The 1906 Tour de France was the fourth edition of the Tour de France, and the second to use the points system. Taking place from 4 to 29 July, the total race distance was run over 13 stages, with the winner averaging . New to this year's edition were the mountain climbs in the Massif Central. However, like its predecessors, cheating and sabotage still took place. Four competitors were disqualified for taking trains as a shortcut and spectators threw nails on the road. However, this did not stop René Pottier from taking a big lead in the first stages. Free of the tendinitis that had plagued his 1905 chances, he dominated the entire race.
Innovations and changes
Tour organiser Henri Desgrange had been happy with the increased length of the 1905 Tour de France, and decided to put even more stages in the 1906 version.
The introduction of mountain stages had also been successful, so this edition included not only the Vosges, but also the Massif Central.
The increased length made it possible to follow the borders of France, and in 1906 the perimeter was closely followed.
left|thumb|The flamme rouge, indicating the final kilometre of the stage, was introduced in the 1906 Tour de France.|alt=A structure above a road, with a red triangle in the middle, with a car passing under the structure. The points system in the 1905 Tour de France had been successful enough in reducing cheating, so the Tour organisers used it again in the 1906 Tour de France, with a few changes: whereas in 1905, time differences still had some effect on the points distribution, in 1906 time differences were unimportant, and points were only given for the order in which the cyclists finished. The winner of the stage received one point, the second rider two points, et cetera. After the eighth stage, only 16 cyclists were remaining, and the results from the first eight stages were recalculated, with only the remaining cyclists, and the points were redistributed among the remaining riders in accordance with their positions in those stages.
The 1906 Tour also saw the introduction of the flamme rouge (red flame), a red flag that indicates that the cyclists only have one kilometre to go. Louis Trousselier, winner of the 1905 Tour de France, was present. The riders were not grouped in teams, but some cyclists had the same sponsor, even though they were not allowed to work together. Before the race started, most was expected from Cadolle, Aucouturier, Georget, Pottier, Trousselier, Dortignac and Petit-Breton.
As in 1905, the cyclists were divided in two categories, the coureurs de vitesse and the coureurs sur machines poinçonnées, where the riders in the first category were allowed to change bicycles, which could be an advantage in the mountains, where they could use a bicycle with lower gears. In 1905, sponsors had not been so enthusiastic about entering their cyclists in this category, but in 1906 they had learned that it had a commercial advantage to have cyclists starting in the poinçonnées category, because the average French citizen could identify more with them. In 1906, more than half of the cyclists started in the poinçonnées category, including Lucien Petit-Breton, one of the pre-favourites.
Race overview
thumb|right|[[Hippolyte Aucouturier fixing a flat tire|alt=A man working on the front tire of a bicycle; three men are watching.]]
As in previous years, the spectators tried to assist their preferred riders by trying to impede their opponents. On the first stage, nails had been thrown on the road, and all cyclists except Lucien Petit-Breton punctured.
thumb|left|The 1906 Tour passing through a town|alt=A square with two lines of crowd diagonally, with cyclist between them going to the lower right, and horses outside them.
Pottier also won the fourth stage. In the fifth stage, he was leading by one hour at the halfway point. A cycling legend says that he decided to stop, entered a bar and ordered a bottle of wine, and drank it almost completely. When he saw the first other cyclists passing by, Pottier mounted his bicycle again, went after them, and won the stage. By this point, Pottier was leading the overall classification firmly. The winner of the 1905 Tour de France, Louis Trousselier, had had a bad first half of the Tour, and was many points behind. Trousselier rediscovered his form in the second half of the race, won the 7th, 9th, 10th and 11th stages, and was challenging the second place of Georges Passerieu. Passerieu defended his position by winning the 12th stage. In the last stage, Pottier showed his strength by winning the stage, after finishing together in Paris with Passerieu.
|-
! scope="col" | Stage
! scope="col" | Date
! scope="col" | Course
! scope="col" | Distance
! scope="col" colspan="2" | Type