Lantern rouge

The first red light was Arsen Milloso , who lost almost 65 hours to the winner of the Tour de France 1903, Maurice Garen . The history of cycling has not retained significant information about it; in addition to participating in the debut Grand Tour , only his start in the Paris-Brest-Paris cycling marathon of 1921 is known, when the cyclist was already 54 years old ^[2] . In 1919, Jules Nempont was the last to finish. At first glance, the Frenchman’s not-so-good result is an achievement: he became the 10th in the overall standings and won the amateur standings, while the remaining 23 non-professionals came out. In those days, less than half of those starting to get to the finish line, so the last rider received the support of fans as an example of masculinity and sporting spirit. Even when the length of the stages was reduced, the last rider was much more popular with the audience than the ordinary gregari of the peloton, who finished in the middle of the overall standings.

Some riders began to fight for the last place, despising sports principles. Their goal was to go every stage as bad as possible, but at the same time not to fall out of the time limit. In 1979, the current winner of the prize, Frenchman Philippe Tener and Austrian Gerhard Schönbacher, fought for the Red Lantern. Both drove the worst 48.8-km long cuts: Schönbacher in 1 hour 21 minutes 52 seconds, Tener in 1 hour 23 minutes 32 seconds. The last-starting Bernard Ino won the stage with a result of 1 hour 8 minutes 53 seconds, Tenier's time went beyond the 20 percent limit, and he was removed from the race ^[3] . Schönbacher's “success” attracted a new sponsor to him, under a contract with which the rider was to be the last on the 1980 Tour . The organizers complicated the task of the Austrian, removing from the race the last athlete of the overall standings after each of the five stages at the end of the race, which nevertheless did not prevent Schönbacher from coming back last. However, the captain of his team Patrick Lefever did not share the passion for Lantern Rouge and achieved the dismissal of the Austrian ^[4] . Jacques Durant at the Tour de France 1999 was also the last, but no one could blame him for the lack of struggle: at the same time he won the Prize to the most aggressive driver . Four riders won the Red Light twice, and in 2008, Wim Vancevenant set a record, the last time for the third time in a row. He drove part of the stage, working for the leader of his Lotto team, Kadel Evans , and drove to the finish in dumps. The Belgian who won only 3 races during his performances and, after completing his career, gained only notoriety after being caught doping ^{[5] [6]} .

• The Tour's Master of Last Place