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{{Infobox cycling race
| name = Tour de France
| current_event =
| image = [[File:Tour de France logo.svg|200px]]
| date = July
| region = France and nearby countries
| localnames = Le Tour de France {{fr icon}}
| nickname = La Grande Boucle
| discipline = Road
| competition = Professional
| type = Stage race (Grand Tour)
| organiser = [[Amaury Sport Organisation]]
| director = [[Christian Prudhomme]]
| first = [[1903 Tour de France|{{start date|df=yes|1903}}]]
| number = 100 ([[2013 Tour de France|2013]])
| final =
| firstwinner = {{flagathlete|[[Maurice Garin]]|FRA}}
| mostwins = {{plainlist|
* {{nowrap|{{flagathlete|[[Jacques Anquetil]]|FRA}}}}
* {{nowrap|{{flagathlete|[[Bernard Hinault]]|FRA}}}}
* {{nowrap|{{flagathlete|[[Eddy Merckx]]|BEL}}}}
* {{nowrap|{{flagathlete|[[Miguel Indurain]]|ESP}}}}<ref group="n">Indurain holds the record of five consecutive Tour wins.</ref>
(''5-time winners''<ref group="n" name="lancebanned">Formerly American [[Lance Armstrong]] with 7 wins, until he was stripped of his titles and banned for life from all UCI events following an investigation into [[History of Lance Armstrong doping allegations|doping allegations]] against him.</ref>)}}
| mostrecent = {{flagathlete|[[Chris Froome]]|GBR}}
}}
The '''Tour de France''' ({{IPA-fr|tuʁ də fʁɑ̃s}}) is an annual [[stage race|multiple stage]] [[bicycle racing|bicycle race]] primarily held in [[France]],<ref name="Telegraph Tour Info">{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/tour-de-france/9400588/The-Tour-de-France-a-guide-to-the-basics.html|title=The Tour de France: a guide to the basics|author=Joel Gunter|publisher=The Telegraph|date=16 July 2012|accessdate=30 July 2012|location=London}}</ref> while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. The race was first organized in [[1903 Tour de France|1903]] to increase paper sales for the magazine ''[[L'Auto]]'';<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf1903.html#story |title=1903 Tour de France |publisher=Bikeraceinfo.com |date=19 January 1903 |accessdate=30 July 2012 }}</ref> it is currently run by the [[Amaury Sport Organisation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/69862/tour-de-france-snubs-velodrome-holocaust-memorial |title=Tour de France snubs velodrome Holocaust memorial |work=The Jewish Chronicle |date=12 July 2012 |accessdate=30 July 2012 }}</ref> The race has been held annually since its first edition in 1903 except for when it was stopped for the two [[World war|World Wars]].<ref name="reveal">{{cite web |url=http://www.cyclingrevealed.com/timeline/Race%20Snippets/TdF/TdF1919.htm |title=The Return of a Grand Affair – "New Tour Legend: the Maillot Jaune"|author=Barry Boys|publisher=Cycling Revealed|accessdate=3 June 2009}}</ref> As the Tour gained prominence and popularity the race was lengthened and its reach began to extend around the globe. Participation expanded from a primarily French field, as riders from all over the world began to participate in the race each year. The Tour is a [[UCI World Tour]] event, which means that the teams that compete in the race are mostly [[UCI ProTeam]]s, with the exception of the teams that the organizers invite.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uci.ch/templates/UCI/UCI2/layout.asp?MenuId=MTUyMjQ |title=Union Cycliste Internationale |publisher=Uci.ch |accessdate=6 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=When is the Criterium route announced. |url=http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/530629/uci-worldtour-calendar-2012.html |title=UCI WorldTour calendar 2012 |work=Cycling Weekly |accessdate=6 August 2012}}</ref>
The Tour de France, the [[Giro d'Italia]] and [[Vuelta a España]] make up cycling's prestigious, three-week-long [[Grand Tour (cycling)|Grand Tours]]; the Tour is the oldest and generally considered the most prestigious of the three.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=features/2007/abu_dhabi07 |title=Million dollar, baby! |work=Cycling News |publisher=Future Publishing Limited |date=12 January 2007 |accessdate=21 May 2011 }}</ref> Traditionally, the race is held primarily in the month of July. While the route changes each year, the format of the race stays the same with the appearance of at least two time trials,<ref name="Telegraph Tour Info"/> the passage through the mountain chains of the [[Pyrenees]] and the [[Alps]], and the finish on the [[Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France|Champs-Élysées]] in [[Paris]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/LIVE/us/2100/etape_par_etape.html#zone3 |title=Tour de France 2011 – Stage by stage |publisher=Letour.fr |accessdate=30 July 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bicycling.com/news/2010-tour-de-france/moment-17-1975-tdfs-first-champs-elysees-finish |title=Moment 17: 1975 – TDF's First Champs Elysees Finish |work=Bicycling Magazine |accessdate=30 July 2012 }}</ref> The modern editions of the Tour de France consist of 21 day-long segments (stages) over a 23-day period and cover around {{convert|3500|km}}.<ref>{{cite web|title = UCI Regulations|page = 43|url = http://www.uci.ch/Modules/BUILTIN/getObject.asp?MenuId=MTkzNg&ObjTypeCode=FILE&type=FILE&id=34028&LangId=1|accessdate =21 July 2009|edition = 2.6.011}}</ref> The race alternates between clockwise and anticlockwise circuits of France.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=17}} The number of teams usually varies between 20 and 22, with nine riders in each.
All of the stages are timed to the finish; after finishing the riders' times are compounded with their previous stage times.<ref name="Telegraph Tour Info"/> The rider with the lowest aggregate time is the leader of the race and gets to don the coveted [[maillot jaune|yellow jersey]].<ref name="Telegraph Tour Info"/><ref name="ASO">{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDF/LIVE/docs/reglement_2006_us.pdf|publisher=ASO/letour.fr|title=Regulations of the race|format=PDF|accessdate=30 December 2008}}</ref> While the general classification garners the most attention there are other contests held within the Tour: the [[Points classification in the Tour de France|points classification]] for the sprinters, the [[Mountains classification in the Tour de France|mountains classification]] for the climbers with general classification hopes, [[Young rider classification in the Tour de France|young rider classification]] for the riders under the age of 26, and the [[Team classification in the Tour de France|team classification]] for the fastest teams.<ref name="Telegraph Tour Info"/>
==History==
{{Timeline Tour de France Winners}}
===Origins===
The Tour de France was created in 1903. The roots of the Tour de France trace to the [[Dreyfus Affair]], a [[wikt:cause célèbre|cause célèbre]] that divided France at the end of the 19th century over the innocence of [[Alfred Dreyfus]], a soldier convicted—though later exonerated—of selling military secrets to the Germans. Opinions became heated and there were demonstrations by both sides. One was what the historian [[Eugen Weber]] called "an absurd political shindig" at the [[Auteuil-Neuilly-Passy|Auteuil]] horse-race course in Paris in 1899.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=xi}} Among those involved was Comte [[Jules-Albert de Dion]], the owner of the [[De Dion-Bouton]] car works, who believed Dreyfus was guilty.{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=}} De Dion served 15 days in jail and was fined 100 francs for his role at Auteuil,{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=xi}} which included striking [[Émile Loubet]], the president of France, on the head with a [[walking stick]].{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=xi}}{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=}}{{sfn|Harp|2001|p=20}}
The incident at Auteuil, said Weber, was "...tailor-made for the sporting press." The first and the largest daily sports newspaper in France was ''[[Le Vélo]]'',{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=23}} which sold 80,000 copies a day.{{sfn|Nicholson|1991|p=}} Its editor, [[Pierre Giffard]], thought Dreyfus innocent. He reported the arrest in a way that displeased de Dion, who was so angry that he joined other anti-Dreyfusards such as [[Adolphe Clément]] and [[Édouard Michelin]] and opened a rival daily sports paper, ''[[L'Auto]]''.<ref group="n">De Dion, Clément and Michelin were particularly concerned with ''Le Vélo''—which reported more than cycling—because its financial backer was one of their commercial rivals, the Darracq company. De Dion believed ''Le Vélo'' gave Darracq too much attention and him too little. De Dion was a gentlemanly but outspoken man who already wrote columns for ''[[Le Figaro]]'', ''Le Matin'' and others. He was also rich and could afford to indulge his whims, which included founding ''Le Nain Jaune'' (the yellow gnome), a publication that "...answers no particular need."</ref>
The new newspaper appointed [[Henri Desgrange]] as the editor. He was a prominent cyclist and owner with Victor Goddet of the [[velodrome]] at the [[Parc des Princes]].{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=16}} De Dion knew him through his cycling reputation, through the books and cycling articles that he had written, and through press articles he had written for the Clément tyre company.
''L'Auto'' was not the success its backers wanted. Stagnating sales lower than the rival it was intended to surpass led to a crisis meeting on 20 November 1902 on the middle floor of ''L'Auto'''s office at 10 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, Paris. The last to speak was the most junior there, the chief cycling journalist, a 26-year-old named [[Géo Lefèvre]].{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=}} Desgrange had poached him from Giffard's paper.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=20}} Lefèvre suggested a six-day race of the sort popular on the track but all around France.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=20}} Long-distance cycle races were a popular means to sell more newspapers, but nothing of the length that Lefèvre suggested had been attempted.<ref group="n">Desgrange had first attempted to copy and outdo races run by his rival. In 1901 he revived the Paris-Brest event after a decade's absence. His winner knocked nearly two hours off the time but the race didn't catch the public imagination. The longest races went from city to city, such as from Bordeaux to Paris, in one stint. Giffard was the first to suggest a race that lasted several days, new to cycling but established practice in car racing. Unlike other cycle races, it would also be run largely without pacers.</ref> If it succeeded, it would help ''L'Auto'' match its rival and perhaps put it out of business.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=64}} It could, as Desgrange said, "nail Giffard's beak shut."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2006/tour06/?id=/features/2006/woodland_tour_origin |title=www.cyclingnews.com presents the 93rd Tour de France |work=Cycling News |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/RVBZWGNE9RZ0J |title=Know how the Tour de France started |publisher=Amazon.com |date=19 January 1903 |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref>
Desgrange and Lefèvre discussed it after lunch. Desgrange was doubtful but the paper's financial director, Victor Goddet, was enthusiastic. He handed Desgrange the keys to the company safe and said: "Take whatever you need."{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=15}} ''L'Auto'' announced the race on 19 January 1903.
===First Tour de France===
{{Main|1903 Tour de France}}
[[File:Eerste Tour de France - First Tour de France.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Maurice Garin]], winner of the first Tour de France standing on the right. The man on the left is possibly [[Leon Georget]] (1903)<ref>[[Spaarnestad Photo]] image number SFA001006411</ref>]]
The first Tour de France was staged in 1903. The plan was a five-stage race from 31 May to 5 July, starting in Paris and stopping in Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux and Nantes before returning to Paris. Toulouse was added later to break the long haul across [[southern France]] from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Stages would go through the night and finish next afternoon, with rest days before riders set off again. But this proved too daunting and the costs too great for most{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=13}} and only 15 competitors had entered. Desgrange had never been wholly convinced and he came close to dropping the idea.{{sfn|Nicholson|1991|p=44}} Instead, he cut the length to 19 days, changed the dates to 1 to 19 July, and offered a daily allowance to those who averaged at least 20 km/h on all the stages,{{sfn|Thierry|Chany|2011|p=21}} equivalent to what a rider would have expected to earn each day had he worked in a factory.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=131}} He also cut the entry fee from 20 to 10 francs and set the first prize at 12,000 francs and the prize for each day's winner at 3,000 francs. The winner would thereby win six times what most workers earned in a year.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=131}} That attracted between 60 and 80 entrants – the higher number may have included serious inquiries and some who dropped out – among them not just professionals but amateurs, some unemployed, some simply adventurous.{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=}}
Desgrange seems not to have forgotten the [[Dreyfus Affair]] that launched his race and raised the passions of his backers. He announced his new race on 1 July 1903 by citing the writer [[Émile Zola]], whose open letter in which every paragraph started" ''[[J'accuse]] ...''" led to Dreyfus's acquittal, establishing the florid style he used henceforth.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=63}}{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=7}}{{sfn|Nicholson|1991|p=45}}
The first Tour de France started almost outside the Café Reveil-Matin at the junction of the Melun and Corbeil roads in the village of Montgeron. It was waved away by the starter, Georges Abran, at 3:16 p.m. on 1 July 1903. ''L'Auto'' hadn't featured the race on its front page that morning.<ref group="n">L'Auto preferred to concentrate on the Coupe Gordon-Bennett car race, even though it wasn't to start for another 48 hours. The choice reflects not only that the Tour de France was an unknown quantity – only after the first race had finished did it establish a reputation – but it hints at Desgrange's uncertainty. His position as editor depended on raising sales. That would happen if the Tour succeeded. But the paper and his employers would lose a lot of money if it didn't. Desgrange preferred to keep a distance. He didn't drop the flag at the start and he didn't follow the riders. Reporting was left to Lefèvre, whose idea it had been, who followed the race by bike and by train. Desgrange showed a personal interest in his race only when it looked a success.</ref>{{sfn|Thierry|Chany|2011|p=26}}{{sfn|Allchin|Bell|2003|p=3}}
Among the competitors were the eventual winner, [[Maurice Garin]], his well-built rival [[Hippolyte Aucouturier]], the German favourite [[Josef Fischer (cyclist)|Josef Fischer]], and a collection of adventurers including one competing as "Samson".<ref group="n">The use of false and often colourful names was not unusual. It reflected not only the daring of the enterprise but the slight scandal still associated with riding bicycle races, enough that some preferred to use a false name. The first city-to-city race, from Paris to Rouen, included many made-up names or simply initials. The first woman to finish had entered as "Miss America", despite not being American.</ref>
The race finished on the edge of Paris at Ville d'Avray, outside the Restaurant du Père Auto, before a ceremonial ride into Paris and several laps of the Parc des Princes. Garin dominated the race, winning the first and last two stages, at 25.68 km/h. The last rider, Millocheau, finished 64h 47m 22s behind him.
==="Last" Tour: 1904===
{{Main|1904 Tour de France}}
Such was the passion that the first Tour created in spectators and riders that Desgrange said the second would be the last. Cheating was rife and riders were beaten up by rival fans as they neared the top of the col de la République, sometimes called the col du Grand Bois, outside St-Étienne.{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2006|p=11}} The leading riders, including the winner Maurice Garin, were disqualified, though it took the Union Vélocipèdique de France until 30 November to make the decision.{{sfn|Seray|2000|p=154}} McGann says the UVF waited so long "...well aware of the passions aroused by the race."{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2006|p=12}} Desgrange's opinion of the fighting and cheating showed in the headline of his reaction in ''L'Auto'': THE END.{{sfn|Seray|2000|p=129}}
===1905 on===
Desgrange's despair did not last. By the following spring he was planning another Tour, longer at 11 stages rather than 6 - and this time all in daylight to make any cheating more obvious.{{sfn|Seray|2000|p=148}} Stages in 1905 began between 3 am and 7:30 am.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=9}}
The race captured the imagination. ''L'Auto's'' circulation rose from 25,000 to 65,000;{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=}} by 1908 it was a quarter of a million, and during the 1923 Tour 500,000. The record claimed by Desgrange was 854,000 during the 1933 Tour.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf%20history/tdfhistory1930.html |title=Torelli's History of the Tour de France: the 1930s or, All They Wanted To Do Was to Sell a Few More Newspapers |accessdate=27 May 2007 |publisher=BikeRaceInfo.com}}</ref> ''Le Vélo'' went out of business in 1904.
