the pre-race favourites for the victory were maurice garin and hippolyte aucouturier. garin dominated the race from the start by winning the first stage, a parcours from paris to lyon. the stage started at 15:16, and the cyclists initially rode with a speed of 35 km/h. the first cyclists abandoned after around . at 23:00, garin and emile pagie, leading the race, reached the control point in nevers. garin expected at that point that they would finish at 8:00 the next morning. during the night, garin's main rival, aucouturier, had stomach cramps, and was unable to finish the stage. also during that first stage, the first breach of the rules occurred: jean fischer had used a car as pacer, which was illegal. pagie fell down, but got up again; he and garin kept leading the race during the night. around 9:00 in the morning, both reached lyon. garin got away from pagie, and finished one minute ahead.