Here’s a look at the Tour de France.
July 7-29, 2018 – The 105th Tour de France is scheduled to take place.
July 1-23, 2017 – The 104th Tour de France takes place. Chris Froome of Britain wins for the third year in a row, and for the fourth time overall.
Facts:
The Tour de France is a prestigious multistage bike race that takes place in France and sometimes the surrounding countries.
The Tour de France is also known as Le Tour or La Grande Boucle.
The race includes 21 stages and covers 3,540 kilometers.
There have been four cyclists who have won the tour five times:
Jacques Anquetil of France (1957 and 1961-1964)
Eddy Merckx of Belgium (1969-1972 and 1974)
Bernard Hinault of France (1978-1979, 1981-1982, and 1985)
Miguel Indurain of Spain (1991-1995), the first competitor to win five consecutive races.
Lance Armstrong held the record for most Tour de France wins (seven) but he was stripped of those wins in 2012.
France has won more times than any other country. (36)
Three Americans have won: Greg LeMond (1986, 1989, 1990), Lance Armstrong (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005) and Floyd Landis (2006). Both Armstrong and Landis have had their titles stripped due to allegations of doping.
The winner of the race is the person with the overall shortest accumulated time.
Time bonuses are awarded to the top three riders at the end of road stages, excluding the individual and team time trials.
There are two rest days.
Jerseys:
YELLOW – Overall leader of the race. The yellow jersey was introduced into the race in 1919 as yellow was the color of paper the French newspaper (formerly L’Auto, now L’Equipe) that sponsored the race was printed on.
RED POLKA DOT – Worn by the cyclist with the best accumulated time in the mountain segments.
GREEN – Worn by the cyclist with the most sprinting points, awarded for intermediate and final sprints on flat terrain.
WHITE – Worn by the Tour’s best rider aged 25 and younger.
Timeline:
1903 – Henri Desgrange, a reporter and cyclist, creates the Tour de France.
1903 – Maurice Garin of France is the first cyclist to win the race.
1910 – First time the race goes through the Pyrenees.
1989 – Greg Lemond defeats Laurent Fignon by 8 seconds, the smallest margin of victory so far.
1999-2005 – Lance Armstrong wins seven times in a row.
2003 – The 100th Anniversary, but not the 100th race (the race was canceled 11 times during WWI and WWII).
September 20, 2007 – Floyd Landis, winner of the 2006 Tour de France, is stripped of his title when an arbitration panel rules in favor of the USADA (US Anti-Doping Agency). Landis, the first Tour de France winner stripped of the title, initially maintained his innocence but later admitted to doping and accused others, including Armstrong, of doing the same.
October 22, 2012 – The International Cycling Union announces that Armstrong is being stripped of his Tour de France titles and is being banned from professional cycling for life.
October 26, 2012 – The International Cycling Union announces that no one will be declared the winner of the Tour de France from 1999-2005, after Armstrong is stripped of his titles.