Marking a century of ups and downs

Maurice Garin, winner of the inaugural Tour de France in 1903, belonged to an era of adventurous pioneers and so-called amateurs in a world without television and with little press coverage.

In contrast, the 2012 champion Bradley Wiggins and his Team Sky partners embody modernity and high tech in the multimedia age. Yet as the race celebrates its 100th edition, it appears the first and the last Tour winners are not entirely worlds apart.

Garin, a former chimney sweep from the Italian valley of Aosta, was known as a hard-training perfectionist, who took great care of his machine. The White Bulldog, as the Franco-Italian was known, made the arduous decision to give up wine and even cigarettes to achieve his goal of winning the Tour.

Wiggins, who started his career as a pursuit specialist and won three Olympic golds, went on a strict diet to lose seven kilos in his bid to become a Grand Tour winner.

Both men were brought up across two cultures, prefiguring the globalisation of cycling's showcase event.

Like many boys from his valley, Garin left to become a chimney sweep in France, ending up in the north of the country where he developed his taste for cycling.