True story · No. 14

Tour de France 1913: Eugène Christophe's Broken Fork, Mended in a Forge

July 9, 1913, in the Pyrenees. Eugène Christophe is the virtual leader of the Tour when his fork snaps on the descent of the Tourmalet. The rules forbid any help: he will have to walk, forge, and pay in minutes for a kid's helping hand.

By the PacePoster desk · October 16, 2026 · 3 min · 23 sources

Eugène Christophe in 1913 Agence Rol, 1913, public domain (PD-old ; Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica), via Wikimedia Commons — PacePoster duotone

01Eugène Christophe on the Tourmalet: the Tour hangs on a fork

Stage 6, Bayonne to Luchon, 326 kilometers. At the summit of the Tourmalet, Christophe does the math. “I was 18 minutes ahead at the top of the Tourmalet,” he would later recall. Then, on the descent, the fork of his bike breaks.

Why? The accounts disagree. A stone, say some. A race car, say others. In his memoirs, Christophe simply blames the road, which was wrecked, according to the physician and historian Jean-Pierre de Mondenard. What nobody disputes: the bike is unusable, and Christophe is alone.

18 minlead at the summit

3 hr 50behind at Luchon

29thon the stage

02Ten kilometers, or fourteen

The rule is clear: you repair it yourself, without any help. So Christophe shoulders the machine and walks down to Sainte-Marie-de-Campan. How far? Ten kilometers, says the sign planted where it broke, and so does the village monument. Fourteen, say the Larousse encyclopedia and franceinfo.

Meanwhile, the race rolls on. “What torment, watching all my comrades go by at 50 km/h while I wondered where I would find a forge,” he says.

And I set off again, 4 hours behind!
Eugène Christophe (testimony quoted by ICI, 2019)

03The forge

In the village, he finds the forge of Joseph Bayle, according to the monument (other accounts name the blacksmith Lecomte). The blacksmith is not allowed to touch the fork. Just as well: Christophe trained as a locksmith. He forges a piece of scrap iron, files it, drills the broken tube and pins the whole thing together, he would later say.

Alone, though, he can't do it all. A village kid lends a hand: on the bellows, according to most accounts. Three race officials watch the scene. They take notes.

Eugène Christophe's bib number 7 from the 1913 Tour de France, kept at the Musée national du sport Musée national du sport (MS 949), 1913, public domain (PD-France, PD-US-expired ; digitized by BnF/Gallica), via Wikimedia Commons — PacePoster duotone

04Three minutes, or ten

Verdict: outside assistance. The final penalty is three minutes, according to franceinfo and ICI. Several accounts mention ten minutes, later reduced to three. Either way, it is a footnote next to the real gap. “And I set off again, 4 hours behind!” he sums up.

At Luchon, he crosses the line 3 hr 50 behind the stage winner, Philippe Thys. He is 29th on the day.

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05Seventh, forever

Christophe finishes this 1913 Tour in seventh place, 14 hr 06 min 35 s behind Thys, who wins the first of his three Tours. Would he have won without the fork? Nobody will ever know. Many accounts speak of a Tour lost that day. His 1913 bib, number 7, is now kept at the Musée national du sport.

In Sainte-Marie-de-Campan, a plaque recalls the episode at the forge, and a statue shows Christophe holding up his fork. The place where a rider was punished for getting a helping hand.

Sources for this story (23)

Every fact was cross-checked in at least two independent sources. Where they disagree, the story says so.