==Early rules==
Desgrange and his Tour invented bicycle stage racing.{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2006|p=}} Desgrange experimented with judging by elapsed time{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=7}} and then from 1906 to 1912 by points for placings each day.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=9}}<ref group="n">The formula in 1905 was a combination of both time and points. Riders had points deducted for each five minutes lost. Desgrange saw problems in judging both by time and by points. By time, a rider coping with a mechanical problem—which the rules insisted he repair alone—could lose so much time that it cost him the race. Equally, riders could finish so separated that time gained or lost on one or two days could decide the whole race. Judging the race by points removed over-influential time differences but discouraged competitors from riding hard. It made no difference whether they finished fast or slow or separated by seconds or hours, so they were inclined to ride together at a relaxed pace until close to the line, only then disputing the final placings that would give them points.</ref> He allowed riders to have personal pacers on the last stage in 1903 and on the first and last stages in 1905.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=9}}
Desgrange stood against the use of multiple gears and for many years insisted riders use wooden rims, fearing the heat of braking while coming down mountains would melt the glue that held the tires on metal rims (they were finally allowed in 1937).{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=37}}
From 1936 there were as many as three stages in a single day.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=36}}
His dream was a race of individuals. He invited teams but until 1925 forbade their members to pace each other.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=25}} He then went the other way and from 1927 to 1929{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=27}} ran the Tour as a giant [[team time-trial]], with teams starting separately with members pacing each other. He demanded that riders mend their bicycles without help and that they use the same bicycle from start to end. Exchanging a damaged bicycle for another was allowed only in 1923.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=23}}
In 1903, Desgrange allowed riders who dropped out one day to continue the next for daily prizes but not the overall prize. In 1928, he allowed teams who had lost members to replace them halfway through the race.
Above all, Desgrange conducted a campaign against the sponsors, bicycle factories, which he was sure were undermining the spirit of a Tour de France of individuals. In 1930 he insisted that competitors ride plain yellow bicycles that he would provide, without a maker's name.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=30}}
===Teams===
====Touriste-routiers and regionals====
The first Tours were open to whoever wanted to compete. Most riders were in teams that looked after them. The private entrants were called ''touriste-routiers'' – tourists of the road – from 1923{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=23}} and were allowed to take part provided they make no demands on the organisers. Some of the Tour's most colourful characters have been touriste-routiers. One finished each day's race and then performed acrobatic tricks in the street to raise the price of a hotel.
There was no place for individuals in the post-1930s teams and so Desgrange created regional teams, generally from France, to take in riders who would not otherwise have qualified. The original touriste-routiers mostly disappeared but some were absorbed into regional teams.
====National teams====
The first Tours were for individuals and members of sponsored teams. There were two classes of race – one for the aces, the other for the rest – with different rules.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=13}} By the end of the 1920s, however, Desgrange believed he could not beat what he believed were the underhand tactics of bike factories.{{sfn|Maso|2003|p=50}}{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2006|p=84}} When the [[Alcyon]] team contrived to get [[Maurice De Waele]] to win even though he was sick,{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=30}} he said "My race has been won by a corpse" and in 1930 admitted only teams representing their country or region.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=30}}<ref>"Tour de France, 100 ans, 1903–2003", ''L'Équipe'', France, 2003, p182</ref>
National teams contested the Tour until 1961.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=55}} The teams were of different sizes. Some nations had more than one team and some were mixed in with others to make up the number. National teams caught the public imagination but had a snag: that riders might normally have been in rival trade teams the rest of the season. The loyalty of riders was sometimes questionable, within and between teams.
Sponsors were always unhappy about releasing their riders into anonymity for the biggest race of the year, as riders in national teams wore the colours of their country and a small cloth panel on their chest that named the team for which they normally rode. The situation became critical at the start of the 1960s. Sales of bicycles had fallen and bicycle factories were closing.{{sfn|Maso|2003|p=122}} There was a risk, the trade said, that the industry would die if factories were not allowed the publicity of the Tour de France.
====Return of trade teams====
The Tour returned to trade teams in 1962,{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=55}} although with further problems. Doping had become a problem and tests were introduced for riders. Riders went on strike near [[Bordeaux]] in 1966{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=59}}{{sfn|Nicholson|1991|p=50}} and the organisers suspected sponsors provoked them.
The Tour returned to national teams for 1967 and 1968{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=60}} as "an experiment".{{sfn|Maso|2003|p=126}} The author Geoffrey Nicholson identified a further reason: opposition to closure of roads by a race criticised as crassly commercial.{{sfn|Nicholson|1991|p=14}}{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=234}}
The Tour returned to trade teams in 1969{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=62}} with a suggestion that national teams could come back every few years. This never happened.
==Distances==
The Tour originally ran around the perimeter of France. Cycling was an endurance sport and the organisers realised the sales they would achieve by creating supermen of their competitors. Night riding was dropped after the second Tour in 1904, when there had been persistent cheating when judges could not see riders.{{sfn|Seray|2000|p=}} That reduced the daily and overall distance but the emphasis remained on endurance. Desgrange said his ideal race would be so hard that only one rider would make it to Paris.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://veloarchive.com/races/tour/1924.php |title=Veloarchive 1924: Le Tour de Souffrance|publisher=Veloarchive |date=15 August 2003 |accessdate=24 October 2009|author=Tom James}}</ref>
A succession of [[Use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport|doping]] scandals in the 1960s, culminating in the [[death of Tom Simpson]] in 1967, led the [[Union Cycliste Internationale]] to limit daily and overall distances and to impose rest days. It was then impossible to follow the frontiers, and the Tour increasingly zig-zagged across the country, sometimes with unconnected days' races linked by train, while still maintaining some sort of loop. The modern Tour typically has 21 daily stages and not more than {{convert|3500|km|mi|abbr=on}}. The shortest and longest Tours were {{convert|2428|and|5745|km|mi|abbr=on}} in 1904 and 1926, respectively.<ref name="Telegraph Tour Info"/><ref name="tourlength">{{Cite journal|title = Tour Honour Roll|journal = Ride Media 2007 Official Tour de France Guide, Australian Edition|pages =172, 200–201|year = 2007|url =}}</ref>
==Advertising caravan==
The Tour changed in 1930 to a competition largely between teams representing their countries rather than the companies that sponsored them. The costs of accommodating riders fell to the organisers instead of the sponsors and Henri Desgrange raised the money by allowing advertisers to precede the race.
The procession of often colourfully decorated trucks and cars became known as the publicity caravan. It formalised an existing situation, companies having started to follow the race. The first to sign to precede the Tour was the chocolate company, [[Menier Chocolate|Menier]], one of those who had followed the race. Its head of publicity, Paul Thévenin, had first put the idea to Desgrange.{{sfn|Thierry|Chany|2011|p=242}} It paid 50,000 old francs. Preceding the race was more attractive to advertisers because spectators gathered by the road long before the race or could be attracted from their houses. Advertisers following the race found that many who had watched the race had already gone home.
Menier handed out tons of chocolate in that first year of preceding the race, as well as 500,000 policemen's hats printed with the company's name. The success led to the caravan's existence being formalised the following year.
The caravan was at its height between 1930 and the mid-1960s, before television and especially television advertising was established in France. Advertisers competed to attract public attention. Motorcycle acrobats performed for the [[Cinzano]] apéritif company and a toothpaste maker, and an accordionist, Yvette Horner, became one of the most popular sights as she performed on the roof of a Citroën Traction Avant.<ref>Le Petit Bleu de Lot-et-Garonne, France, 20 July 2005</ref> The modern Tour restricts the excesses to which advertisers are allowed to go but at first anything was allowed. The writer Pierre Bost<ref group="n">Pierre Bost was a journalist and playwright known for the prolific film and stage scripts he wrote in the 1940s. He died in 1975.</ref> lamented: "This caravan of 60 gaudy trucks singing across the countryside the virtues of an apéritif, a make of underpants or a dustbin is a shameful spectacle. It bellows, it plays ugly music, it's sad, it's ugly, it smells of vulgarity and money."<ref>"Cette caravane de soixante camions barriolés qui chantent à travers la campagne les vertus d'un apéritif, d'un caleçon ou d'une boîte à ordures fait un honteux spectacle. Cela crie, cela fait de la sale musique, c'est laid, c'est triste, c'est bête, cela sue la vulgarité et l'argent." – Laget, Serge (1990), La Saga du Tour de France, Découvertes Gaillard, France, ISBN 978-2-07-053101-1. Legend says people in remote areas ran into their houses at the sight of a giant model black lion on the roof of a car promoting Lion Noir shoe polish in 1930.</ref>
Advertisers pay the Société du Tour de France approximately €150,000 to place three vehicles in the caravan.<ref name=autogenerated3>Le Tour Guide, France, 2000</ref> Some have more. On top of that come the more considerable costs of the commercial samples that are thrown to the crowd and the cost of accommodating the drivers and the staff—frequently students—who throw them. The vehicles also have to be decorated on the morning of each stage and, because they must return to ordinary highway standards, disassembled after each stage. Numbers vary but there are normally around 250 vehicles each year. Their order on the road is established by contract, the leading vehicles belonging to the largest sponsors.
The procession sets off two hours before the start and then regroups to precede the riders by an hour and a half. It spreads 20–25 km and takes 40 minutes to pass at between 20 and 60 km/h. Vehicles travel in groups of five. Their position is logged by [[GPS]] and from an aircraft and organised on the road by the caravan director—Jean-Pierre Lachaud<ref group="n">Jean-Pierre Lachaud joined the Tour de France caravan in 1983 to distribute publicity for Crédit Lyonnais, the bank that sponsors the yellow jersey. The experience led to his starting his own company, Newsport, which now administers the caravan for the Société du Tour de France</ref>—an assistant, three motorcyclists, two radio technicians and a breakdown and medical crew.<ref name=autogenerated3 /> Six motorcyclists from the Garde Républicaine, the élite of the gendarmerie, ride with them.<ref name=autogenerated7>GAN Spécial Tour de France, 1994</ref>
The advertisers distribute publicity material to the crowd. The number of items has been estimated at 11 million, each person in the procession giving out 3,000 to 5,000 items a day.<ref name=autogenerated3 /> A bank, GAN, gave out 170,000 caps, 80,000 badges, 60,000 plastic bags and 535,000 copies of its race newspaper in 1994. Together, they weighed 32 tons.<ref name=autogenerated7 />
Spectators have died in collisions with the caravan (see below).
==Organizers==
[[File:Jacques Goddet Memorial.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jacques Goddet]] memorial at the top of the [[Col du Tourmalet]]]]
The first organizer was Henri Desgrange, although daily running of the 1903 race was by Lefèvre. He followed riders by train and bicycle. In 1936 Desgrange had a prostate operation. At the time, two operations were needed; the Tour de France was due to fall between them. Desgrange persuaded his surgeon to let him follow the race.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} The second day proved too much and, in a fever at [[Charleville-Mézières|Charleville]], he retired to his château at Beauvallon. Desgrange died at home on the Mediterranean coast on 16 August 1940.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} The race was taken over by his deputy, [[Jacques Goddet]].<ref>''Tour de France, 100 ans, 1903–2003'', L'Équipe, France, 2003, p227</ref>
War interrupted the Tour. The German Propaganda Staffel wanted it to be run and offered facilities otherwise denied, in the hope of maintaining a sense of normality.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}}{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2006|p=}} They offered to open the borders between German-occupied France in the north and nominally independent [[Vichy France]] in the south but Goddet refused.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}}{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=}}
In 1944, ''L'Auto'' was closed – its doors nailed shut – and its belongings, including the Tour, sequestrated by the state for publishing articles too close to the Germans.<ref name="Liberation1">Libération, France, 4 July 2003.</ref> Rights to the Tour were therefore owned by the government. Jacques Goddet was allowed to publish another daily sports paper, ''L'Équipe'', but there was a rival candidate to run the Tour: a consortium of ''Sports'' and ''Miroir Sprint''. Each organised a candidate race. ''L'Équipe'' and ''Le Parisien Libéré'' had La Course du Tour de France<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cyclingrevealed.com/timeline/Race%20Snippets/TdF/TdF1940_46.htm |title=Cycling Revealed – Tour de France Timeline |publisher=Cyclingrevealed.com |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref> and ''Sports'' and ''Miroir Sprint'' had La Ronde de France. Both were five stages, the longest the government would allow because of shortages.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=}} ''L'Équipe'''s race was better organised and appealed more to the public because it featured national teams that had been successful before the war, when French cycling was at a high. ''L'Équipe'' was given the right to organise the [[1947 Tour de France]].{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}}
''L'Équipe'''s finances were never sound and Goddet accepted an advance by Émilion Amaury, who had supported his bid to run the post-war Tour.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} Amaury was a newspaper magnate whose condition was that his sports editor, [[Félix Lévitan]] should join Goddet for the Tour.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} The two worked together, Goddet running the sporting side and Lévitan the financial.
Lévitan began to recruit sponsors, sometimes accepting prizes in kind if he could not get cash.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=69}} He introduced the finish of the Tour at the Avenue des [[Champs-Élysées]] in 1975. He left the Tour on 17 March 1987 after losses by the Tour of America, in which he was involved. The claim was that it had been cross-financed by the Tour de France.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} Lévitan insisted he was innocent but the lock to his office was changed and his job was over.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} Goddet retired the following year. They were replaced in 1988 by Jean-Pierre Courcol, the director of ''L'Équipe'', then in 1989 by Jean-Pierre Carenso and then by [[Jean-Marie Leblanc]], who in 1989 had been race director. The former television presenter [[Christian Prudhomme]] — he commentated on the Tour among other events — replaced Leblanc in 2007, having been assistant director for three years.
Current race director Prudhomme works for the Société du Tour de France, a subsidiary of [[Amaury Sport Organisation]] (ASO), which since 1993 has been part of the media group [[Amaury Group]] that owns ''L'Équipe.''{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=87}} It employs around 70 people full-time, in an office facing but not connected to ''L'Équipe'' in the [[Issy-les-Moulineaux]] area of outer western Paris. That number expands to about 220 during the race itself, not including 500 contractors employed to move barriers, erect stages, signpost the route and other work.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=37}}
==Politics==
The first three Tours stayed within France. The 1906 race went into [[Alsace-Lorraine]], territory annexed by the [[German Empire]] in 1871 after the [[Franco-Prussian War]]. Passage was secured through a meeting at [[Metz]] between Desgrange's collaborator, Alphonse Steinès, and the German governor.
No teams from Italy, Germany or Spain rode in 1939 because of tensions preceding the [[Second World War]]. Henri Desgrange planned a Tour for 1940, after war had started but before France had been invaded. The route, approved by military authorities, included a route along the [[Maginot Line]].<ref name="The Bicycle, UK, 8 July 1943, p6">The Bicycle, UK, 8 July 1943, p6</ref> Teams would have been drawn from military units in France, including the British, who would have been organised by a journalist, Bill Mills.<ref name="The Bicycle, UK, 8 July 1943, p6"/> Then the Germans invaded and the race was not held again until 1947 (see [[Tour de France during the Second World War]]). The first German team after the war was in 1960, although individual Germans had ridden in mixed teams. The Tour has since started in Germany three times: in Cologne in 1965, in Frankfurt in 1980 and in West Berlin on the city's 750th anniversary in 1987. Plans to enter [[German Democratic Republic|East Germany]] that year were abandoned.
