate start, in which riders from the second category started before the riders from the first category. In the end, Félix Sellier (from the second class) won this stage. He was the only rider from the second class to win a stage in 1921.

1922

In 1922, riders were again split into the 1st and 2nd class. In total, 94 riders started in the second class. (source) Some newspaper articles called riders from the second class the isolated riders. (source)

Also in 1922, newspaper articles mentioned which 2nd class rider ranked highest every stage, and which 2nd class rider was highest in the general classification. (source, source, source, source)

Final classification second class 1922 Tour de France
(First five)
(source) In total, 22 riders from the second class finished the Tour.
PositionRiderTime
1José Pelletier228h 01' 35"
2Giuseppe Santhia+3h 04' 06"
3Théo Beeckman+3h 47' 03"
4Jules Nempon+6h 18' 27"
5Alfons Standaert+6h 55' 17"

In 1922, no rider from the second class won a stage. The best result was the fifth place, obtained three times: Jules Nempon in the 9th stage, Théo Beeckman in the 10th stage and José Pelletier in the 13th stage.

1923

In 1923 there were again riders in the 1st and 2nd class, but now there were also riders in an extra category, the touristes-routiers, see further down. The second class had 24 riders starting the Tour. (source)

Newspaper articles (other than L'Auto) don't emphasize the difference between 1st class and 2nd class anymore, it is hard to find a mention of Henri Collé, who was the best rider of the second class. Instead, riders from the 1st class and 2nd class were known to be associated to trade teams, and the newspapers counted how many stages were won by each trade team: (source) Peugeot 7 (3x Alavoine, 2x Jacquinot, 1x Muller, 1x Bellenger), Automoto 5 (Henri Pélissier 3x, Bottecchia 1x, 2874 1x), Thomann 2 (2x Goethals), La Française 1 (Dejonghe 1x). (source) It seems like in 1923 the difference between 1st and 2nd class became less relevant than the different sponsors that riders had.

In 1923, no stages were won by riders from the 2nd class. The best result was the 3rd place, obtained four times: Joseph Normand in the 5th and 6th stages, Henri Collé in the 9th stage and Alfons Standaert in the 13th stage.

1924

In 1924, riders were again separated into the 1st class, 2nd class and touristes-routiers. Riders from the second category had to pay half of the entrance fee as riders from the first category (250 francs in stead of 500 francs). (source) Only 11 riders started in the second class. (source) Huysse was the best rider in the second class. (source)

Newspaper articles again show who was leading the second class. (source)

Omer Huyse was the only rider from the second class who won a stage (stage 5).

Final classification second class 1924 Tour de France
(First five)
(source)
PositionRiderTime
1Omer Huyse234h 31' 14"
2Gaston Degy+2h 13' 35"
3Alfons Standaert+2h 41' 13"
4Emile Hardy+3h 22' 45"
5Eugène Dhers+4h 13' 24"

After the Tour de France of 1924, Desgrange decided to remove the prizes for second (and third?) category. (source)

Touristes-Routiers: 1923–1937

In 1923, the touriste-routiers category was introduced. In total, they won nineteen stages:

1923

In 1923, 86 riders started in the touriste-routiers category. (source) Henri Collé won.

1924

In 1924, 103 riders started in the touriste-routiers category kostte. (source) Ottavio Pratesi was the best, at the nineteenth palce in the general classification. (source) In total, 38 touristes-routiers finished the Tour de France. Pratesi won 2880 francs (Bottechia, the winner of the general classification, won 18993 francs voor). (source)

1925

In 1925, 91 riders started in the touriste-routiers category. (source) Léon Despontin was the best Touriste-routier. (source)

1926

In 1926, 84 riders started in the touriste-routiers category, in total, 14 of these riders finished. (source)

1927

In 1927, 95 riders started in the touriste-routiers category. (source) Secondo Martinetto was the best. (source)

1928

In 1928, 127 riders started in the touriste-routiers category. (source) Not a single rider finished the Tour. But 45 riders who would have otherwise started as touriste-routiers, were combined into 9 regional teams, see also the origin of the teams classification. Of these regional riders, Paul Filliat finished highest in the general classification, see also further below.

1929

In 1929, 104 riders started in the touriste-routiers category. (source)

Some riders were divided into regional teams, see also the origin of the teams classification.

