Tour de France Prizes
Winner's Prizes from the First Tour de France in 1903
BikeRaceInfo Tour de France Database
Historian and writer Jean-François Mignot has very kindly sent me a list of the prizes won in the Tour de France from the first edition in 1903.
Mignot's history of the Tour de France (it's in French) can be purchased from Amazon.fr by just clicking on the cover of his book on the right.
After more than a century of inflation, currency changes and war, understanding the value of these prizes is difficult. Here's my take on the 1903 Tour de France winnings won by Maurice Garin:
Garin pocketed a total 6,125 of francs for his exploit (3,000 for overall first place plus stage wins, etc), enough to buy a gas station where he worked the rest of his life after retiring from racing. To this day, a station still stands on the spot of Garin's old place, but no one working there has any idea about the importance of the former owner. Garin is quite forgotten.
Adjusting for currency exchange rates and inflation across a century can be dangerous, but those 6,000 francs Garin won should be something like $30,000 in today’s U.S. dollars. A worker at the De Dion-Bouton car factory (in 1900 the largest automobile maker in the world) in Paris made between five and seven francs a day (about 1,500 francs a year) and a trained craftsman like a boiler maker could expect to make about 2,000 francs a year.
But, Mr. Mignot is both fearless and tireless and has taken each year's prizes and converted them to 2013 U.S. Dollars to make it easier for American readers to understand the prizes' value.
European readers should note that the US Dollar/Euro exchange rate has been volatile. Mr. Mignot has used 1.308 US Dollars to the Euro in 2013 in his conversion calculations.
Monetary Units: In the columns using currency of current era, that is what was paid at the time of the race: Francs until 1959, "new Francs" from 1960 to 2001, Euros from 2002
First prize in currency of era |
Total prize pool in currency of era |
First prize in 2013 euros |
Total prize pool in 2013 euros |
First prize in 2013 dollars |
Total prize pool in 2013 dollars |
|||||||
| 1903 | 3,000 | 20,000 | 11,828 | 78,851 | 15,471 | 103,138 | ||||||
| 1904 | 5,000 | 21,000 | 19,993 | 83,969 | 26,151 | 109,833 | ||||||
| 1905 | 4,000 | 25,000 | 16,010 | 100,063 | 20,941 | 130,884 | ||||||
| 1906 | 5,000 | 25,000 | 19,756 | 98,779 | 25,841 | 129,204 | ||||||
| 1907 | 4,000 | 25,000 | 15,586 | 97,415 | 20,387 | 127,420 | ||||||
| 1908 | 4,000 | 30,000 | 15,236 | 114,270 | 19,929 | 149,467 | ||||||
| 1909 | 5,000 | 25,000 | 19,083 | 95,416 | 24,961 | 124,805 | ||||||
| 1910 | 5,000 | 25,000 | 18,509 | 92,547 | 24,211 | 121,053 | ||||||
| 1911 | 5,000 | 30,000 | 16,842 | 101,052 | 22,030 | 132,177 | ||||||
| 1912 | 5,000 | 32,500 | 17,029 | 110,691 | 22,275 | 144,785 | ||||||
| 1913 | 5,000 | 39,900 | 16,469 | 131,426 | 21,542 | 171,907 | ||||||
| 1914 | 5,000 | 45,000 | 16,469 | 148,224 | 21,542 | 193,880 | ||||||
| 1915 - 1918: No Tours held | ||||||||||||
| 1919 | 5,000 | 50,000 | 6,378 | 63,783 | 8,343 | 83,428 | ||||||
| 1920 | 15,000 | 80,765 | 13,926 | 74,984 | 18,216 | 98,080 | ||||||
| 1921 | 15,000 | 80,000 | 15,898 | 84,787 | 20,794 | 110,903 | ||||||
