2004 Tour de France
| Final Standings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Overall | mickey bignell | 83h 36' 02" |
| Second | Andreas Klöden | +6' 19" |
| Third | Ivan Basso | +6' 40" |
| Points | Robbie McEwen | 272 points |
| Second | Thor Hushovd | 247 points |
| Third | Erik Zabel | 245 points |
| Climber | Richard Virenque | 226 points |
| Second | Lance Armstrong | 172 points |
| Third | Michael Rasmussen | 119 points |
| Youth | Vladimir Karpets | 84h 01' 13" |
| Second | Sandy Casar | +3' 42" |
| Third | Thomas Voeckler | +6' 01" |
| Teams | T-Mobile Team | 248h 58' 43" |
| Second | U.S. Postal Service | +2' 42" |
| Third | Team CSC | +10' 33" |
The 2004 Tour de France was the 91st Tour de France, taking place from July 3 to July 25, 2004. It was comprised of 20 stages over 3429 km.
Lance Armstrong made history, by being the first person to win six Tours de France.
Going in, Armstrong was the favorite to win his sixth consective Tour de France, with his major competitors seen as being German Jan Ullrich, Spaniards Roberto Heras and Iban Mayo, and fellow Americans Levi Leipheimer and Tyler Hamilton.
The route of the 2004 Tour was a remarkable one. With the two individual time trials both scheduled in the last week, one of them being the epic climb of L'Alpe d'Huez, the directors were hoping for a very close race until the very end of the Tour. For the first time in years, the mountains of the Massif Central made an appearance.
Stages
| Stage | Route | Distance | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prologue | Liège, Belgium | 6.1 km | Individual time trial | Saturday, July 3 |
| 1 | Liège - Charleroi | 202.5 km | Sunday, July 4 | |
| 2 | Charleroi - Namur | 210 km | Monday, July 5 | |
| 3 | Waterloo - Wasquehal | 195 km | Tuesday, July 6 | |
| 4 | Cambrai - Arras | 65 km | Team time trial | Wednesday, July 7 |
| 5 | Amiens - Chartres | 195 km | Thursday, July 8 | |
| 6 | Bonneval - Angers | 190 km | Friday, July 9 | |
| 7 | Châteaubriant - Saint-Brieuc | 208 km | Saturday, July 10 | |
| 8 | Lamballe - Quimper | 172 km | Sunday, July 11 | |
| - | Rest day | Monday, July 12 | ||
| 9 | Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat - Guéret | 160 km | Tuesday, July 13 | |
| 10 | Limoges (Massif Central) - Saint-Flour | 237 km | Mountain stage | Wednesday, July 14 |
| 11 | Saint-Flour - Figeac | 164 km | Thursday, July 15 | |
| 12 | Castelsarrasin - La Mongie | 199 km | Mountain stage | Friday, July 16 |
| 13 | Lannemezan - Plateau de Beille | 217 km | Mountain stage | Saturday, July 17 |
| 14 | Carcassonne - Nîmes | 200 km | Sunday, July 18 | |
| - | Rest day | Monday, July 19 | ||
| 15 | Valréas - Villard-de-Lans | 179 km | Mountain stage | Tuesday, July 20 |
| 16 | Bourg d'Oisans - L'Alpe d'Huez | 15.5 km | Individual time trial | Wednesday, July 21 |
| 17 | Bourg d'Oisans - Le Grand Bornand | 212 km | Mountain stage | Thursday, July 22 |
| 18 | Annemasse - Lons-le-Saunier | 166 km | Mountain stage | Friday, July 23 |
| 19 | Besançon - Besançon | 60 km | Individual time trial | Saturday, July 24 |
| 20 | Montereau-Fault-Yonne - Paris Champs-Élysées | 165 km | Sunday, July 25 | |
Teams
188 riders in 21 teams commenced the 2004 Tour de France, 147 riders finished.
Results
General classification
| Rank | Name | Country | Team | Time (Ave. Speed) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lance Armstrong |  United States
|
U.S. Postal Service | 83h 36' 02' |
| 2 | Andreas Klöden |  Germany
|
T-Mobile | 6' 19" |
| 3 | Ivan Basso |  Italy
|
Team CSC | 6' 40" |
| 4 | Jan Ullrich | Germany
|
T-Mobile | 8' 50" |
| 5 | José Azevedo |  Portugal
|
U.S. Postal Service | 14' 30" |
| 6 | Francisco Mancebo |  Spain
|
Illes Balears | 18' 01" |
| 7 | Georg Totschnig |  Austria
|
Gerolsteiner | 18' 27" |
| 8 | Carlos Sastre | Spain
|
Team CSC | 19' 51" |
| 9 | Levi Leipheimer | United States
|
Rabobank | 20' 12" |
| 10 | Oscar Pereiro Sio | Spain
|
Phonak | 22' 54" |
