Vintage Tour De France Racer

I've had a long running fascination with the Tour De France, and especially with it's early history and all of the challenges those riders faced, from riding mostly steep gravel laden dirt roads and dealing with tons of dust, to having to carry all of their own supplies such as inner tubes and water, to having to make all of their own bike repairs without assistance, and finally dealing with sabotage from the fans of other riders (often, these "fans" would throw sharp tacks onto the road in front of the cyclists to give them a flat, slowing down their progress) . And if the riders were caught being helped by someone, they would either be assessed a large time penalty or in some cases disqualified from the race. It's was truly a fascinating time period in which to race that differs drastically from the races of today in which the riders all have teammates who assist them as well as a full team following in tow with spare bikes and radio communication.