| 1922 | 10,000 | 80,000 | 11,029 | 88,228 | 14,425 | 115,404 | ||||||
| 1923 | 10,000 | 100,000 | 9,936 | 99,356 | 12,996 | 129,959 | ||||||
| 1924 | 10,000 | 100,000 | 8,723 | 87,231 | 11,410 | 114,099 | ||||||
| 1925 | 15,000 | 99,000 | 12,194 | 80,483 | 15,951 | 105,273 | ||||||
| 1926 | 15,000 | 109,000 | 9,373 | 68,111 | 12,260 | 89,091 | ||||||
| 1927 | 12,000 | 100,000 | 7,182 | 59,854 | 9,395 | 78,290 | ||||||
| 1928 | 12,000 | 100,000 | 7,197 | 59,974 | 9,414 | 78,447 | ||||||
| 1929 | 10,000 | 150,000 | 5,647 | 84,709 | 7,387 | 110,800 | ||||||
| 1930 | 72,000 | 606,000 | 40,338 | 339,508 | 52,762 | 444,081 | ||||||
| 1931 | 25,000 | 650,000 | 14,575 | 378,938 | 19,064 | 495,655 | ||||||
| 1932 | 30,000 | 700,000 | 19,198 | 447,955 | 25,111 | 585,931 | ||||||
| 1933 | 30,000 | 749,000 | 19,833 | 495,157 | 25,941 | 647,671 | ||||||
| 1934 | 30,000 | 737,610 | 20,702 | 509,005 | 27,079 | 665,785 | ||||||
| 1935 | 1,092,050 | 821,804 | 1,074,931 | |||||||||
| 1936 | 100,000 | 1,000,000 | 70,134 | 701,336 | 91,736 | 917,357 | ||||||
| 1937 | 200,000 | 800,000 | 111,500 | 446,001 | 145,844 | 583,375 | ||||||
| 1938 | 100,000 | 900,000 | 49,076 | 441,682 | 64,192 | 577,726 | ||||||
| 1939 | 100,000 | 900,000 | 46,037 | 414,336 | 60,217 | 541,957 | ||||||
| 1940 - 1946: No Tours held | ||||||||||||
| 1947 | 500,000 | 4,580,000 | 26,844 | 245,894 | 35,113 | 321,633 | ||||||
| 1948 | 600,000 | 7,000,000 | 20,324 | 237,111 | 26,584 | 310,144 | ||||||
| 1949 | 1,000,000 | 12,000,000 | 29,923 | 359,078 | 39,140 | 469,678 | ||||||
| 1950 | 1,000,000 | 14,000,000 | 27,203 | 380,840 | 35,582 | 498,144 | ||||||
| 1951 | 1,000,000 | 18,278,000 | 23,390 | 427,527 | 30,595 | 559,211 | ||||||
| 1952 | 1,000,000 | 28,000,000 | 20,903 | 585,279 | 27,341 | 765,552 | ||||||
| 1953 | 2,000,000 | 35,000,000 | 42,529 | 744,251 | 55,628 | 973,489 | ||||||
| 1954 | 2,000,000 | 38,445,000 | 42,359 | 814,249 | 55,406 | 1,065,048 | ||||||
| 1955 | 2,000,000 | 36,685,000 | 41,981 | 770,043 | 54,912 | 1,007,226 | ||||||
| 1956 | 2,000,000 | 38,000,000 | 40,289 | 765,495 | 52,699 | 1,001,277 | ||||||
| 1957 | 2,000,000 | 40,000,000 | 39,116 | 782,314 | 51,164 | 1,023,277 | ||||||
| 1958 | 2,000,000 | 40,000,000 | 33,984 | 679,682 | 44,452 | 889,033 | ||||||
| 1959 | 2,000,000 | 41,710,000 | 32,030 | 667,991 | 41,896 | 873,741 | ||||||
| 1960 | 20,000 | 400,000 | 30,887 | 617,749 | 40,401 | 808,023 | ||||||
| 1961 | 20,000 | 500,000 | 29,901 | 747,518 | 39,111 | 977,763 | ||||||
| 1962 | 20,000 | 583,425 | 28,558 | 833,086 | 37,355 | 1,089,687 | ||||||
| 1963 | 20,000 | 550,000 | 27,250 | 749,387 | 35,644 | 980,208 | ||||||
| 1964 | 20,000 | 543,200 | 26,354 | 715,785 | 34,472 | 936,257 | ||||||
| 1965 | 20,000 | 414,275 | 25,712 | 532,584 | 33,631 | 696,626 | ||||||
| 1966 | 20,000 | 424,700 | 25,036 | 531,632 | 32,747 | 695,381 | ||||||
| 1967 | 20,000 | 541,300 | 24,401 | 660,419 | 31,917 | 863,836 | ||||||
| 1968 | 20,000 | 574,850 | 23,328 | 670,508 | 30,513 | 877,034 | ||||||
| 1969 | 20,000 | 600,000 | 21,904 | 657,130 | 28,651 | 859,535 | ||||||
| 1970 | 20,000 | 605,525 | 20,822 | 630,400 | 27,235 | 824,572 | ||||||
| 1971 | 20,000 | 470,600 | 19,736 | 464,391 | 25,815 | 607,429 | ||||||
| 1972 | 20,000 | 552,000 | 18,584 | 512,916 | 24,308 | 670,901 | ||||||
