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STAGE 4: JOINVILLE -- ST. DIZIER
The course for this 69km team time trial is similar to last year’s between Épernay and Château-Thierry, with an early climb followed by undulating roads and a fast, flat finish.
7/9/2003 Start Time: 2:00:00pm
7/9/2003 Estimated Finish Time: 5:08:00pm
HISTORY
Team time trials were first seen at the Tour 76 years ago, but they were far different from today’s specialized affairs. In fact, all of the flat stages at the 1927 Tour were team time trials, some as long as 360km. The reason was that race organizer Henri Desgrange was unhappy with the slow pace and predictable finishes of the flatter stages of the 1926 Tour. He wanted the riders to race hard every day; but his decision made the 1927 Tour a bore, because Nicolas Frantz’s Alcyon team dominated the “team time trials,” to allow the Luxembourger to finish almost two hours ahead of runner-up Maurits Dewaele of Belgium.
