 In 1902, the Salle des Machines was inspected by Henri Desgrange, who the following year inaugurated the Tour de France on behalf of the newspaper that he edited, "L'Auto".With him were Victor Goddet, the newspaper's treasurer, an engineer named Durand, and an architect, Gaston Lambert.It was Lambert who said he could turn the hall into a sports arena with a track 333 metres long and eight metres wide.