Arnfried Schmitz provides insights into Marcel Berthet's part

The sixth Tour de France ran from 13 July to 9 August 1908. It was organised by the journal L'Auto which published a beautiful bound set of all its issues covering the race. Arnfried Schmitz, author of Human Power, has compiled the following notes from L'Auto's coverage that show a lot more skullduggery went on than is revealed merely by reading the list of winners.

The organiser's statement
The homologation of the bikes … the surveying of the roads … the itinerary after the start … the nails. We have taken all necessary measures to prevent regrettable incidents like those of 1905 … numerous marshals … the 'apaches' have a 90% chance of being caught and spending time in jail.

'Giants of the road' taking part
1. Petit-Breton, 2. Garrigou, 3. Vanhouwaert, 4. Frousselier, 5. Passérieu, 6. E. Georget, 7. A. Pottier, 8. Ringeval, 9. Lignon, 10. Privat, 11. Berthet, 12. Bronchart, 13. Vivier, 14. E. Wattelier.

The teams
Peugeot, Alcyon, Biguet, Nil Supra, Peerless and Labor. Labor's managers were Alphonse Bauget (the legendary 'Choppy'), Jeanne and Roche-Gude. The team's riders were Privat, Berthet, Reginald Shirley, Constant Ménager, Novo, R. Fleury, Bertanza.

The start
A motorcar approached, inside were the whole Labor team, all in yellow jerseys. (This was before the yellow jersey denoted the race leader.)

First stage: Paris-Roubaix, 272km, 13th July - the most famous rider cracks
The flying control at Montdidier was 111km after the start and 161km from the finish. All the region's 'sportsmen' (the French report uses the English word) had gathered there. Passérieu came through with a lead of 35 minutes. Cornet, Petit-Breton, Garrigou, E. Georget, Paulmier, Aucouturier, F. Faury, Privat, Berthet and others followed him. Crashes on the greasy cobbles were countless, as were flat tyres. Berthet had three punctures in 60km.
Results: 1. Passérieu, 8hr 25min 56sec. Berthet, the hour world record holder and former amateur French champion, took 9hr 52min.

Second stage: Roubaix-Metz, 15th July
This took the race into Alsace-Lorraine, annexed by Germany after the Franco-Prussian war. The Labor manager Baugé decided they would forget Berthet and Novo, with all their punctures. Anyway, Berthet would feature in future races.
Although the official report stated there was no major incident, at the Hirson flying control, 169km from the start and 229km from Metz, Berthet arrived without a saddle. Also, somebody shouted "Nails! Nails!" A criminal hand had indeed sowed the road with nails. The roads of northern France were also covered with coal dust. The report stated that the racers all ended up looking like the African-American cycling star Major Taylor. They were almost unrecognisable, including Berthet. "Very little road," he said, somewhat enigmatically.
Winner of this stage was Petit-Breton. Berthet came in a poor 35th and was 43rd in the general classification.

Third stage: Metz-Belfort, 17th July
Count Zeppelin, German governor of the occupied territory, started this 259km stage. After Novo crashed, Baugé, manager of the Labor team, received a telegram from M. de Clèves, boss of Labor:
"After Novo's crash and the mediocre results of the other riders, I have decided to abandon the race. You can all ease up and come back by train."

Reasons given for Labor's withdrawal
"We had bad luck in the early stages. Our riders were exhausted by numerous punctures. Neither Novo, nor Berthet, nor Privat - all top class riders - got the placings they deserved at Metz. We tried our luck for the last time in the third stage but it did not happen. Novo had to abandon after a heavy crash. Berthet and the rest were again handicapped by numerous incidents. … We were not beaten fairly, that's all I can say. We'll take our revenge another time."
Such was the improbable bad luck of the representatives of the elegant black and red Labor bicycles.