German favourite Josef Fischer, and a collection of adventurers, including one competing as "Samson". Many riders dropped out of the race after completing the initial stages, as the physical effort the tour required was just too much. Only a mere 24 entrants remained at the end of the fourth stage. The race finished on the edge of Paris at Ville d'Avray, outside the Restaurant du Père Auto, before a ceremonial ride into Paris and several laps of the Parc des Princes. Garin dominated the race, winning the first and last two stages, at . The last rider, Millocheau, finished 64h 47m 22s behind him.L'Auto's mission was accomplished, as circulation of the publication doubled throughout the race, making the race something much larger than Desgrange had ever hoped for. 1904–1939 Such was the passion that the first Tour created in spectators and riders that Desgrange said the 1904 Tour de France would be the last. Cheating was rife, and riders were beaten up by rival fans as they neared the top of the col de la République, sometimes called the col du Grand Bois, outside St-Étienne. The leading riders, including the winner Maurice Garin, were disqualified, though it took the Union Vélocipèdique de France until 30 November to make the decision. McGann says the UVF waited so long "...well aware of the passions aroused by the race." Desgrange's opinion of the fighting and cheating showed in the headline of his reaction in L'Auto: THE END. Desgrange's despair did not last. By the following spring, he was planning another Tour—longer, at 11 stages rather than 6—and this time all in daylight to make any cheating more obvious. Stages in 1905 began between 3 am and 7:30 am. The race captured the imagination. L'Auto's circulation swelled from 25,000 to 65,000; by 1908, it was a quarter of a million. The Tour returned after its suspension during World War I and continued to grow, with circulation of L'Auto reaching 500,000 by 1923. The record claimed by Desgrange was 854,000 during the 1933 Tour. Le Vélo, meanwhile, went out of business in 1904. Desgrange and his Tour invented bicycle stage racing. Desgrange experimented with different ways of judging the winner. Initially he used total accumulated time (as used in the modern Tour de France) but from 1906 to 1912 by points for placings each day. Desgrange saw problems in judging both by time and by