In the offices of a struggling French sports paper 115 years ago today — November 20, 1902 — the idea for the Tour de France was first born.

The paper, L’Auto, was suffering from poor circulation, and desperate for ideas to prop up sales. At an emergency meeting with the paper’s editor, Henri Desgrange, a young journalist named Géo Lefèvre blurted out the idea for a multi-day bike race around France.

At the turn of the century, bike racing was one of the world’s most popular sports. But bicycle stage racing didn’t exist prior to the first Tour de France, which was subsequently held that July in 1903.

The race was a success. By 1908, L'Auto's circulation had increased tenfold, from 25,000 to more than a quarter million.

Desgrange, a former racer racer himself — he held the first hour record ever recorded — went on to become the self-proclaimed “father of the Tour," immortalized in history books as the man responsible for one of modern day sports most well-known events.

Yet, let us not forget Lefèvre, who was under pressure to dream big, and imagined Le Tour.