===Corsica===
Prior to 2013, the Tour de France had visited every region of [[Metropolitan France]] except [[Corsica]].<ref name=nouvelobs>{{cite web|url=http://leplus.nouvelobs.com/contribution/158813;la-corse-fait-elle-peur-au-tour-de-france.html |title=La Corse fait-elle peur au Tour de France ? – le Plus |publisher=Leplus.nouvelobs.com |accessdate=23 February 2012}}</ref> Jean-Marie Leblanc, when he was organiser, said the island had never asked for a stage start there. It would be difficult to find accommodation for 4,000 people, he said.<ref name=autogenerated2>L'Équipe Magazine, France, 23 October 2004</ref> The spokesman of the Corsican nationalist party [[Party of the Corsican Nation]], [[François Alfonsi]], said: "The organisers must be afraid of terrorist attacks.<ref group="n">Corsica has known periods of violent action attributed to those seeking separation from France.</ref> If they are really thinking of a possible terrorist action, they are wrong. Our movement, which is nationalist and in favour of self-government, would be delighted if the Tour came to Corsica."<ref name=autogenerated2 /> The opening three stages of the [[2013 Tour de France]] were held on Corsica as part of the celebrations for the 100th edition of the race.
==Prizes==
[[File:TdFPrizeMoney.png|thumb|300px|Prize money in Euros in the Tour de France, not corrected for inflation.]]
Prize money has always been awarded. From 20,000 old [[French franc|francs]] the first year,{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=300–304}}
prize money has increased each year, although from 1976 to 1987 the first prize was an apartment offered by a race sponsor. The first prize in 1988 was a car, a studio-apartment, a work of art and 500,000 francs in cash. Prizes only in cash returned in 1990.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=69–83}}
Prizes and bonuses are awarded for daily placings and final placings at the end of the race. In 2009, the winner received €450,000, while each of the 21 stage winners won €8,000 (€10,000 for the team time-trial stage). The winners of the points classification and mountains classification each win €25,000, the young rider competition and the combativity prize €20,000, and €50,000 for the winner of the [[team classification]] (calculated by adding the cumulative times of the best three riders in each team).<ref name="Letour Prix">{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/LIVE/us/reglements.html |title=Règlement de l'épreuve et Liste des prix |publisher=Letour.fr |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref>
The Souvenir [[Henri Desgrange]], in memory of the founder of the Tour, is awarded to the first rider over the col du Galibier where his monument stands,<ref name="Letour Prix"/> or to the first rider over the highest col in the Tour. A similar award is made at the summit of the col du Tourmalet, at the memorial to Jacques Goddet, Desgrange's successor.
==Classifications==
A few riders from each team aim to win overall but there are three further competitions to draw riders of all specialties: points, mountains, and a classification for young riders with general classification aspirations.<ref name="SL exp">{{cite web|url=http://www.sportinglife.com/other-sports/news/article/678/8788944/tour-de-france-jerseys-explained|title=Tour de France jerseys explained|date=1 July 2013 |accessdate=18 July 2013|work=sportinglife|publisher=British Sky Broadcasting Ltd}}</ref> The oldest of the four classifications is the general classification.<ref name="SL exp"/> The leader of each aforementioned classifications wears a distinctive jersey.<ref name="SL exp"/> If a rider leads more than one classification that awards, he wears the jersey of the most prestigious classification.<ref name="SL exp"/> The abandoned jersey is worn by the rider who is second in the competition.<ref name="SL exp"/>
===General classification===
{{Main|General classification in the Tour de France}}
{{See also|Yellow jersey statistics}}
[[File:Voigt Cancellara TDF 2010 Cambrai (cropped).JPG|thumb|upright|[[Fabian Cancellara]] pictured at the [[2010 Tour de France]]. He is the rider with the most yellow jerseys not to win the [[General classification in the Tour de France|general classification]] overall.]]
The oldest and most sought after classification in the Tour de France is the general classification.<ref name="SL exp"/><ref name="clasexp">{{cite web|url=http://www.roadcycling.co.nz/TourdeFrance/tour-de-france-demystified-part-1.html|title=Tour de France demystified — Evaluating success|first=Sarah|last=Christian|date=2 July 2009 |accessdate=18 July 2013|publisher=RoadCycling.co.nz Ltd}}</ref> All of the stages are timed to the finish.<ref name="clasexp"/> The riders' times are compounded with their previous stage times; so the rider with the lowest aggregate time is the leader of the race.<ref name="SL exp"/><ref name="clasexp"/> The leader is determined after each stage's conclusion. The leader of the race also has the privilege to wear the race leader's yellow jersey.<ref name="clasexp"/> The jersey is presented to the leader rider on a podium in the stage's finishing town. If a rider is leading more than one classification that awards a jersey, he will wear the maillot jaune since the general classification is the most important one in the race. The lead can change after each stage.<ref name="ASO">{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDF/LIVE/docs/reglement_2006_us.pdf|publisher=ASO/letour.fr|title=Regulations of the race|format=PDF|accessdate=28 September 2009}}</ref>
The Tour was not always determined by total time. After a scandal riddled [[1904 Tour de France|1904 edition]], the organizers chose to switch over to a point based system that awarded points to the riders based on their placings in each stage, and the rider with the lowest total of points after the Tour's conclusion was the winner. In [[1913 Tour de France|1913]] the organizers shifted to the system used nowadays, where riders would have their finishing times for each stage totaled together to determine the overall leader.<ref name="clasexp"/>
The leader in the [[1903 Tour de France|first Tour de France]] was awarded a yellow armband.{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=}} The color yellow was chosen as the magazine that created the Tour, ''[[L'Auto]]'', printed its newspapers on yellow paper. The yellow jersey was added to the race in the 1919 edition and it has since become a symbol of the Tour de France.<ref name="SL exp"/> The first rider to wear the yellow jersey was [[Eugène Christophe]]. Each team brings multiple yellow jerseys in advance of the Tour in case one of their riders becomes the overall leader of the race. Riders usually try to make the extra effort to keep the jersey for as long as possible in order to get more publicity for the team and the sponsor(s) of the team. [[Eddy Merckx]] has worn the yellow jersey for 96 stages, which is more than any other rider in the history of the Tour de France. Four riders have won the general classification five times in their career: [[Jacques Anquetil]], [[Eddy Merckx]], [[Bernard Hinault]], and [[Miguel Indurain]].
===Mountains classification===
{{Main|Mountains classification in the Tour de France}}
[[File:Richard Virenque - Tour de France 2003 - Alpe d'Huez (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Richard Virenque]] pictured at the [[2003 Tour de France]] wearing the polka dot jersey. He has won the [[Mountains classification in the Tour de France|mountains classification]] a record seven times.]]
The mountains classification is the second oldest jersey awarding classification in the Tour de France. The mountains classification was added to the Tour de France in the [[1933 Tour de France|1933 edition]] and was first won by [[Vicente Trueba]].<ref name="SL exp"/>{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=203}} Prizes for the classification were first awarded in [[1934 Tour de France|1934]].{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=203}} During stages of the race containing climbs, points are awarded to the rider who is first to reach the top of each categorized climb. Points are also awarded for riders who closely follow the leader up each climb. The number of points awarded varies according to the hill classification, which is determined by the steepness and length of that particular hill. The classification was preceded by the ''meilleur grimpeur'' ({{lang-en|best climber}}) which was awarded by the organising newspaper ''l'Auto'' to a cyclist who completed each race.
The climbers' jersey is worn by the rider who, at the start of each stage, has the largest amount of climbing points.<ref name="clasexp"/> If a rider leads two or more of the categories, the climbers' jersey is worn by the rider in second, or third, place in that contest. At the end of the Tour, the rider holding the most climbing points wins the classification. In fact, some riders, particularly those who are neither sprinters nor particularly good at time-trialing, may attempt only to win this particular competition within the race. The Tour has five categories for ranking the mountains the race covers. The scale ranges from category 4, the easiest, to hors catégorie, the hardest. The difficulty of a climb is established by its steepness, length and its position on the course. [[Richard Virenque]] has won the mountains classification a record seven times.
The classification awarded no jersey to the leader until the [[1975 Tour de France]], when the organizers decided to award a white jersey with red dots to the leader.<ref name="SL exp"/>{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=203}} The idea for the jersey came from race organizer Félix Lévitan who had seen a similar jersey at the [[Vélodrome d'Hiver]] in Paris in his youth.{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}} [[Thomas Voeckler]] won the mountains classification at the 2012 Tour de France. Nairo Quintana won the mountains classification in 2013.
The point distribution for the mountains is as follows:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/LIVE/us/reglements.html |title=Tour de France 2011 – Rules |publisher=Letour.fr |accessdate=23 February 2012}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan=2|Type||1st||2nd||3rd||4th||5th||6th||7th||8th||9th||10th
|-
|[[File:Mountainstage.svg]]||align=left|Hors catégorie||25||20||16||14||12||10||8||6||4||2
|-
|[[File:Mountainstage.svg]]||align=left|First Category||10||8||6||4||2||1|| || || ||
|-
|[[File:Mountainstage.svg]]||align=left|Second Category||5||3||2||1|| || || || || ||
|-
|[[File:Mediummountainstage.svg]]||align=left|Third Category||2||1|| || || || || || || ||
|-
|[[File:Mediummountainstage.svg]]||align=left|Fourth Category||1|| || || || || || || || ||
|}
*Points awarded are doubled for finishes that are of category two or above.
===Points classification===
{{Main|Points classification in the Tour de France}}
[[File:Alessandro Petacchi TDF 2010 Paris.JPG|thumb|right|[[Alessandro Petacchi]] in the [[Points classification in the Tour de France|green jersey]]]]
The points classification is the third oldest of the four jersey current awarding classifications in the Tour de France.<ref name="SL exp"/> It was introduced in the [[1953 Tour de France]] and was first won by [[Fritz Schär]]. The classification was added to draw the participation of the sprinters as well as celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Tour. Points are given to the rider who is first to reach the end of, or determined places during, any stage of the Tour. The point classification leader green jersey is worn by the rider who at the start of each stage, has the greatest number of points.<ref name="clasexp"/>
In the first years, the cyclist only received penalty points for not finishing with a high place, so the cyclist with the fewest points was awarded the green jersey. From 1959 on, the system was changed so the cyclists were awarded points for high place finishes (with first place getting the most points, and lower placings getting successively fewer points), so the cyclist with the most points was awarded the green jersey. Since, the amount of points awarded varies depending on the type of stage, with flat stages awarding the most points at the finish and time trials and high mountain stages awarding the least amount of points at the finish.<ref name="clasexp"/> The winner of the classification is the rider with the most points at the end of the Tour. In case of a tie, the leader is determined by the number of stage wins, then the number of intermediate sprint victories, and finally, the rider's standing in the general classification. The classification has been won a record six times by [[Erik Zabel]].<ref name="SL exp"/> The winner of the classification in [[2012 Tour de France|2012]] and 2013 was [[Peter Sagan|Peter Sagan (Slovakia)]].
The first year the points classification was used it was sponsored by La Belle Jardinière, a lawn mower producer, and the jersey was made green. In [[1968 Tour de France|1968]] the jersey was changed to red to please the sponsor.<ref>[http://www.cvccbike.com/tour/eddy/xtra_bestanden/green.htm Tour Xtra: Green Jersey<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> However, the color was changed back the following year. The current sponsor for the classification is Pari Mutuel Urbain, a state betting company.{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=203}}
In [[2011 Tour de France|2011]] the points system was altered and now stands as:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/COURSE/docs/reglement.pdf|publisher=ASO/letour.fr|title=Regulations of the race|accessdate=29 June 2011}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan=2|Type||1st||2nd||3rd||4th||5th||6th||7th||8th||9th||10th||11th||12th||13th||14th||15th
|-
|[[File:Plainstage.svg]]||Flat stage finish||45||35||30||26||22||20||18||16||14||12||10||8||6||4||2
|-
|[[File:Mediummountainstage.svg]]||Medium mountain stage finish||30||25||22||19||17||15||13||11||9||7||6||5||4||3||2
|-
|[[File:Mountainstage.svg]]||High mountain stage finish||20||17||15||13||11||10||9||8||7||6||5||4||3||2||1
|-
|[[File:History.gif|22px]]||Individual time trial||20||17||15||13||11||10||9||8||7||6||5||4||3||2||1
|-
| ||intermediate sprint||20||17||15||13||11||10||9||8||7||6||5||4||3||2||1
|}
===Young rider classification===
{{Main|Young rider classification in the Tour de France}}
[[File:Andy Schleck Tour de France 2009.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Andy Schleck]] in the [[Young rider classification in the Tour de France|white jersey]]]]
The leader of the classification is determined the same way as the general classification, with the riders' times being added up after each stage and the eligible rider with lowest aggregate time is dubbed the leader. The Young rider classification is restricted to the riders that are under the age of 26. Originally the classification was restricted neo-professionals - riders that are in their first three years of professional racing - until [[1983 Tour de France|1983]]. In 1983, the organizers made it so that only first time riders were eligible for the classification. In [[1987 Tour de France|1987]], the organizers changed the rules of the classification to what they are today.
This classification was added to the Tour de France in the [[1975 Tour de France|1975 edition]], with [[Francesco Moser]] being the first to win the classification after placing seventh overall. The Tour de France did award the white jersey that it does today between 1989 and 2000.<ref name="SL exp"/> The Tour de France awards a white jersey to the leader of the classification. Four riders have won both the young rider classification and the general classification in the same year: [[Laurent Fignon]] (1983), [[Jan Ullrich]] ([[1997 Tour de France|1997]]), [[Alberto Contador]] ([[2007 Tour de France|2007]]), and [[Andy Schleck]] (2010). Two riders have won the young rider classification three times in their respective careers: Jan Ullrich and Andy Schleck. In [[2013 Tour de France|2013]] it was won by [[Nairo Quintana]].
===Minor classifications===
The ''[[combativity award|prix de la combativité]]'' goes to the rider who most animates the day, usually by trying to break clear of the field. The most combative rider wears a number printed white-on-red instead of black-on-white next day. An award goes to the most aggressive rider throughout the Tour. Already in 1908 a sort of combativity award was offered, when ''Sports Populaires'' and ''L'Education Physique'' created ''Le Prix du Courage'', 100 francs and a silver gilt medal for "the rider having finished the course, even if unplaced, who is particularly distinguished for the energy he has used."{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=96}}{{sfn|Thompson|2008|p=40}} The modern competition started in 1958.{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=96}}{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=45}} In 1959, a Super Combativity award for the most combative cyclist of the Tour was awarded. It was initially not rewarded every year, but since 1981 it has been given annually.
The [[team classification]] is assessed by adding the time of each team's best three riders each day. The competition does not have its own jersey but since 2006 the leading team has worn numbers printed black-on-yellow. Until 1990, the leading team would wear yellow caps. As of 2012, the riders of the leading team wear yellow helmets.<ref>{{cite web|author=Simon_MacMichael on 1 July 2012 – 22:45 |url=http://road.cc/content/news/60789-team-skys-yellow-helmets-cause-kerfuffle-during-tour-de-france-stage-1 |title=Team Sky's yellow helmets cause a kerfuffle during Tour de France Stage 1 | road.cc | Road cycling news, Bike reviews, Commuting, Leisure riding, Sportives and more |publisher=road.cc |date=1 July 2012 |accessdate=9 July 2012}}</ref> The best national teams are France and Belgium, with 10 wins each.{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=203}} From 1973 up to 1988, there was also a team classification based on points (stage classification); members of the leading team would wear green caps.
===Historical classifications===
There has been an [[Intermediate sprints classification in the Tour de France|intermediate sprints classification]], which from 1984 awarded a red jersey{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=77}} for points awarded to the first three to pass intermediate points during the stage. These sprints also scored points towards the points classification and bonuses towards the general classification. The intermediate sprints classification with its red jersey was abolished in 1989,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3197171
|title=The Tour de France |accessdate=9 July 2007 |format=website |work=BBC H2G2}}</ref> but the intermediate sprints have remained, offering points for the points classification and, until 2007, time bonuses for the general classification.