1930

From 1930, Desgrange decided how many Touristes-Routiers would be allowed to start. Everybody could apply, but Desgrange selected only riders who had proven themselves to be capable of riding a race as large as the Tour; in practice, only (semi-)professional riders would be selected. (source) In 1930, 60 riders started in the touriste-routiers category. (source)

1931

In 1931, 40 riders started in the touriste-routiers category. (source) They received less care than riders in the main categories, but now there was a company that would arrange their food and hotels. Riders in national teams had to ride in a bicycle supplied by the Tour organisation, but touriste-routiers could choose which bicycle they wanted to use. (source)

Max Bulla, Gerard Loncke and André Godinat were the only riders from this cateory that won a stage in this year. (source)

1932

In 1932, Luigi Barral won the classification for touriste-routiers. The final classification had 25 riders. (source, source)

1933

In 1933, Giuseppe Martano was the best touriste-routier. (source, source, source, source) Fourty riders started in this category.

1934

In 1934, Desgrange had decided to give more support to touriste-routiers. This was more expensive, so only 20 riders were allowed to start in this category. He decided that 10 French riders, 4 Belgians, 4 Italian and 2 other would be chosen (source), but the two "others" also turned out to be French. Fifteen riders finished in this classification, with Félicien Vervaecke as the winner. (source)

1935

In 1935, the support for Touriste-Routiers reduced again, also because the new category of individuals (see below) had been created. Thirty riders started in the touriste-routiers category. (source) Gabriel Ruozzi was the highest ranked. (source, source)

All riders were French, and young. (source) In the team time trial of stage 19, the remaining touriste-routiers were added to incomplete teams to make the team sizes more even. (source)

1936

In 1936, thirty French riders started in the touristes-routiers category. (source)

According to one source, the Touristes-routiers category had been abandoned, and these thirty riders rode as individuals (but not national individuals). (source) But another source explicitly calls them touristes-routiers, (source) something that the Tour archive confirms. (source) A Spanish newspaper from 1936 also calls them touristes-routiers. (source, source) By the way: the national riders were also split in two categories: A-national riders were in teams with 10 riders, and B-national riders in team with 4 riders. In the category B-national riders, 4 riders finished, with the Swiss Léo Amberg rank highest.

1937

In 1937, 31 riders started, and 19 finished. Mario Vicini was the best, finishing in second place. (source) His second place may have been the reason that the touriste-routiers category was removed afterwards.

Individuals: 1935

The category of individuals (French: Individuels) consisted of riders that were not in a team, but in some cases could be added to a national team.

1935

In 1934, some important riders had dropped out early in the race, and their national teams were not able to compete with the other teams anymore, making the race less interesting. To compensate, in 1935 it was decided to add the category of individual riders. These riders would get the same support and prizes as riders in national teams, but they were not allowed to assist riders in national teams, and were supposed to ride as individual riders. When a rider from a national team left the race, their place could be taken by an individual rider. There were five national teams, and each national team was supplemented with four individual riders. Additionally, the Swiss team was not able to send a team of 10 riders, so they also sent a team of 4 individual riders. They could not be added to a team. (source, source)

The Spanish team only used three of the four available places, so in 1935 23 riders started as individuals, of which 15 finished. Charles Pélissier was the best with his 13th place. A. Morelli, S. Maes and J. Lowie had also started the Tour as individual riders, but they had been added to their national teams (Italy, Belgium and Belgium).

Riders that abandoned in national teams, and their replacements:

In the end, all individuals had been added to their national team, except the Swiss riders (who had no national team) and Charles Pélissier who realized that he would easily won the prize for best individual rider. that is why in 1936 the Tour organization decided to add the replacements to the national teams at the start of the Tour: the national team sizes increased to 12 riders. (source)

Bleuets and Cadets: 1938

In 1938, the Touriste-Routiers category was no longer used, but this left less room for younger French riders. To fix this, two extra French teams with young riders were added, the Bleuets and Cadets.

Regionals: 1928–1930, 1939, 1947–1961

1928–1930

As indicated above, some of the Touriste-Routiers in 1928 rode in regional teams. Paul Filliat was the best of these regional riders. (source) A team classification for these regional riders was also used, with Champagne as the winner. (source)

This was done again in 1929 and 1930. But in 1930, there were also national teams, and these were so successful that the regional teams were no longer used in the next years.

1939, 1947–1961

Because of a shortage of foreign riders just before the Second World War (the situation was already so unstable that no Italian or German riders would join), it was decided to add regional French teams in the 1939 Tour de France. This system was considered successful, so after the war this was continued, until trade teams were reintroduced in 1962.