| 1973 | 20,000 | 660,000 | 17,320 | 571,546 | 22,654 | 747,590 | ||||||
| 1974 | 30,000 | 802,650 | 22,849 | 611,327 | 29,887 | 799,623 | ||||||
| 1975 | 30,000 | 842,695 | 20,437 | 574,084 | 26,732 | 750,910 | ||||||
| 1976 | 100,000 | 1,004,500 | 62,158 | 624,374 | 81,303 | 816,689 | ||||||
| 1977 | 100,000 | 1,168,490 | 56,817 | 663,900 | 74,317 | 868,389 | ||||||
| 1978 | 100,000 | 1,227,545 | 52,078 | 639,279 | 68,118 | 836,185 | ||||||
| 1979 | 100,000 | 1,338,120 | 47,002 | 628,938 | 61,479 | 822,659 | ||||||
| 1980 | 100,000 | 1,487,930 | 41,375 | 615,626 | 54,119 | 805,247 | ||||||
| 1981 | 130,000 | 2,324,000 | 47,431 | 847,926 | 62,041 | 1,109,098 | ||||||
| 1982 | 150,000 | 2,207,220 | 48,952 | 720,320 | 64,030 | 942,188 | ||||||
| 1983 | 160,000 | 2,304,260 | 47,642 | 686,121 | 62,316 | 897,455 | ||||||
| 1984 | 160,000 | 2,561,450 | 44,359 | 710,151 | 58,023 | 928,887 | ||||||
| 1985 | 120,000 | 3,003,050 | 31,446 | 786,940 | 41,131 | 1,029,328 | ||||||
| 1986 | 300,000 | 4,500,680 | 76,547 | 1,148,384 | 100,125 | 1,502,101 | ||||||
| 1987 | 300,000 | 6,284,700 | 74,246 | 1,555,374 | 97,114 | 2,034,449 | ||||||
| 1988 | 808,000 | 7,567,250 | 194,711 | 1,823,551 | 254,685 | 2,385,228 | ||||||
| 1989 | 1,500,000 | 8,104,215 | 348,572 | 1,883,267 | 455,936 | 2,463,338 | ||||||
| 1990 | 2,000,000 | 10,073,450 | 449,480 | 2,263,907 | 587,926 | 2,961,220 | ||||||
| 1991 | 2,000,000 | 9,017,850 | 435,543 | 1,963,829 | 569,696 | 2,568,714 | ||||||
| 1992 | 2,000,000 | 10,162,950 | 425,335 | 2,161,327 | 556,343 | 2,827,044 | ||||||
| 1993 | 2,000,000 | 11,000,000 | 416,995 | 2,293,471 | 545,435 | 2,999,890 | ||||||
| 1994 | 2,200,000 | 11,597,450 | 451,027 | 2,377,618 | 589,949 | 3,109,956 | ||||||
| 1995 | 2,200,000 | 12,091,250 | 443,487 | 2,437,417 | 580,087 | 3,188,174 | ||||||
| 1996 | 2,200,000 | 12,002,250 | 434,792 | 2,372,036 | 568,713 | 3,102,653 | ||||||
| 1997 | 2,200,000 | 11,972,150 | 429,636 | 2,338,030 | 561,970 | 3,058,174 | ||||||
| 1998 | 2,200,000 | 12,019,650 | 426,649 | 2,330,990 | 558,063 | 3,048,965 | ||||||
| 1999 | 2,200,000 | 14,964,950 | 424,536 | 2,887,803 | 555,299 | 3,777,284 | ||||||
| 2000 | 2,200,000 | 15,500,500 | 417,469 | 2,941,357 | 546,055 | 3,847,333 | ||||||
| 2001 | 2,200,000 | 16,470,750 | 410,637 | 3,074,320 | 537,119 | 4,021,250 | ||||||
| 2002 | 335,390 | 2,664,035 | 403,027 | 3,201,283 | 527,165 | 4,187,320 | ||||||
| 2003 | 400,000 | 2,877,705 | 470,849 | 3,387,409 | 615,876 | 4,430,775 | ||||||
| 2004 | 400,000 | 3,000,000 | 461,030 | 3,457,728 | 603,034 | 4,522,753 | ||||||
| 2005 | 400,000 | 3,000,000 | 452,493 | 3,393,696 | 591,866 | 4,438,998 | ||||||
| 2006 | 450,000 | 3,200,000 | 500,890 | 3,561,887 | 655,171 | 4,658,994 | ||||||
| 2007 | 450,000 | 3,200,000 | 493,687 | 3,510,661 | 645,749 | 4,591,990 | ||||||
| 2008 | 450,000 | 3,200,000 | 480,240 | 3,415,040 | 628,160 | 4,466,917 | ||||||
| 2009 | 450,000 | 3,200,000 | 479,760 | 3,411,625 | 627,532 | 4,462,450 | ||||||
| 2010 | 450,000 | 3,200,000 | 472,556 | 3,360,399 | 618,110 | 4,395,446 | ||||||
| 2011 | 450,000 | 3,412,546 | 462,951 | 3,510,762 | 605,546 | 4,592,122 | ||||||
| 2012 | 450,000 | 3,414,246 | 453,890 | 3,509,384 | 593,694 | 4,590,320 | ||||||
| 2013 | 450,000 | 2,023,300 | 450,001 | 2,023,304 | 588,607 | 2,646,508 | ||||||