From 1968 there was a [[Combination classification in the Tour de France|combination classification]],{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=61}} scored on a points system based on standings in the general, points and mountains classifications. The design was originally white, then a patchwork with areas resembling each individual jersey design. This was also abolished in 1989.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=83}}
===Lanterne rouge===
The rider who has taken most time is called the ''[[lanterne rouge]]'' (''red lantern, as in the red light at the back of a vehicle so it can be seen in the dark'') and in past years sometimes carried a small red light beneath his [[saddle]]. Such was sympathy that he could command higher fees in the races that previously followed the Tour. In 1939 and 1948 the organisers excluded the last rider every day, to encourage more competitive racing.<ref group="n">Jacques Goddet said in his autobiography that teams were using the rule to eliminate rivals. A rider in last position knew he would be disqualified at the end of the stage. If he dropped out before or during the stage, another competitor became the last and he would leave the race as well. That weakened a rival team, which now had fewer helpers.</ref>
==Stages==
===Mass-start stages===
[[File:Tour de France 2006.JPG|thumb|A collected peloton in the [[2006 Tour de France]]]]
Riders in most stages start together. The first kilometres, the ''départ fictif'', are a rolling start without racing. The real start, the ''départ réel'' is announced by the Tour director waving a white flag. Riders are permitted to touch, but not push or nudge, each other. The first to cross the stage finish line wins the stage.
All riders in a group finish in the same time as the lead rider. This avoids dangerous mass sprints. It is not unusual for the entire field to finish in a group, taking time to cross the line but being credited with the same time. Since 2005, when riders fall or crash within the final 3 kilometres of a stage with a flat finish, they are awarded the same time as the group they were in.<ref>{{cite web |title=2006 Regulations of the Race and Prize Money |publisher=Amaury Sport Organisation |work=Tour de France regulations |url=http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDF/LIVE/docs/reglement_2006_us.pdf|accessdate=9 July 2007 |format=PDF}}</ref> This change encourages riders to sprint to the finish for points awards without fear of losing time to the group. The final kilometre has been indicated since 1906 by a red triangle – the ''flamme rouge'' – above the road.
Time bonuses for the first three at intermediate sprints and stage finishes were discontinued with the 2008 race.
Stages in the mountains often cause major shifts in the general classification. On ordinary stages, most riders can stay in the peloton to the finish; during mountain stages, it is not uncommon for riders to lose 30 minutes or to be eliminated after finishing outside the time limit.
The first photo-finish was in 1955.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=48}}
===Individual time trials===
[[File:Bradley Wiggins Tour 2012 EZF.jpg|thumb|right|[[Bradley Wiggins]] riding the [[2012 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 10#Stage 9|stage 9]] [[individual time trial]] of the [[2012 Tour de France]]]]
Riders in a time trial compete individually against the clock, each starting at a different time. The first time trial was between La Roche-sur-Yon and Nantes (80 km) in 1934.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=34}} The first stage in modern Tours is often a short trial, a ''prologue'', to decide who wears yellow on the opening day. The first prologue was in 1967.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=60}} The 1988 event, at La Baule, was called "la préface".{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=81}}
There are usually two or three time trials. One may be a [[team time trial]]. The final time trial has sometimes been the final stage, more recently often the penultimate stage.
The launch ramp, a sloping start pad for riders, was first used in 1965, at Cologne.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=58}}
===Team time trial===
A team [[time trial]] (TTT) is a race against the clock in which each team rides alone. The time is that of the fifth rider of each team: riders more than a bike-length behind their team's fifth rider are awarded their own times. The TTT has been criticised for favouring strong teams and handicapping strong riders in weak teams. After a four-year absence, the TTT returned in [[2009 Tour de France|2009]] but was not included in 2010. It was reintroduced into the 2011 Tour.
The prologue stage in [[1971 Tour de France|1971]] was a team time trial.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=60}} The [[1939 Tour de France|1939]] TTT crossed the Iseran mountain pass between Bonneval and Bourg-St-Maurice.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=39}}
===Notable stages===
[[File:L'Alp-d'Huez.JPG|thumb|Altitude profile of the [[Alpe d'Huez]] climb]]
The race has finished since 1975 with [[Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France|laps of the Champs-Élysées]]. This stage rarely challenges the leader because it is flat and the leader usually has too much time in hand to be denied. But in 1987, [[Pedro Delgado]] broke away on the Champs to challenge the 40-second lead held by [[Stephen Roche]]. He and Roche finished in the peloton and Roche won the Tour. In modern times, there tends to be a gentlemen's agreement: while the points classification is still contended if possible, the overall classification is not fought over; because of this, it is not uncommon for the de facto winner of the overall classification to ride into Paris holding a glass of champagne.
In 1989 the last stage was a time trial. [[Greg LeMond]] overtook [[Laurent Fignon]] to win by eight seconds, the closest margin in the Tour's history.
The climb of [[Alpe d'Huez]] is a favourite, providing either a mass-start or individual time trial stage in most Tours. During the [[2004 Tour de France]], for example, Alpe d'Huez was the scene of an epic 15.5 km mountain time trial on the 16th stage. While the TV spectacle was overwhelming, the riders complained of abusive spectators who threatened their progress up the climb, and the time-trial on this stage may not be repeated.<ref>{{cite news
|title =Tour de France Letters Special – 23 July 2004
|publisher = CyclingNews
|date =23 July 2004
|url =http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/tour04.php?id=letters/2004/jul23tourletters#Fan
|accessdate =27 May 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
|last =Maloney
|first =Tim
|title =Stage 16 – 21 July: Bourg d'Oisans – Alpe d'Huez ITT, 15.5 km; Sign of the times: Armstrong dominates on l'Alpe d'Huez
|publisher = CyclingNews
|date = 21 July 2004
| url =http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2004/tour04/?id=results/stage16
|accessdate =27 May 2007}}</ref> [[Mont Ventoux#Tour de France|Mont Ventoux]] is often claimed to be the hardest in the Tour because of the harsh conditions. Another notable mountain stage frequently featured during the Tour climbs the [[Col du Tourmalet#Tour de France|Col du Tourmalet]]. [[Col du Galibier]] is the most visited mountain in the Tour. The [[2011 Tour de France]] stage to Galibier marked the 100th anniversary of the mountain in the Tour and also boasted the highest finish altitude ever: 2,645 m.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/COURSE/us/le_galibier.html |title=Tour de France 2011 – The Galibier 1911–2011 |publisher=Letour.fr |date=10 July 1911 |accessdate=23 February 2012}}</ref> Some mountain stages have become memorable because of the weather. An example is a stage in [[1996 Tour de France]] from [[Val-d'Isère]] to [[Sestriere]]. A snowstorm at the start area led to a shortening of the stage from 190 to just 46 km.
To host a stage start or finish brings prestige and business to a town. The prologue and first stage are particularly prestigious. Usually one town will host the prologue (too short to go between towns) and the start of stage 1. In 2007 director [[Christian Prudhomme]] said that "in general, for a period of five years we have the Tour start outside France three times and within France twice."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://provenceblog.typepad.com/provence_blog_by_provence/2007/06/tour-de-france-.html |title=Provence Blog by ProvenceBeyond: Tour de France starting in Monaco |publisher=Provenceblog.typepad.com |accessdate=4 November 2008}}</ref>
==The start and finish of the Tour==
Most stages are in mainland France, although since the 1960s it has become common to visit nearby countries:{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=149}} Andorra, Belgium, England, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland have all hosted stages or part of a stage. Austria, Qatar and Scotland have expressed an interest in hosting future starts.{{citation needed|date=January 2012}} Stages can be flat, undulating or mountainous. Since 1975 the finish has been on the [[Champs-Élysées]] in Paris; from 1903 to 1967 the race finished at the [[Parc des Princes]] stadium in western Paris and from 1968 to 1974 at the [[Vélodrome de Vincennes|Piste Municipale]] south of the capital.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=61}} Yorkshire has been announced as the host for the first two stages of the Tour de France 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.com/le-tour/2013/us/grand-depart-2014.html |title=Grand Départ in Yorkshire for 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Pidd|first=Helen|title=2014 to be held in Yorkshire|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jan/17/tour-de-france-yorkshire|accessdate=28 May 2013|newspaper=The Guardian|date=17 January 2014|location=London}}</ref>
===Starts abroad===
<ref>http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/12/tour-de-france/foreign-grand-tour-starts-are-big-business_269064</ref>
'''1954''' Amsterdam, Netherlands
'''1958''' Brussels, Belgium
'''1965''' Cologne, Germany
'''1973''' Scheveningen, Netherlands
'''1975''' Charleroi, Belgium
'''1978''' Leiden, Netherlands
'''1980''' Frankfurt, Germany
'''1982''' Basel, Switzerland
'''1987''' West Berlin, West Germany
'''1989''' Luxembourg
'''1992''' San Sebastián, Spain
'''1996''' ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
'''1998''' Dublin, Republic of Ireland
'''2002''' Luxembourg
'''2004''' Liège, Belgium
'''2007''' London, United Kingdom
'''2009''' Monte Carlo, Monaco
'''2010''' Rotterdam, Netherlands
'''2012''' Liège, Belgium
'''2014''' Leeds, United Kingdom
==Broadcasting==
The Tour was first followed only by journalists from ''L'Auto'', the organisers. The race was founded to increase sales of a floundering newspaper and its editor, Desgrange, saw no reason to allow rival publications to profit.
The first time papers other than ''L'Auto'' were allowed was 1921, when 15 press cars were allowed for regional and foreign reporters.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=21}}
The Tour was shown first on cinema newsreels a day or more after the event. The first live radio broadcast was in 1929, when Jean Antoine and Alex Virot of the newspaper ''L'Intransigeant'' broadcast for Radio Cité. They used telephone lines. In 1932 they broadcast the sound of riders crossing the col d'Aubisque in the Pyrenees on 12 July, using a recording machine and transmitting the sound later.
The first television pictures were shown a day after a stage. The national TV channel used two 16mm cameras, a Jeep and a motorbike. Film was flown or taken by train to Paris. It was edited there and shown the following day.
The first live broadcast, and the second of any sport in France, was the finish at the Parc des Princes in Paris on 25 July 1948.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=134}} [[Rik van Steenbergen]] of Belgium led in the bunch after a stage of 340 km from [[Nancy, France|Nancy]]. The first live coverage from the side of the road was from the Aubisque on 8 July 1958. Proposals to cover the whole race were abandoned in 1962 after objections from regional newspapers whose editors feared the competition.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=136}} The dispute was settled but not in time and the first complete coverage was the following year.
The leading television commentator in France was a former rider, [[Robert Chapatte]]. At first he was the only commentator. He was joined in following seasons by an analyst for the mountain stages and by a commentator following the competitors by motorcycle.
Broadcasting in France was largely a state monopoly until 1982, when the [[Socialist Party (France)|socialist]] president [[François Mitterrand]] allowed private broadcasters and privatised the leading television channel. Competition between channels raised the broadcasting fees paid to the organisers from 1.5 per cent of the race budget in 1960 to more than a third by the end of the century.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=117}} Broadcasting time also increased as channels competed to secure the rights. The two largest channels to stay in public ownership, [[Antenne 2]] and [[FR3]], combined to offer more coverage than its private rival, [[TF1]]. The two stations, renamed France 2 and France 3, still hold the domestic rights and provide pictures for broadcasters around the world.
The stations use a staff of 300 with four helicopters, two aircraft, two motorcycles, 35 other vehicles including trucks, and 20 podium cameras.<ref group="n">A podium camera is not one focused on the winner's podium but a full-scale camera on a mount, or podium.</ref>
Domestic television covers the most important stages of the Tour, such as those in the mountains, from mid-morning until early evening. Coverage typically starts with a survey of the day's route, interviews along the road, discussions of the difficulties and tactics ahead, and a 30-minute archive feature. The biggest stages are shown live from start to end, followed by interviews with riders and others and features such an edited version of the stage seen from beside a team manager following and advising riders from his car.
Radio covers the race in updates throughout the day, particularly on the national news channel, [[France Info]], and some stations provide continuous commentary on long wave. Other countries broadcast the Tour, including the United States, which has shown the Tour since 1999 on [[NBCSN]].
The combination of unprecedented rigorous doping controls and almost no positive tests helped restore fans' confidence in the 2009 Tour de France. This led directly to an increase in global popularity of the event. The most watched stage of 2009 was stage 20, from Montélimar to Mont Ventoux in Provence, with a global total audience of 44 million, making it the 12th most watched sporting event in the world in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://initiative.com/sites/default/files/ViewerTrack_2010.pdf |title=ViewerTrack, The most watched TV sporting events of 2009}}</ref>
==Culture==
[[File:Didi Senft-Einzelzeitfahren-Deutschlandtour 2005.jpg|thumb|left|Part of the crowd during most days of the Tour is [[Didi Senft]] who, in a red [[devil]] costume, has been the Tour devil since 1993.]]
The Tour is important for fans in Europe. Millions<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gofrance.about.com/od/tourdefrance/ss/06tourdefrance_2.htm |title=Tour de France Facts, Figures and Trivia |publisher=Gofrance.about.com |accessdate=4 November 2008}}</ref> line the route, some having camped a week to get the best view.
The Tour de France appealed from the start not just for the distance and its demands but because it played to a wish for national unity,{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=67}} a call to what [[Maurice Barrès]] called the France "of earth and deaths" or what Georges Vigarello called "the image of a France united by its earth."<ref>''L'image d'une France unifiée par le sol'', Vigarello, Georges, Le Tour de France, p3807, cited Boeuf, p67</ref>
[[File:G.Bruno01.jpg|right|thumb|School book by Augustine Fouillée under the 'nom de plume' G. Bruno.]]
The image had been started by the 1877 travel/school book ''[[Le Tour de la France par deux enfants]]''.<ref group="n">A school book written by Augustine Fouillée under the name G. Bruno and published in 1877, it sold six million by 1900, seven million by 1914 and 8,400,000 by 1976. It was used in schools until the 1950s and is still available.</ref> It told of two boys, André and Julien, who "in a thick September fog left the town of Phalsbourg in [[Lorraine (region)|Lorraine]] to see France at a time when few people had gone far beyond their nearest town."
The book sold six million copies by the time of the first Tour de France,{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=67}} the biggest selling book of 19th century France (other than the Bible).<ref>[http://oyc.yale.edu/history/france-since-1871/content/transcripts/transcript-9-general-boulanger-and-captain-dreyfus France Since 1871: Lecture 9 Transcript], by [[John M. Merriman]], [[Open Yale Courses]], 3 October 2007.</ref> It stimulated a national interest in France, making it "visible and alive", as its preface said. There had already been a car race called the Tour de France but it was the publicity behind the cycling race, and Desgrange's drive to educate and improve the population,{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=70}} that inspired the French to know more of their country.{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=74}}
The academic historians Jean-Luc Boeuf and Yves Léonard say most people in France had little idea of the shape of their country until ''L'Auto'' began publishing maps of the race.{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=75-76}}
===Arts===
The Tour has inspired several popular songs in France, notably ''P'tit gars du Tour'' (1932), ''Les Tours de France'' (1936) and ''Faire le Tour de France'' (1950). [[Kraftwerk]] had a hit with [[Tour de France (song)|Tour de France]] in 1983 – described as a minimalistic "melding of man and machine"<ref name="kraftwerk">Chris Jones, [http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/classicpop/reviews/kraftwerk_france.shtml Kraftwerk, Tour De France Soundtracks], ''[[BBC]]'', 4 August 2003</ref> – and produced an album, ''[[Tour de France Soundtracks]]'' in 2003, the centenary of the Tour.
The Tour and its first Italian winner, [[Ottavio Bottecchia]], are mentioned at the end of [[Ernest Hemingway]]'s ''[[The Sun Also Rises]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gilhaney.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/a-splendid-thing/|title=A splendid thing|date=16 November 2009}}</ref>
In films, the Tour was background for ''Cinq Tulipes Rouges'' (1949) by Jean Stelli, in which five riders are murdered. A burlesque in 1967, ''Les Cracks'' by Alex Joffé, with Bourvil et Monique Tarbès, also featured him. Patrick Le Gall made ''Chacun son Tour'' (1996). The comedy, ''Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert'' (2001), featured the Tour of 1974.
