the sponsored riders were allowed to be given food and drinks. The other category consisted of 47 isolated riders; they were not allowed to be given food or drinks during these checkpoints. The previous edition had been a close battle between teammates Octave Lapize and François Faber from the Alcyon team, won by Lapize. Lapize had changed teams to the La Française team, where he was joined by former winner Lucien Petit-Breton (winner in 1907 and 1908). Petit-Breton was a late replacement for Cyrille van Hauwaert, who was not feeling healthy enough to ride the Tour. Race overview The first stage was won by Garrigou, a teammate of Faber at Alcyon. In that first stage, Petit-Breton had to leave the race after a series of unfortunate events. The Alcyon team also won the second stage with Masselis. The third stage was won by Faber, after a 206 km solitary breakaway. During that stage, Émile Georget was leading when he was hit by a car and fell down a ravine. In the same stage, Faber had passed a checkpoint without signing, and as a penalty he had to stop for two and a half minutes. Despite this, he still won with an advantage of 17 minutes, and took the lead in the general classification. In the fourth stage, Garrigou took back the lead from his teammate Faber. At that point, Faber became insecure, as he knew that Garrigou was a good climber, while the big Faber had troubles in the mountains. In the alps, Georget was the best. Garrigou finished well before Faber, and was now leading by 10 points. The sixth stage, with only small mountains, was won by Faber, after a 260 km solitary breakaway, but because Garrigou came in second, he was still in the lead. In third place was Paul Duboc, a surprising newcomer. Duboc was the strongest in the eighth stage, and after his stage victory, he was in second place in the general classification. In the ninth stage, Faber lost contact with Garrigou in the general classification by finishing in twentieth place. Duboc won again, and had shown that he was a good climber, and was considered a favourite for the tenth stage which also included mountains, and a serious threat for Garrigou in the generalt classification; after this stage, Garrigou was leading with 27 points, while Duboc had 37 points. In that ninth stage,