L'Auto created the Tour de France.
The French sports newspaper launched the race in 1903 to increase its circulation and defeat its rival, Le Vélo. Editor Henri Desgrange approved the idea after journalist Géo Lefèvre proposed a race around France, inspired partly by the popularity of long-distance cycling contests.
The inaugural Tour ran from 1 to 19 July 1903, covering six stages and about 2,428 kilometres. Maurice Garin won the overall competition. The event proved an enormous commercial success: L'Auto’s circulation rose sharply during and after the race.
A common mix-up is L'Équipe, the newspaper often associated with the modern Tour. L'Équipe is L'Auto’s successor, founded after L'Auto ceased publication in 1944. Le Vélo was the rival publication that helped motivate the race’s creation, not the newspaper that organized it.