In 2005, three films chronicled a team. The German ''Höllentour'', translated as ''[[Hell on Wheels (2004 film)|Hell on Wheels]]'', recorded 2003 from the perspective of [[Team Columbia|Team Telekom]]. The film was directed by Pepe Danquart, who won an Academy Award for live-action short film in 1993 for ''Black Rider'' (''Schwarzfahrer'').<ref>{{cite news
|title =Blood, sweat and gears
|work=Sydney Morning Herald
|date =27 May 2005
|url =http://www.smh.com.au/news/Film/Blood-sweat-and-gears/2005/05/26/1116950807781.html
|accessdate =27 May 2007}}</ref> The Danish film ''Overcoming'' by Tómas Gislason recorded the 2004 Tour from the perspective of [[Team CSC]].
'''Wired to Win''' chronicles [[Française des Jeux (cycling team)|Française des Jeux]] riders [[Baden Cooke]] and Jimmy Caspar in 2003. By following their quest for the points classification, won by Cooke, the film looks at the working of the brain. The film, made for IMAX theaters, appeared in December 2005. It was directed by Bayley Silleck, who was nominated for an Academy Award for documentary short subject in 1996 for ''[[Cosmic Voyage]]''.<ref>{{cite news
|title ="Wired" is winning tour of race, brain
|work=BOSTON GLOBE
|date =30 December 2005
|url =http://www.boston.com/movies/display?display=movie&id=8598
|accessdate =11 July 2008
| first=Wesley
| last=Morris}}</ref>
A fan, Scott Coady, followed the 2000 Tour with a handheld video camera to make ''The Tour Baby!'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thetourbaby.com/ |title=thetourbaby.com |publisher=thetourbaby.com |date= |accessdate=29 June 2013}}</ref> which raised $160,000 to benefit the [[Lance Armstrong Foundation]],<ref>{{cite web
|last =Melvin
|first =Ian
|title =The Tour Baby!
|publisher =RoadCycling.com
|date =8 October 2004
|url =http://www.roadcycling.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/4/874
|accessdate =27 May 2007}}</ref> and made a 2005 sequel, ''Tour Baby Deux!''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tourbabydeuxmovie.com/ |title=tourbabydeuxmovie.com |publisher=tourbabydeuxmovie.com |date= |accessdate=29 June 2013}}</ref>
''Vive Le Tour'' by [[Louis Malle]] is an 18-minute short of 1962. The 1965 Tour was filmed by [[Claude Lelouch]] in ''Pour un Maillot Jaune''. This 30-minute documentary has no narration and relies on sights and sounds of the Tour.
In fiction, the 2001 animated feature ''Les Triplettes de Belleville'' (''[[The Triplets of Belleville]]'') ties into the Tour de France.
===Post-Tour criteriums===
After the Tour de France there are [[criterium]]s in the [[Netherlands]], [[Belgium]] and [[Germany]]. These races are public spectacles where thousands of people can see their ''heroes'', from the Tour de France, race. The budget of a criterium is over 100.000 Euro, with most of the money going to the riders. Jersey winners or big name riders earn between 20 and 60 thousand euros per race in start money.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftp.cyclingnews.com/features/?id=post_tour_crits |title=Fixed for the fans - the post-TdF criteriums |publisher=cyclingnews.com |accessdate=21 May 2013}}</ref>
==Doping==
{{Main|Doping at the Tour de France}}
{{See also|Festina affair|Floyd Landis doping case|Doping at the 2007 Tour de France}}
[[File:Tour de Doping.jpg|thumb|left|Spectators' banner during the [[2006 Tour de France]]]]
Allegations of [[Use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport|doping]] have plagued the Tour almost since 1903. Early riders consumed [[ethanol|alcohol]] and used [[diethyl ether|ether]], to dull the pain. Over the years they began to increase performance and the [[Union Cycliste Internationale]] and governments enacted policies to combat the practice.
In 1924, [[Henri Pélissier]] and his brother [[Charles Pélissier|Charles]] told the journalist [[Albert Londres]] they used [[strychnine]], [[cocaine]], [[chloroform]], [[aspirin]], "horse ointment" and other drugs.<ref>''Tour de France, 100 ans, 1903–2003'', L'Équipe, France 2003, p149</ref> The story was published in ''[[Le Petit Parisien]]'' under the title ''Les Forçats de la Route'' ('The Convicts of the Road'){{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=}}{{sfn|de Mondenard|2003|p=}}<ref name="abcc01">{{cite web|url=http://www.abcc.co.uk/Articles/DrgsTdeF.html |title=Association of British Cycling Coaches (ABCC), Drugs and the Tour De France by Ramin Minovi |publisher=ABCC |date=1 June 1965 |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref>{{sfn|Moore|2011|p=145}}
On 13 July 1967, British cyclist [[Tom Simpson]] died climbing [[Mont Ventoux]] after taking [[amphetamine]]. In 1998, the "Tour of Shame", [[Willy Voet]], [[soigneur]] for the [[Festina]] team, was arrested with [[erythropoietin]] (EPO), [[growth hormone]]s, [[testosterone]] and amphetamine. Police raided team hotels and found products in the possession of the cycling team [[TVM (cycling team)|TVM]]. Riders went on strike. After mediation by director [[Jean-Marie Leblanc]], police limited their tactics and riders continued. Some riders had abandoned and only 96 finished the race. It became clear in a trial that management and health officials of the Festina team had organised the doping.
Further measures were introduced by race organisers and the [[Union Cycliste Internationale|UCI]], including more frequent testing and tests for [[blood doping]] ([[blood transfusion|transfusions]] and [[erythropoietin|EPO]] use). This would lead the UCI to becoming a particularly interested party in an [[International Olympic Committee]] initiative, the [[World Anti-Doping Agency]] (WADA), created in 1999. In 2002, the wife of [[Raimondas Rumšas]], third in the [[2002 Tour de France]], was arrested after [[erythropoietin|EPO]] and [[anabolic steroids]] were found in her car. Rumšas, who had not failed a test, was not penalised. In 2004, [[Philippe Gaumont]] said doping was endemic to his [[Cofidis]] team. Fellow Cofidis rider [[David Millar]] confessed to [[erythropoietin|EPO]] after his home was raided. In the same year, [[Jesus Manzano]], a rider with the Kelme team, alleged he had been forced by his team to use banned substances.<ref>{{cite news
|title =Ex-Kelme rider promises doping revelations
|publisher =VeloNews
|date =20 March 2004
|url =http://velonews.com/article/5743
|accessdate =27 May 2007}}</ref>
Doping controversy has surrounded [[Lance Armstrong]]. In August 2005, one month after Armstrong's seventh consecutive victory, ''L'Équipe'' published documents it said showed Armstrong had used EPO in the 1999 race.<ref>L'Équipe, France, 23 August 2005, p1</ref><ref>{{cite news
|title =''L'Équipe'' alleges Armstrong samples show EPO use in 99 Tour
|publisher =VeloNews
|date =23 August 2005
|url =http://velonews.com/article/8740
|accessdate =27 May 2007}}</ref> At the same Tour, Armstrong's urine showed traces of a glucocorticosteroid hormone, although below the positive threshold. He said he had used skin cream containing [[triamcinolone]] to treat [[saddle sores]].<ref>{{cite news
|title =Armstrong's journey : Tour leader rides from Texas plains to Champs-Elysees
|publisher = CNN Sports Illustrated
|date =22 July 2000
|url =http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/cycling/2000/tour_de_france/news/2000/07/22/amstrong_journey_ap/
|accessdate =27 May 2007}}</ref> Armstrong said he had received permission from the UCI to use this cream.{{sfn|Armstrong|Jenkins|2001|p=}} [[History of Lance Armstrong doping allegations|Further allegations]] ultimately culminated in the United States Anti Doping Agency ([[USADA]]) disqualifying him from all his victories since 1 August 1998, including his seven consecutive Tour de France victories, and a lifetime ban from competing in professional sports.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usada.org/media/sanction-armstrong8242012 |title=Lance Armstrong Receives Lifetime Ban And Disqualification Of Competitive Results For Doping Violations Stemming From His Involvement In The United States Postal Service Pro-Cycling Team Doping Conspiracy |publisher=U.S. Anti-Doping Agency|date= |accessdate=29 June 2013}}</ref> He chose not to appeal the decision and in January 2013 he admitted doping in a television interview conducted by [[Oprah Winfrey]],<ref>{{cite news|author=15 January 2013, 4:05 PM |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-400_162-57563952/lance-armstrong-tells-oprah-he-doped-to-win/ |title=Lance Armstrong tells Oprah he doped to win |publisher=CBS News |date=15 January 2013 |accessdate=29 June 2013}}</ref> despite having made repeated denials throughout his career.<ref name="ArmstrongNYTimes">{{cite news|title=In Reversal, Armstrong Is Said to Weigh Admitting Drug Use|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/sports/cycling/lance-armstrong-said-to-weigh-admission-of-doping.html?emc=na&_r=0|publisher=New York Times|accessdate=5 January 2013|first=Juliet|last=Macur|date=4 January 2013}}</ref><ref name="Armstrongcbsnews1">{{cite news|title=Atty. denies report Lance Armstrong will admit doping|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-400_162-57562227/atty-denies-report-lance-armstrong-will-admit-doping/|publisher=CBS News|accessdate=5 January 2013}}</ref> On 1 August 2013, [[Jan Ullrich]]—arguably Armstrong's biggest Tour de France rival—reportedly said that Armstrong should have his seven stripped wins reinstated, due to the prevalence of doping at the time. Ullrich had won the [[1997 Tour de France|1997 Tour]] and finished second to Armstrong three times—in [[2000 Tour de France|2000]], [[2001 Tour de France|2001]] and [[2003 Tour de France|2003]]—but declined to stake a claim for his rival's stripped titles.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://espn.go.com/sports/endurance/story/_/id/9527824/jan-ullrich-says-lance-armstrong-get-tour-de-france-titles-back|title=Jan Ullrich supports Lance|work=[[Associated Press]]|publisher=[[ESPN]]|date=1 August 2013|accessdate=17 October 2013}}</ref>
The [[2006 Tour de France|2006 Tour]] had been plagued by the [[Operación Puerto doping case]] before it began. Favourites such as [[Jan Ullrich]] and [[Ivan Basso]] were banned by their teams a day before the start. Seventeen riders were implicated. American rider [[Floyd Landis]], who finished the Tour as holder of the overall lead, had tested positive for [[testosterone]] after he won stage 17, but this was not confirmed until some two weeks after the race finished. On 30 June 2008 Landis lost his appeal to the [[Court of Arbitration for Sport]], and [[Óscar Pereiro]] was named as winner.<ref>{{cite news
|title = Landis loses appeal, must forfeit Tour de France title
|work=Houston Chronicle
|date =30 June 2008
|url = http://www.chron.com/disp/commnts.mpl/sports/5863703.html
|accessdate =30 June 2008}}</ref>
On 24 May 2007, [[Erik Zabel]] admitted using EPO during the first week of the 1996 Tour,<ref>{{cite news
|first=Susan
|last= Westemeyer
|title= Zabel and Aldag confess EPO usage
|url=http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/may07/may24news2
|publisher=CyclingNews
|date=24 May 2007
|accessdate=27 May 2007}}</ref> when he won the points classification. Following his plea that other cyclists admit to drugs, former winner [[Bjarne Riis]] admitted in [[Copenhagen]] on 25 May 2007 that he used EPO regularly from 1993 to 1998, including when he won the 1996 Tour.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aG.4N3TyZIVM&refer=europe
|title=Riis, Tour de France Champ, Says He Took Banned Drugs
|publisher=Bloomberg
|date=25 May 2007
|accessdate=26 May 2007}}</ref> His admission meant the top three in 1996 were all linked to doping, two admitting cheating. On 24 July 2007 [[Alexander Vinokourov]] tested positive for a blood transfusion ([[blood doping]]) after winning a time trial, prompting his Astana team to pull out and police to raid the team's hotel.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/24/AR2007072400938.html Astana Pulls Out of Tour de France] Washington Post. 24 July 2007.</ref> The next day [[Cristian Moreni]] tested positive for [[testosterone]]. His Cofidis team pulled out.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/6915683.stm BBC.co.uk] – Tour hit by second doping result</ref>
The same day, leader [[Michael Rasmussen]] was removed for "violating internal team rules" by missing random tests on 9 May and 28 June. Rasmussen claimed to have been in Mexico. The Italian journalist [[Davide Cassani]] told Danish television he had seen Rasmussen in Italy. The alleged lying prompted his firing by Rabobank.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=aIr0zYGwnFr8&refer=home |title=Rasmussen, Tour de France Leader, Is Expelled by Team |publisher=Bloomberg |date=26 July 2007 |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref>
On 11 July 2008 [[Manuel Beltrán]] tested positive for EPO after the first stage.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j99v8lGDDLVr7JnBjqOPuu0iupiwD91RQJG01 |title=Doping agency: Beltran positive for EPO |accessdate=7 November 2008 |agency=Associated Press |publisher=google}}{{Dead link|date=November 2008}}</ref> On 17 July 2008, [[Riccardo Riccò]] tested positive for [[Methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta|continuous erythropoiesis receptor activator]], a variant of EPO,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/7511518.stm |title=BBC SPORT | Other sport ... | Tour 'winning war against doping' |publisher=News.bbc.co.uk |date=Page last updated at 18:30 GMT, Thursday, 17 July 2008 19:30 UK |accessdate=4 November 2008}}</ref> after the fourth stage. In October 2008, it was revealed that Riccò's teammate and [[2008 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11#Stage 10|Stage 10]] winner [[Leonardo Piepoli]], as well as [[Stefan Schumacher]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/oct08/oct07news |title=Piepoli and Schumacher Tour de France samples positive for CERA |publisher=Autobus.cyclingnews.com |date=7 October 2008 |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref> – who won both time trials – and [[Bernhard Kohl]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/oct08/oct14news |title=Kohl positive confirmed |publisher=Autobus.cyclingnews.com |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref> – third on general classification and King of the Mountains – had tested positive.
