Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race that covers around 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi) throughout France and bordering countries. The race lasts 23 days and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages. Individual times to finish each stage are totalled to determine the overall winner at the end of the race. The rider with the lowest aggregate time at the end of each day wears a yellow jersey.[1] The course changes every year but it has always finished in Paris and in more recent years along the Champs-Élysées. The Tour de France is the most well known and prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours". The other two Grand Tours are the Giro d'Italia (Italy) held every May and the Vuelta a España (Spain) held every August-September.
Description
The Tour de France is a bicycle race known around the world. It typically has 21 days, or stages, of racing and covers not more than 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi).[2] The shortest Tour was in 1904 at 2,420 kilometres (1,500 mi), the longest in 1926 at 5,745 kilometres (3,570 mi).[3] The three weeks usually include two rest days, sometimes used to transport riders from a finish in one town to the start in another. The race alternates between clockwise and anticlockwise circuits of France. The New York Times said the "Tour de France is arguably the most physiologically demanding of athletic events." The effort was compared to "running a marathon several days a week for nearly three weeks", while the total elevation of the climbs was compared to "climbing three Everests."[4]
The 2004 Tour rides the Champs Élysées
The number of teams usually varies between 20 to 22, with nine riders in each. Entry is by invitation to teams chosen by the race organiser, the Amaury Sport Organisation. Team members help each other and are followed by managers and mechanics in cars.
Riders are judged by the time each has taken throughout the race, a ranking known as the general classification. There may be time deductions for finishing well in a daily stage or being first to pass an intermediate point. It is possible to win without winning a stage, as Greg LeMond did in 1990. There are subsidiary competitions (see below), some with distinctive jerseys for the best rider.
Riders normally start together each day, with the first over the line winning, but some days are ridden against the clock by individuals or teams. The overall winner is usually a master of the mountains and of these time trials. Most stages are in mainland France, although since the 1960s it has become common to visit nearby countries.[5] Stages can be flat, undulating or mountainous. Since 1975 the finish has been on the Champs-Élysées in Paris; before then, the race finished at the Parc des Princes stadium in western Paris and at the Piste Municipale south of the capital.
