Tour de France

Tour de France, the world’s most prestigious and most difficult bicycle race. Of the three foremost races (the others being the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España), the Tour de France attracts the world’s best riders. Staged for three weeks each July—usually in some 20 daylong stages—the Tour typically comprises 20 professional teams of 9 riders each and covers some 3,600 km (2,235 miles), mainly in France, with occasional and brief visits to such countries as Belgium, Italy, Germany, and Spain. Although the race may start outside France—as was the case in 2007, when England hosted the opening stage for the first time—it always heads there quickly; the Tour is France’s premier annual sporting event and has deep cultural roots. It is watched by huge crowds from the roadside and is televised around the world as one of the supreme tests of athletic endurance. Part of the difficulty cyclists face in the Tour is that it is divided among time-trial racing and racing stages covering both flat land and great stretches of mountainous inclines. It is a rare cyclist who can perform well at both time trials and climbing, and those who can usually wear the yellow jersey (maillot jaune) of victory at the end of the race in Paris.

Established in 1903 by Henri Desgrange (1865–1940), a French cyclist and journalist, the race has been run every year except during the World Wars. Desgrange’s newspaper, L’Auto (now L’Equipe), sponsored the Tour to boost circulation. Two events sparked spectator interest in the race: in 1910 the riders were sent, for the first time, over the treacherous “circle of death” in mountain passes in the Pyrenees; and 1919 marked the introduction of the yellow jersey—yellow being the colour of paper on which L’Auto was printed. The yellow jersey is an honour accorded to the cyclist who has the lowest cumulative time for the race at the end of each day. (A racer might well win a stage of a race on any given day but will not necessarily be given a yellow jersey, as that depends on the lowest overall time.) Three other types of jerseys are awarded during the Tour. Bonus sprints, awarding both points and a deduction of overall elapsed time, are held at several sites along the route each day during the race, and points are also awarded and time deducted for the first three finishers of each stage; the winner of the most points receives a green jersey. A polka-dotted jersey is given to the “king of the mountains,” the rider who has the most points in the climbing stages, racing over small hills as well as steep mountains. The white jersey is awarded to the rider age 25 and under who has the lowest cumulative time. Riders usually have three types of bicycles: one for time trials, one for flat road stages, and a very light bicycle for the mountain-climbing stages of the race. All bicycles must meet the standards of the International Cycling Union (Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI). They may be specially engineered for speed for the time trials, but those used for the road stages of the race must be “standard design.”

Early teams were sponsored mainly by bicycle manufacturers until 1930, when national and regional teams were introduced. In 1962 trade teams returned, and, except in 1967 and 1968, years that again featured national teams, trade teams have continued, with sponsors now including banks, insurance companies, and manufacturers of household goods. The team aspect of the Tour is important because, although only one rider is awarded the win, lead riders are dependent on their team members in order to succeed. Teammates help their leader with tactics such as letting him ride (draft) behind them to protect him from the wind, giving him one of their wheels when his bicycle has a flat, setting a strong pace for him in the mountains, and chasing down and blocking any major rivals who have accelerated away from the main group in an attempt to gain time. Thus, the Tour, and bicycle racing in general, is often referred to as an individual sport practiced by teams. The rewards for a selfless teammate include a share of prizes won by his leader as well as a continuation of the teammate’s job into the next annual racing season.

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The use of performance-enhancing drugs—especially erythropoietin (EPO), a hormone that increases the level of red blood cells and thus the flow of oxygen to muscles—has become a major problem of the Tour de France. Amid frequent drug testing, doping scandals have threatened to overshadow the race itself. In 1998 one of the leading teams (Festina) was expelled due to allegations of drug use, and the 2006 winner, American Floyd Landis, tested positive for testosterone and was stripped of his title after an arbitration panel in 2007 upheld the drug-test results. In 2007 several teams withdrew from the Tour after their riders failed drug tests. That year also saw Bjarne Riis of Denmark, the 1996 victor, dropped from the Tour’s list of winners after he admitted using EPO during his race; however, due to time limits for sanctions, his title could not be officially revoked. The most infamous Tour doping scandal came in 2012 when seven-time winner (1999–2005) Lance Armstrong of the United States was stripped of his titles after an investigation revealed that he had been the central figure in a doping conspiracy during the years in which he won his titles.

Four riders have won five Tours each: Jacques Anquetil of France (1957 and 1961–64), Eddy Merckx of Belgium (1969–72 and 1974), Bernard Hinault of France (1978–79, 1981–82, and 1985), and Miguel Indurain of Spain (1991–95).

A list of Tour de France winners is provided in the table.