After winning the [[2010 Tour de France]], it was announced that [[Alberto Contador]] had tested positive for low levels of [[clenbuterol]] on the 21 July rest day.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/09/news/contador-tests-positive-for-clenbuterol_143791 |title=Contador tests positive for low levels of clenbuterol |publisher=VeloNews.competitor.com |date=Page last updated 30 September 2010 4:23 pm UTC |accessdate=7 July 2011}}</ref> On 26 January 2011, the [[RFEC|Spanish Cycling Federation]] proposed a 1-year ban<ref>{{cite web|url=http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/01/news/spanish-federation-proposes-one-year-ban-for-contador_157185 |title=Spanish federation proposes one-year suspension for Contador |publisher=VeloNews.competitor.com |date=Page last updated 27 January 2011 12:59 pm UTC |accessdate=7 July 2011}}</ref> but reversed its ruling on 15 February and cleared Contador to race.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/02/news/it%E2%80%99s-official-spanish-fed-clears-contador_159920 |title=Spanish fed clears Alberto Contador, Contador plans to start Algarve |publisher=VeloNews.competitor.com |date=Page last updated 15 February 2011 1:30 pm UTC |accessdate=7 July 2011}}</ref> Despite a pending appeal by the [[Union Cycliste Internationale|UCI]], Contador finished 5th overall in the [[2011 Tour de France]], but in February 2012, Contador was suspended and stripped of his 2010 victory.<ref name="cascontador">{{cite news|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cas-sanction-contador-with-two-year-ban-in-clenbuterol-case|title=CAS sanctions Contador with two-year ban in clenbutorol case|date=6 February 2012|accessdate=6 February 2012|publisher=Future Publishing Limited|work=Cyclingnews}}</ref>
During the 2012 Tour, the 3rd placed rider from 2011, [[Frank Schleck]] tested positive for the banned diuretic Xipamide and was immediately disqualified from the Tour.<ref>{{cite news|title=Disgraced Schleck will miss Tour de France after failing drug test during last year's race|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2270898/Frank-Schleck-miss-Tour-France-failing-drug-test-years-race.html#axzz2JfEkYvH8|accessdate=1 February 2013 | location=London|work=Daily Mail|first=David|last=Kent|date=30 January 2013}}</ref>
In October 2012 [[USADA]] released a report on doping by the [[U.S. Postal Service cycling team]], implicating, amongst others, Armstrong. The report contained affidavits from riders including [[Frankie Andreu]], [[Tyler Hamilton]], [[George Hincapie]], [[Floyd Landis]], [[Levi Leipheimer]], and others describing wide spread use of [[Erythropoietin]] (EPO), blood transfusion, testosterone, and other banned practices in several Tours.<ref>[http://cyclinginvestigation.usada.org/ U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team Investigation], USADA, 2012 October, retr 2012 10 14</ref> In October 2012 the UCI acted upon this report, formally stripping Armstrong of all titles since 1 August 1998, including all seven Tour victories,<ref name="BBCArmstrong">{{cite web | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/20008520 | title=Lance Armstrong stripped of all seven Tour de France wins by UCI | publisher=BBC | date=22 October 2012 | accessdate=22 October 2012}}</ref> and announced that his Tour wins would not be reallocated to other riders.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/20103406 | title=Lance Armstrong's Tour de France victories will not be reallocated | publisher=BBC | date=26 October 2012 | accessdate=26 October 2012}}</ref>
==Strikes, exclusions and disqualifications==
{{refimprove section|date=July 2013}}
In '''1904''' twelve riders, including the frontrunner [[Maurice Garin]] and all the stage frontrunners, were disqualified for various reasons including illegal use of cars and trains.
In '''1907''' [[Emile Georget]] was placed last in the day's results after changing his bicycle outside a permitted area. Edmond Gentil, sponsor of the rival [[Alcyon]] team, withdrew all his riders in protest at what he considered too light a penalty. They included [[Louis Trousselier]], the winner in 1905.
In '''1912''' and in '''1913''' [[Octave Lapize]] withdrew all his La Française team in protest at what he saw as the collusion of Belgian riders.
In '''1913''' as well, [[Odile Defraye]] pulled out of the race with painful legs and took the whole Alcyon team with him.
In '''1920''' half the field pulled out at Les Sables d'Olonne in protest at Desgrange's style of management.
In '''1925''' the threat of a strike ended Desgrange's plan that riders should all eat exactly the same amount of food each day.
In '''1937''' [[Sylvère Maes]] of Belgium withdrew all his national team after he considered his French rival, [[Roger Lapébie]], had been punished too lightly for being towed uphill by car.
In '''1950''' the two Italian teams went home after the leader of the first team, [[Gino Bartali]], thought a spectator had threatened him with a knife.
In '''1950''' much of the field got off their bikes and ran into the [[Mediterranean]] at [[Ste-Maxime]]. The summer had been unusually hot and some riders were said to have ridden into the sea without dismounting. All involved were penalised by the judges.
In '''1966''' riders went on strike near Bordeaux after drug tests the previous evening.
In '''1968''' journalists went on strike for a day after Félix Lévitan had accused them of watching "with tired eyes", his response to the writers' complaint that the race was dull.
In '''1978''' they rode slowly all day and then walked across the line at Valence d'Agen in protest at having to get up early to ride more than one stage in a day.
In '''1982''' striking steel workers halted the team time trial.
In '''1987''' photographers went on strike, saying cars carrying the Tour's guests were getting in their way.
In '''1988''' the race went on strike in a protest concerning a drugs test on [[Pedro Delgado]].
In '''1990''' the organisers learned of a blockade by farmers in the Limoges area and diverted the race before it got there.
In '''1991''' riders refused to race for 40 minutes because a rider, [[Urs Zimmerman]], was penalised for driving from one stage finish to the start of the next instead of flying.
In '''1991''' the PDM team went home after its riders fell ill one by one within 48 hours.
In '''1992''' activists of the Basque separatist movement bombed followers' cars overnight.
In '''1997''' Belgian sprinter [[Tom Steels]] was expelled from the race for throwing his drinking bottle at another rider in a bunch sprint at [[Marennes, Charente-Maritime|Marennes]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Lionel Birnie |url=http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/475463/tom-steels-on-mark-cavendish-he-s-the-man-to-beat.html |title=Tom Steels on Mark Cavendish: 'He's the man to beat' |work=Cycling Weekly |date=2 July 2010 |accessdate=24 July 2010}}</ref>
In '''[[Festina affair|1998]]''':
* The [[Festina cycling team|Festina team]] was disqualified after revelations of organised doping within the team.
* After this discovery, the race stopped in protest at what the riders saw as heavy-handed investigation of this and other doping allegations.
In '''1999''' demonstrating firemen stopped the race and pelted it with stink bombs.
In '''2006''' [[Floyd Landis]] was stripped of his title after [[Floyd Landis doping case|testing positive]] for synthetic testosterone.
In '''[[Doping at the 2007 Tour de France|2007]]''':
* Team Astana abandoned the race after [[Alexander Vinokourov]] was caught doping, and the [[Cofidis (cycling team)|Cofidis]] team withdrew the next day following [[Cristian Moreni]] failing a drug test
* [[Michael Rasmussen]] was removed by his team, Rabobank, while wearing the yellow jersey for lying about his whereabouts during a team training session in Mexico. This was an issue as by claiming to be in Mexico he was unavailable for random drugs tests in Europe where he was actually residing.
In '''2008''':
* Riccardo Ricco was kicked out of the race after testing positive for CERA.
* Moisés Dueñas Nevado was kicked out of the race after testing positive for Erythropoietin.
* Manuel Beltrán was kicked out of the race after testing positive for EPO.
In '''2010''' [[Alberto Contador]] failed a doping test. After a series of events, the CAS finally in February 2012 declared [[Andy Schleck]] the new winner. Also in '''2010''' lead out man [[Mark Renshaw]] (HTC-Columbia) was disqualified after headbutting another rider, [[Julian Dean]], as well as his blocking of Garmin-Transitions rider [[Tyler Farrar]].
In '''2011''' [[Alexandr Kolobnev]] left the race after testing positive for [[hydrochlorothiazide]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/07/11/cycling.tour.sky.flecha/ |title=cnn.com |publisher=CNN |date=11 July 2011 |accessdate=23 February 2012}}</ref>
In '''2012''':
* Jan Ullrich was stripped of his 3rd-place finish in the [[2005 Tour de France|2005 Tour]], in February 2012.<ref name="Ullrich-stripped 3rd">{{cite news|url=http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=cycling&id=7557582|title=Ullrich stripped of 3rd-place finish at 2005 Tour|work=[[Associated Press]]|publisher=[[ESPN]]|date=9 February 2012|accessdate=14 October 2013}}</ref>
* [[Frank Schleck]] tested positive for a banned [[diuretic]] [[Xipamide]] and left the competition.<ref>{{cite news|title=Frank Schleck to leave Tour de France after failing doping test|url=http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/17/sport/cycling-tour-schleck-doping/index.html|publisher=CNN|accessdate=17 July 2012|date=17 July 2012}}</ref>
* [[Lance Armstrong]] was retroactively stripped of all seven of his titles (1999–2005), in October 2012.<ref name=Reuters-Armstrong-Stripped>{{cite news|url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/22/us-cycling-armstrong-idUSBRE89L0HC20121022|title=Armstrong's Tour titles stripped|last=Pretot|first=Julien|date=22 October 2012|publisher=Reuters|accessdate=22 October 2012|location=Geneva}}</ref>
==Deaths==
{{See also|List of professional cyclists who died during a race}}
Cyclists who have died during the Tour de France:
* 1910: French racer Adolphe Helière drowned at the [[French Riviera]] during a rest day.
* 1935: Spanish racer Francisco Cepeda plunged down a ravine on the [[Col du Galibier]].
* 1967: 13 July, Stage 13: [[Tom Simpson]] died of heart failure during the ascent of Mont Ventoux. [[Amphetamine]]s were found in Simpson's jersey and blood.
* 1995: 18 July, Stage 15: [[Fabio Casartelli]] crashed at {{convert|88|km/h|mph|abbr=on}} while descending the [[Col de Portet d'Aspet]].
Another seven fatal accidents have occurred:
* 1934: A motorcyclist giving a demonstration in the velodrome of La Roche Sur Yon, to entertain the crowd before the cyclists arrived, died after he crashed at high speed.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://hemeroteca.elmundodeportivo.es/preview/1934/07/28/pagina-2/621791/pdf.html|date=28 July 1934|page=2|language=Spanish|publisher=El Mundo Deportivo|title=Ultimas Informaciones – La XXVIII Vuelta a Francia}}</ref>
* 1957: 14 July: Motorcycle rider Rene Wagter and passenger Alex Virot, a journalist for [[Radio Luxembourg (French)|Radio Luxembourg]], went off a mountain road near [[Ax-les-Thermes]].
* 1958: An official, Constant Wouters, died from injuries received after sprinter [[André Darrigade]] collided with him at the [[Parc des Princes]].{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=105}}
*1964: Twenty people died when a supply van hit a bridge in the [[Dordogne]] region, resulting in the highest tour-related death toll.<ref name=autogenerated10>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8157409.stm |title=Europe | Tour de France spectator killed |publisher=BBC News |date= 18 July 2009|accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref>
* 2000: A 12-year-old from [[Ginasservis]], known as Phillippe, was hit by a car in the Tour de France publicity caravan.{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=80}}
* 2002: A seven-year-old boy, Melvin Pompele, died near [[Retjons]] after running in front of the caravan.{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=80}}
* 2009: 18 July, Stage 14: A spectator in her 60s was struck and killed by a police motorcycle while crossing a road along the route near [[Wittelsheim]].<ref name="autogenerated3"/>
==Records and statistics==
{{Main|Tour de France records and statistics|Yellow jersey statistics}}
One rider has been [[King of the Mountains]], won the combination classification, combativity award, the points competition, and the Tour in the same year—[[Eddy Merckx]] in 1969, which was also the first year he participated.<ref>[http://memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_1947_1977/tdf1969.php Memoire du cyclisme]. Retrieved 13 July 2012</ref>
Twice the Tour was won by a racer who never wore the yellow jersey until the race was over. In 1947, [[Jean Robic]] overturned a three-minute deficit on a 257 km final stage into Paris. In 1968, [[Jan Janssen]] of the Netherlands secured his win in the individual time trial on the last day.
The Tour has been won three times by racers who led the general classification on the first stage and holding the lead all the way to Paris. [[Maurice Garin]] did it during the Tour's very first edition, 1903; he repeated the feat the next year, but the results were nullified by the officials as a response to widespread cheating. Ottavio Bottechia completed a GC start-to-finish sweep in 1924. And in 1928, Nicolas Frantz held the GC for the entire race, and at the end, the podium consisted solely of members of his racing team. While no one has equalled this feat since '28, four times a racer has taken over the GC lead on the second stage and carried that lead all the way to Paris.
The most appearances have been by [[George Hincapie]] with 17. In light of Hincapie's suspension for use of performance enhancing drugs, before which he held the mark for most consecutive finishes with sixteen, having completed all but his very first, [[Joop Zoetemelk]] holds the record for the most finishes, having completed all 16 of the Tours that he started.
In the early years of the Tour, cyclists rode individually, and were sometimes forbidden to ride together. This led to large gaps between the winner and the number two. Since the cyclists now tend to stay together in a [[peloton]], the margins of the winner have become smaller, as the difference usually originates from time trials, breakaways or on mountain top finishes, or from being left behind the peloton. In the table below, the eight smallest margins between the winner and the second placed cyclists at the end of the Tour are given. The largest margin, by comparison, remains that of the first Tour in 1903: 2h 49m 45s between Maurice Garin and [[Lucien Pothier]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/COURSE/us/histoire_statistiques.html |title=Tour de France 2009 – Stats |publisher=Letour.fr |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref> The eight smallest margins between first and second placed riders are as follows:<ref>{{cite web
|url= http://www.tourde-france.nl/verschil_nummerS_1en2.htm
|title= Verschil tussen de nummers 1 en 2 van het eindklassement
|accessdate=17 March 2008
|publisher= tourde-france.nl
|language= Dutch
}}</ref>
Three riders have won 8 stages in a single year: [[Charles Pélissier]] ([[1930 Tour de France|1930]]<ref>{{cite web|title= Charles Pélissier |url=http://www.letour.fr/HISTO/us/TDF/coureur/2534.html|work=Results history|publisher=letour.fr|accessdate=23 July 2012}}</ref>), [[Eddy Merckx]] ([[1970 Tour de France|1970]], [[1974 Tour de France|1974]]<ref>{{cite web|title= Eddy Merckx |url=http://www.letour.fr/HISTO/us/TDF/coureur/4004.html|work=Results history|publisher=letour.fr|accessdate=23 July 2012}}</ref>), [[Freddy Maertens]] ([[1976 Tour de France|1976]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Freddy Maertens|url=http://www.letour.fr/HISTO/us/TDF/coureur/4314.html|work=Results history|publisher=letour.fr|accessdate=23 July 2012}}</ref>). Mark Cavendish has the most mass finish stage wins with 25, ahead of André Darrigade and André Leducq with 22, François Faber with 19 and Eddy Merckx with 18.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2012/docs/Historique-VERSION_INTEGRALE-fr.pdf p125|title=Letour Guide Historique 2012 |publisher=Letour.fr |date=10 July 2012 |accessdate=23 July 2012}}</ref> The youngest Tour de France stage winner is [[Fabio Battesini]], who was 19 when he won one stage in the [[1931 Tour de France]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Peter Sagan captures Stage 1|url=http://espn.go.com/olympics/tdf2012/story/_/id/8119085/2012-tour-de-france-slovakia-peter-sagan-wins-stage-1-fabian-cancellara-keeps-lead|agency=Associated Press |publisher=ESPN |date=1 July 2012 |accessdate=8 July 2012}}</ref>
The fastest massed-start stage was in 1999 from Laval to Blois (194.5 km), won by [[Mario Cipollini]] at 50.4 km/h.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jul/08/sports/sp-54125 |title=Cipollini Sprints to Record Win – Los Angeles Times |work=Los Angeles Times |date=8 July 1999 |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref> The fastest full-length time-trial is [[David Zabriskie]]'s opening stage of 2005, Fromentine – Noirmoutier-en-l'Ile (19 km) at 54.7 km/h.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.tdg.ch/TG/TG/-/article-2005-07-152/1david-zabriskie--54676-kmh-record--2 |title=1david zabriskie 54676 km/h record 2 – Archives de la Tribune de Geneve |publisher=Archives.tdg.ch |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref> [[Chris Boardman]] rode faster during the 1994 prologue stage,<ref>Prologue time-trials are shorter than those later in the race.</ref> Lille-Euralille (7.2 km), with 55.2 km/h.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/roa/News2006/20060209_TDF_Interviews.asp |title=Tour de France Launch Interviews (Chris Boardman) |publisher=Britishcycling.org.uk |accessdate=18 July 2009 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20060321091326/http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/roa/News2006/20060209_TDF_Interviews.asp |archivedate = 21 March 2006}}</ref> The fastest stage win was by the 2013 Orica GreenEDGE team in a team time-trial. It completed the 25 km in Nice (stage 5) at 57.8 km/h.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://velonews.com/article/8393 |title=Armstrong in yellow after Discovery powers through TTT |publisher=VeloNews |date=5 July 2005 |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/Press_Release_100065.aspx |title=Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team Breaking Records With Trek Bikes Designed On AMD64 Technology |publisher=Amd.com |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref>
The longest successful post-war breakaway by a single rider was by [[Albert Bourlon]] in the [[1947 Tour de France]]. In the stage Carcassone-Luchon, he stayed away for 253 km.<ref name=autogenerated9>Tour 09, Procycling (UK) summer 2009</ref> It was one of seven breakaways longer than 200 km, the last being [[Thierry Marie]]'s 234 km escape in 1991.<ref name=autogenerated9 /> Bourlon finished 16 m 30s ahead. This is one of the biggest time gaps but not the greatest. That record belongs to [[José-Luis Viejo]], who beat the peloton by 22 m 50s in the 1976 stage Montgenèvre-Manosque.<ref name=autogenerated9 /> He was the fourth and most recent rider to win a stage by more than 20 minutes.
===Record winners===
Four riders have won five times:
* [[Jacques Anquetil]] (FRA) in [[1957 Tour de France|1957]], [[1961 Tour de France|1961]], [[1962 Tour de France|1962]], [[1963 Tour de France|1963]] and [[1964 Tour de France|1964]];
* [[Eddy Merckx]] (BEL) in [[1969 Tour de France|1969]], [[1970 Tour de France|1970]], [[1971 Tour de France|1971]], [[1972 Tour de France|1972]] and [[1974 Tour de France|1974]];
* [[Bernard Hinault]] (FRA) in [[1978 Tour de France|1978]], [[1979 Tour de France|1979]], [[1981 Tour de France|1981]], [[1982 Tour de France|1982]] and [[1985 Tour de France|1985]];
* [[Miguel Indurain]] (ESP) in [[1991 Tour de France|1991]], [[1992 Tour de France|1992]], [[1993 Tour de France|1993]], [[1994 Tour de France|1994]] and [[1995 Tour de France|1995]] (* record five consecutive wins).
Three riders have won three times:
* [[Philippe Thys]] (BEL) in [[1913 Tour de France|1913]], [[1914 Tour de France|1914]], and [[1920 Tour de France|1920]];
* [[Louison Bobet]] (FRA) in [[1953 Tour de France|1953]], [[1954 Tour de France|1954]], and [[1955 Tour de France|1955]];
* [[Greg LeMond]] (USA) in [[1986 Tour de France|1986]], [[1989 Tour de France|1989]], and [[1990 Tour de France|1990]].
==See also==
{{Portal|Cycling}}
* [[Tour de France Féminin]]
==Notes==
{{Reflist|50em|group=n}}
==Citations==
{{Reflist|25em}}
==References==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Goddet | first=Jacques | authorlink=Jacques Goddet | title=L'équipée belle | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=6gHYHAAACAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year=1991 | publisher=[[Éditions Robert Laffont]] | location= | isbn=978-2-221-07290-5 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Nicholson | first=Geoffrey | title=Le Tour: The Rise and Rise of the Tour de France | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=RDgUHAAACAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year= 1991 | publisher=[[Hodder & Stoughton]] | location=London | isbn=978-0-340-54268-2 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Augendre | first=Jacques | authorlink=Jacques Augendre | title=Le Tour de France: panorama d'un siècle | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=1fv5NAAACAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year=1996 | publisher=Service Communication-presse de la Société du Tour de France }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Seray | first=Jacques | title=1904 Tour de France | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=lFhrAAAACAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year=2000 | publisher=Ann Arbor Press | isbn=978-0-9649835-2-6 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Woodland | first=Les | title=The Unknown Tour De France: The Many Faces of the World's Biggest Bicycle Race | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=zqXUAAAACAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year= 2000 | publisher=Cycling Resources | location=U.S. | isbn=978-1-892495-26-6 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last1=Armstrong | last2=Jenkins | first1=Lance | first2=Sally | authorlink1=Lance Amstrong | authorlink1=Sally Jenkins | title=It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=5ATbkSDvfd0C | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year= 2001 | origyear=1st. pub. 2000 | publisher=[[Random House]] | location=New York City | isbn=978-0-224-06087-5 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Harp | first=Stephen L. | title=Marketing Michelin: Advertising and Cultural Identity in Twentieth-Century France | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=IcB2x74UgUAC | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year=2001 | publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] | location=Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | isbn=978-0-8018-6651-7 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Ollivier | first=Jean-Paul | title=L'ABCdaire du Tour de France | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=TdOoPAAACAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year= 2001 | publisher=[[Groupe Flammarion]] | location=Paris | isbn=978-2-08-012727-3 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last1=Boeuf | last2=Léonard | first1=Jean-Luc | first2=Yves | title=La République du Tour de France | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=9NeBAAAAMAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year= 2003 | publisher=[[Éditions du Seuil]] | isbn=978-2-02-058073-1 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last1=Allchin | last2=Bell | first1=Richard | first2=Adrian | title=Golden stages of the Tour de France : tales from the legendary stages of the world's greatest bike race | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=7KsTAQAAIAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year= 2003 | publisher=Mousehold Press | location=London | isbn=978-1-874739-28-9 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=de Mondenard | first=Jean-Paul | title=Dopage: l'imposture des performances : mensonges et vérités sur l'école de la triche | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=UxVwcgAACAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year= 2003 | publisher=Chiron | location= }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Masso | first=Benjamin | title=Het zweet der goden: legende van de wielersport | edition=4th | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=K3jGZwEACAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year=2003 | publisher=Atlas | location= | isbn=978-90-450-1126-4 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last1=McGann | last2=McGann | first1=Bill | first2=Carol | title=The Story of the Tour de France, Volume 1 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=jxq20JskqMUC | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year=2006 | publisher=Dog Ear Publishing | location=Indianapolis, U.S. | isbn=978-1-59858-180-5 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Woodland | first=Les | title=The Yellow Jersey Companion to the Tour de France | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=QdMSjfvjDhUC | accessdate=26 April 2013 | year= 2007 | origyear=1st. pub. 2003 | publisher=[[Random House]] | location=London | isbn=978-0-224-08016-3 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last1=McGann | last2=McGann | first1=Bill | first2=Carol | title=The Story of the Tour De France: 1965-2007 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=V8mlwItBhhcC | accessdate=25 April 2013 | year=2008 | publisher=Dog Ear Publishing | location=Indianapolis, U.S. | isbn=978-1-59858-608-4 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Thompson | first=Christopher S. | title=The Tour de France: A Cultural History | edition=2nd | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=UpzzPqexF00C | accessdate=26 April 2013 | year=2008 | publisher=[[University of California Press]] | location=[[Berkeley, California]], U.S. | isbn=978-0-520-93486-3 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last1=Cazeneuve | last2=Chany | first1=Thierry | first2=Pierre | authorlink2=Pierre Chany | title=La fabuleuse histoire du Tour de France | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=u2KeSYyU_gsC | accessdate=13 February 2013 | year=2011 | publisher=[[La Martinière Groupe|La Martinière]] | location=Paris | isbn=978-2-7324-4792-6 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Moore | first=Tim | authorlink=Tim Moore (writer) | title=French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=lFZ_3KWZ9f8C | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year= 2011 | origyear=1st. pub. 2001 | publisher=[[Random House]] | location=London | isbn=978-1-4464-1497-2 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last1=Dauncey | last2=Hare | first1=Hugh | first2=Geoff | title=The Tour De France, 1903-2003: A Century of Sporting Structures, Meanings and Values | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=8zXIYTnkxAIC | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year=2013 | origyear=1st. pub. 2003 | publisher=[[Routledge]] | location=London | isbn=978-1-135-76239-1 }}
{{Refend}}
==Further reading==
{{Refbegin}}
*{{Cite book |last= Delanzy |first= Eric|title= Inside the Tour de France: The Pictures, the Legends, and the Untold Stories|publisher=Rodale Books|isbn=1-59486-230-3|year= 2006}}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Nelsson | first=Richard | title=The Tour De France ... to the Bitter End | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ZMGMzYS5eTYC | accessdate=26 April 2013 | year= 2012 | publisher=[[Random House]] | location=London | isbn=978-0-85265-336-4 }}
*{{Cite book|last=Wheatcroft|first=Geoffrey|title=Le Tour: A History of the Tour de France, 1903–2003|origyear=2005|publisher=Simon & Schuster UK|isbn=0-684-02879-4|year=2004}}
{{Refend}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|Tour de France}}
* {{official website|http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2013/us/}}
* {{Cycling archives race|846}}
* [http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/cycling/tour-de-france/ Yahoo! Sport ''(UK & Ireland)'':] Tour de France
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2012}}
{{Tour de France}}
{{Grand Tour}}
{{UCI World Tour}}
{{Post–Tour de France criteriums in the Netherlands}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tour De France}}
[[Category:Tour de France| ]]
[[Category:Cycle races in France]]
[[Category:Recurring sporting events established in 1903]]
[[Category:UCI ProTour races]]
[[Category:UCI World Tour races]]
[[Category:1903 establishments in France]]
[[Category:Grand Tour (cycling)]]
{{Link FA|de}}
{{Link FA|vi}}' |
New page wikitext, after the edit (new_wikitext) | '{{Other uses}}
{{Infobox cycling race
| name = Tour de France
| current_event =
| image = [[File:Tour de France logo.svg|200px]]
| date = July
| region = France and nearby countries
| localnames = Le Tour de France {{fr icon}}
| nickname = La Grande Boucle
| discipline = Road
| competition = Professional
| type = Stage race (Grand Tour)
| organiser = [[Amaury Sport Organisation]]
| director = [[Christian Prudhomme]]
| first = [[1903 Tour de France|{{start date|df=yes|1903}}]]
| number = 100 ([[2013 Tour de France|2013]])
| final =
| firstwinner = {{flagathlete|[[Maurice Garin]]|FRA}}
| mostwins = {{plainlist|
* {{nowrap|{{flagathlete|[[Jacques Anquetil]]|FRA}}}}
* {{nowrap|{{flagathlete|[[Bernard Hinault]]|FRA}}}}
* {{nowrap|{{flagathlete|[[Eddy Merckx]]|BEL}}}}
* {{nowrap|{{flagathlete|[[Miguel Indurain]]|ESP}}}}<ref group="n">Indurain holds the record of five consecutive Tour wins.</ref>
(''5-time winners''<ref group="n" name="lancebanned">Formerly American [[Lance Armstrong]] with 7 wins, until he was stripped of his titles and banned for life from all UCI events following an investigation into [[History of Lance Armstrong doping allegations|doping allegations]] against him.</ref>)}}
| mostrecent = {{flagathlete|[[Chris Froome]]|GBR}}
}}
The '''Tour de France''' ({{IPA-fr|tuʁ də fʁɑ̃s}}) is an annual [[stage race|multiple stage]] [[bicycle racing|bicycle race]] primarily held in [[France]],<ref name="Telegraph Tour Info">{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/tour-de-france/9400588/The-Tour-de-France-a-guide-to-the-basics.html|title=The Tour de France: a guide to the basics|author=Joel Gunter|publisher=The Telegraph|date=16 July 2012|accessdate=30 July 2012|location=London}}</ref> while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. The race was first organized in [[1903 Tour de France|1903]] to increase paper sales for the magazine ''[[L'Auto]]'';<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf1903.html#story |title=1903 Tour de France |publisher=Bikeraceinfo.com |date=19 January 1903 |accessdate=30 July 2012 }}</ref> it is currently run by the [[Amaury Sport Organisation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/69862/tour-de-france-snubs-velodrome-holocaust-memorial |title=Tour de France snubs velodrome Holocaust memorial |work=The Jewish Chronicle |date=12 July 2012 |accessdate=30 July 2012 }}</ref> The race has been held annually since its first edition in 1903 except for when it was stopped for the two [[World war|World Wars]].<ref name="reveal">{{cite web |url=http://www.cyclingrevealed.com/timeline/Race%20Snippets/TdF/TdF1919.htm |title=The Return of a Grand Affair – "New Tour Legend: the Maillot Jaune"|author=Barry Boys|publisher=Cycling Revealed|accessdate=3 June 2009}}</ref> As the Tour gained prominence and popularity the race was lengthened and its reach began to extend around the globe. Participation expanded from a primarily French field, as riders from all over the world began to participate in the race each year. The Tour is a [[UCI World Tour]] event, which means that the teams that compete in the race are mostly [[UCI ProTeam]]s, with the exception of the teams that the organizers invite.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uci.ch/templates/UCI/UCI2/layout.asp?MenuId=MTUyMjQ |title=Union Cycliste Internationale |publisher=Uci.ch |accessdate=6 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=When is the Criterium route announced. |url=http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/530629/uci-worldtour-calendar-2012.html |title=UCI WorldTour calendar 2012 |work=Cycling Weekly |accessdate=6 August 2012}}</ref>
The Tour de France, the [[Giro d'Italia]] and [[Vuelta a España]] make up cycling's prestigious, three-week-long [[Grand Tour (cycling)|Grand Tours]]; the Tour is the oldest and generally considered the most prestigious of the three.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=features/2007/abu_dhabi07 |title=Million dollar, baby! |work=Cycling News |publisher=Future Publishing Limited |date=12 January 2007 |accessdate=21 May 2011 }}</ref> Traditionally, the race is held primarily in the month of July. While the route changes each year, the format of the race stays the same with the appearance of at least two time trials,<ref name="Telegraph Tour Info"/> the passage through the mountain chains of the [[Pyrenees]] and the [[Alps]], and the finish on the [[Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France|Champs-Élysées]] in [[Paris]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/LIVE/us/2100/etape_par_etape.html#zone3 |title=Tour de France 2011 – Stage by stage |publisher=Letour.fr |accessdate=30 July 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bicycling.com/news/2010-tour-de-france/moment-17-1975-tdfs-first-champs-elysees-finish |title=Moment 17: 1975 – TDF's First Champs Elysees Finish |work=Bicycling Magazine |accessdate=30 July 2012 }}</ref> The modern editions of the Tour de France consist of 21 day-long segments (stages) over a 23-day period and cover around {{convert|3500|km}}.<ref>{{cite web|title = UCI Regulations|page = 43|url = http://www.uci.ch/Modules/BUILTIN/getObject.asp?MenuId=MTkzNg&ObjTypeCode=FILE&type=FILE&id=34028&LangId=1|accessdate =21 July 2009|edition = 2.6.011}}</ref> The race alternates between clockwise and anticlockwise circuits of France.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=17}} The number of teams usually varies between 20 and 22, with nine riders in each.
All of the stages are timed to the finish; after finishing the riders' times are compounded with their previous stage times.<ref name="Telegraph Tour Info"/> The rider with the lowest aggregate time is the leader of the race and gets to don the coveted [[maillot jaune|yellow jersey]].<ref name="Telegraph Tour Info"/><ref name="ASO">{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDF/LIVE/docs/reglement_2006_us.pdf|publisher=ASO/letour.fr|title=Regulations of the race|format=PDF|accessdate=30 December 2008}}</ref> While the general classification garners the most attention there are other contests held within the Tour: the [[Points classification in the Tour de France|points classification]] for the sprinters, the [[Mountains classification in the Tour de France|mountains classification]] for the climbers with general classification hopes, [[Young rider classification in the Tour de France|young rider classification]] for the riders under the age of 26, and the [[Team classification in the Tour de France|team classification]] for the fastest teams.<ref name="Telegraph Tour Info"/>
==bum grapes==
{{Timeline Tour de France}}
===fuck me man===
The Tour de France was created in 1903. The roots of the Tour de France trace to the [[Dreyfus Affair]], a [[wikt:cause célèbre|cause célèbre]] that divided France at the end of the 19th century over the innocence of [[Alfred Dreyfus]], a soldier convicted—though later exonerated—of selling military secrets to the Germans. Opinions became heated and there were demonstrations by both sides. One was what the historian [[Eugen Weber]] called "an absurd political shindig" at the [[Auteuil-Neuilly-Passy|Auteuil]] horse-race course in Paris in 1899.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=xi}} Among those involved was Comte [[Jules-Albert de Dion]], the owner of the [[De Dion-Bouton]] car works, who believed Dreyfus was guilty.{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=}} De Dion served 15 days in jail and was fined 100 francs for his role at Auteuil,{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=xi}} which included striking [[Émile Loubet]], the president of France, on the head with a [[walking stick]].{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=xi}}{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=}}{{sfn|Harp|2001|p=20}}
The incident at Auteuil, said Weber, was "...tailor-made for the sporting press." The first and the largest daily sports newspaper in France was ''[[Le Vélo]]'',{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=23}} which sold 80,000 copies a day.{{sfn|Nicholson|1991|p=}} Its editor, [[Pierre Giffard]], thought Dreyfus innocent. He reported the arrest in a way that displeased de Dion, who was so angry that he joined other anti-Dreyfusards such as [[Adolphe Clément]] and [[Édouard Michelin]] and opened a rival daily sports paper, ''[[L'Auto]]''.<ref group="n">De Dion, Clément and Michelin were particularly concerned with ''Le Vélo''—which reported more than cycling—because its financial backer was one of their commercial rivals, the Darracq company. De Dion believed ''Le Vélo'' gave Darracq too much attention and him too little. De Dion was a gentlemanly but outspoken man who already wrote columns for ''[[Le Figaro]]'', ''Le Matin'' and others. He was also rich and could afford to indulge his whims, which included founding ''Le Nain Jaune'' (the yellow gnome), a publication that "...answers no particular need."</ref>
The new newspaper appointed [[Henri Desgrange]] as the editor. He was a prominent cyclist and owner with Victor Goddet of the [[velodrome]] at the [[Parc des Princes]].{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=16}} De Dion knew him through his cycling reputation, through the books and cycling articles that he had written, and through press articles he had written for the Clément tyre company.
''L'Auto'' was not the success its backers wanted. Stagnating sales lower than the rival it was intended to surpass led to a crisis meeting on 20 November 1902 on the middle floor of ''L'Auto'''s office at 10 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, Paris. The last to speak was the most junior there, the chief cycling journalist, a 26-year-old named [[Géo Lefèvre]].{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=}} Desgrange had poached him from Giffard's paper.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=20}} Lefèvre suggested a six-day race of the sort popular on the track but all around France.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=20}} Long-distance cycle races were a popular means to sell more newspapers, but nothing of the length that Lefèvre suggested had been attempted.<ref group="n">Desgrange had first attempted to copy and outdo races run by his rival. In 1901 he revived the Paris-Brest event after a decade's absence. His winner knocked nearly two hours off the time but the race didn't catch the public imagination. The longest races went from city to city, such as from Bordeaux to Paris, in one stint. Giffard was the first to suggest a race that lasted several days, new to cycling but established practice in car racing. Unlike other cycle races, it would also be run largely without pacers.</ref> If it succeeded, it would help ''L'Auto'' match its rival and perhaps put it out of business.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=64}} It could, as Desgrange said, "nail Giffard's beak shut."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2006/tour06/?id=/features/2006/woodland_tour_origin |title=www.cyclingnews.com presents the 93rd Tour de France |work=Cycling News |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/RVBZWGNE9RZ0J |title=Know how the Tour de France started |publisher=Amazon.com |date=19 January 1903 |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref>
Desgrange and Lefèvre discussed it after lunch. Desgrange was doubtful but the paper's financial director, Victor Goddet, was enthusiastic. He handed Desgrange the keys to the company safe and said: "Take whatever you need."{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=15}} ''L'Auto'' announced the race on 19 January 1903.
===First Tour de France===
{{Main|1903 Tour de France}}
[[File:Eerste Tour de France - First Tour de France.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Maurice Garin]], winner of the first Tour de France standing on the right. The man on the left is possibly [[Leon Georget]] (1903)<ref>[[Spaarnestad Photo]] image number SFA001006411</ref>]]
The first Tour de France was staged in 1903. The plan was a five-stage race from 31 May to 5 July, starting in Paris and stopping in Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux and Nantes before returning to Paris. Toulouse was added later to break the long haul across [[southern France]] from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Stages would go through the night and finish next afternoon, with rest days before riders set off again. But this proved too daunting and the costs too great for most{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=13}} and only 15 competitors had entered. Desgrange had never been wholly convinced and he came close to dropping the idea.{{sfn|Nicholson|1991|p=44}} Instead, he cut the length to 19 days, changed the dates to 1 to 19 July, and offered a daily allowance to those who averaged at least 20 km/h on all the stages,{{sfn|Thierry|Chany|2011|p=21}} equivalent to what a rider would have expected to earn each day had he worked in a factory.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=131}} He also cut the entry fee from 20 to 10 francs and set the first prize at 12,000 francs and the prize for each day's winner at 3,000 francs. The winner would thereby win six times what most workers earned in a year.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=131}} That attracted between 60 and 80 entrants – the higher number may have included serious inquiries and some who dropped out – among them not just professionals but amateurs, some unemployed, some simply adventurous.{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=}}
Desgrange seems not to have forgotten the [[Dreyfus Affair]] that launched his race and raised the passions of his backers. He announced his new race on 1 July 1903 by citing the writer [[Émile Zola]], whose open letter in which every paragraph started" ''[[J'accuse]] ...''" led to Dreyfus's acquittal, establishing the florid style he used henceforth.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=63}}{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=7}}{{sfn|Nicholson|1991|p=45}}
The first Tour de France started almost outside the Café Reveil-Matin at the junction of the Melun and Corbeil roads in the village of Montgeron. It was waved away by the starter, Georges Abran, at 3:16 p.m. on 1 July 1903. ''L'Auto'' hadn't featured the race on its front page that morning.<ref group="n">L'Auto preferred to concentrate on the Coupe Gordon-Bennett car race, even though it wasn't to start for another 48 hours. The choice reflects not only that the Tour de France was an unknown quantity – only after the first race had finished did it establish a reputation – but it hints at Desgrange's uncertainty. His position as editor depended on raising sales. That would happen if the Tour succeeded. But the paper and his employers would lose a lot of money if it didn't. Desgrange preferred to keep a distance. He didn't drop the flag at the start and he didn't follow the riders. Reporting was left to Lefèvre, whose idea it had been, who followed the race by bike and by train. Desgrange showed a personal interest in his race only when it looked a success.</ref>{{sfn|Thierry|Chany|2011|p=26}}{{sfn|Allchin|Bell|2003|p=3}}
Among the competitors were the eventual winner, [[Maurice Garin]], his well-built rival [[Hippolyte Aucouturier]], the German favourite [[Josef Fischer (cyclist)|Josef Fischer]], and a collection of adventurers including one competing as "Samson".<ref group="n">The use of false and often colourful names was not unusual. It reflected not only the daring of the enterprise but the slight scandal still associated with riding bicycle races, enough that some preferred to use a false name. The first city-to-city race, from Paris to Rouen, included many made-up names or simply initials. The first woman to finish had entered as "Miss America", despite not being American.</ref>
The race finished on the edge of Paris at Ville d'Avray, outside the Restaurant du Père Auto, before a ceremonial ride into Paris and several laps of the Parc des Princes. Garin dominated the race, winning the first and last two stages, at 25.68 km/h. The last rider, Millocheau, finished 64h 47m 22s behind him.
==="Last" Tour: 1904===
{{Main|1904 Tour de France}}
Such was the passion that the first Tour created in spectators and riders that Desgrange said the second would be the last. Cheating was rife and riders were beaten up by rival fans as they neared the top of the col de la République, sometimes called the col du Grand Bois, outside St-Étienne.{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2006|p=11}} The leading riders, including the winner Maurice Garin, were disqualified, though it took the Union Vélocipèdique de France until 30 November to make the decision.{{sfn|Seray|2000|p=154}} McGann says the UVF waited so long "...well aware of the passions aroused by the race."{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2006|p=12}} Desgrange's opinion of the fighting and cheating showed in the headline of his reaction in ''L'Auto'': THE END.{{sfn|Seray|2000|p=129}}
===1905 on===
Desgrange's despair did not last. By the following spring he was planning another Tour, longer at 11 stages rather than 6 - and this time all in daylight to make any cheating more obvious.{{sfn|Seray|2000|p=148}} Stages in 1905 began between 3 am and 7:30 am.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=9}}
The race captured the imagination. ''L'Auto's'' circulation rose from 25,000 to 65,000;{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=}} by 1908 it was a quarter of a million, and during the 1923 Tour 500,000. The record claimed by Desgrange was 854,000 during the 1933 Tour.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf%20history/tdfhistory1930.html |title=Torelli's History of the Tour de France: the 1930s or, All They Wanted To Do Was to Sell a Few More Newspapers |accessdate=27 May 2007 |publisher=BikeRaceInfo.com}}</ref> ''Le Vélo'' went out of business in 1904.
==Early rules==
Desgrange and his Tour invented bicycle stage racing.{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2006|p=}} Desgrange experimented with judging by elapsed time{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=7}} and then from 1906 to 1912 by points for placings each day.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=9}}<ref group="n">The formula in 1905 was a combination of both time and points. Riders had points deducted for each five minutes lost. Desgrange saw problems in judging both by time and by points. By time, a rider coping with a mechanical problem—which the rules insisted he repair alone—could lose so much time that it cost him the race. Equally, riders could finish so separated that time gained or lost on one or two days could decide the whole race. Judging the race by points removed over-influential time differences but discouraged competitors from riding hard. It made no difference whether they finished fast or slow or separated by seconds or hours, so they were inclined to ride together at a relaxed pace until close to the line, only then disputing the final placings that would give them points.</ref> He allowed riders to have personal pacers on the last stage in 1903 and on the first and last stages in 1905.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=9}}
Desgrange stood against the use of multiple gears and for many years insisted riders use wooden rims, fearing the heat of braking while coming down mountains would melt the glue that held the tires on metal rims (they were finally allowed in 1937).{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=37}}
From 1936 there were as many as three stages in a single day.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=36}}
His dream was a race of individuals. He invited teams but until 1925 forbade their members to pace each other.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=25}} He then went the other way and from 1927 to 1929{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=27}} ran the Tour as a giant [[team time-trial]], with teams starting separately with members pacing each other. He demanded that riders mend their bicycles without help and that they use the same bicycle from start to end. Exchanging a damaged bicycle for another was allowed only in 1923.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=23}}
In 1903, Desgrange allowed riders who dropped out one day to continue the next for daily prizes but not the overall prize. In 1928, he allowed teams who had lost members to replace them halfway through the race.
Above all, Desgrange conducted a campaign against the sponsors, bicycle factories, which he was sure were undermining the spirit of a Tour de France of individuals. In 1930 he insisted that competitors ride plain yellow bicycles that he would provide, without a maker's name.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=30}}
===Teams===
====Touriste-routiers and regionals====
The first Tours were open to whoever wanted to compete. Most riders were in teams that looked after them. The private entrants were called ''touriste-routiers'' – tourists of the road – from 1923{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=23}} and were allowed to take part provided they make no demands on the organisers. Some of the Tour's most colourful characters have been touriste-routiers. One finished each day's race and then performed acrobatic tricks in the street to raise the price of a hotel.
There was no place for individuals in the post-1930s teams and so Desgrange created regional teams, generally from France, to take in riders who would not otherwise have qualified. The original touriste-routiers mostly disappeared but some were absorbed into regional teams.
====National teams====
The first Tours were for individuals and members of sponsored teams. There were two classes of race – one for the aces, the other for the rest – with different rules.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=13}} By the end of the 1920s, however, Desgrange believed he could not beat what he believed were the underhand tactics of bike factories.{{sfn|Maso|2003|p=50}}{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2006|p=84}} When the [[Alcyon]] team contrived to get [[Maurice De Waele]] to win even though he was sick,{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=30}} he said "My race has been won by a corpse" and in 1930 admitted only teams representing their country or region.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=30}}<ref>"Tour de France, 100 ans, 1903–2003", ''L'Équipe'', France, 2003, p182</ref>
National teams contested the Tour until 1961.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=55}} The teams were of different sizes. Some nations had more than one team and some were mixed in with others to make up the number. National teams caught the public imagination but had a snag: that riders might normally have been in rival trade teams the rest of the season. The loyalty of riders was sometimes questionable, within and between teams.
Sponsors were always unhappy about releasing their riders into anonymity for the biggest race of the year, as riders in national teams wore the colours of their country and a small cloth panel on their chest that named the team for which they normally rode. The situation became critical at the start of the 1960s. Sales of bicycles had fallen and bicycle factories were closing.{{sfn|Maso|2003|p=122}} There was a risk, the trade said, that the industry would die if factories were not allowed the publicity of the Tour de France.
====Return of trade teams====
The Tour returned to trade teams in 1962,{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=55}} although with further problems. Doping had become a problem and tests were introduced for riders. Riders went on strike near [[Bordeaux]] in 1966{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=59}}{{sfn|Nicholson|1991|p=50}} and the organisers suspected sponsors provoked them.
The Tour returned to national teams for 1967 and 1968{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=60}} as "an experiment".{{sfn|Maso|2003|p=126}} The author Geoffrey Nicholson identified a further reason: opposition to closure of roads by a race criticised as crassly commercial.{{sfn|Nicholson|1991|p=14}}{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=234}}
The Tour returned to trade teams in 1969{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=62}} with a suggestion that national teams could come back every few years. This never happened.
==Distances==
The Tour originally ran around the perimeter of France. Cycling was an endurance sport and the organisers realised the sales they would achieve by creating supermen of their competitors. Night riding was dropped after the second Tour in 1904, when there had been persistent cheating when judges could not see riders.{{sfn|Seray|2000|p=}} That reduced the daily and overall distance but the emphasis remained on endurance. Desgrange said his ideal race would be so hard that only one rider would make it to Paris.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://veloarchive.com/races/tour/1924.php |title=Veloarchive 1924: Le Tour de Souffrance|publisher=Veloarchive |date=15 August 2003 |accessdate=24 October 2009|author=Tom James}}</ref>
A succession of [[Use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport|doping]] scandals in the 1960s, culminating in the [[death of Tom Simpson]] in 1967, led the [[Union Cycliste Internationale]] to limit daily and overall distances and to impose rest days. It was then impossible to follow the frontiers, and the Tour increasingly zig-zagged across the country, sometimes with unconnected days' races linked by train, while still maintaining some sort of loop. The modern Tour typically has 21 daily stages and not more than {{convert|3500|km|mi|abbr=on}}. The shortest and longest Tours were {{convert|2428|and|5745|km|mi|abbr=on}} in 1904 and 1926, respectively.<ref name="Telegraph Tour Info"/><ref name="tourlength">{{Cite journal|title = Tour Honour Roll|journal = Ride Media 2007 Official Tour de France Guide, Australian Edition|pages =172, 200–201|year = 2007|url =}}</ref>
==Advertising caravan==
The Tour changed in 1930 to a competition largely between teams representing their countries rather than the companies that sponsored them. The costs of accommodating riders fell to the organisers instead of the sponsors and Henri Desgrange raised the money by allowing advertisers to precede the race.
The procession of often colourfully decorated trucks and cars became known as the publicity caravan. It formalised an existing situation, companies having started to follow the race. The first to sign to precede the Tour was the chocolate company, [[Menier Chocolate|Menier]], one of those who had followed the race. Its head of publicity, Paul Thévenin, had first put the idea to Desgrange.{{sfn|Thierry|Chany|2011|p=242}} It paid 50,000 old francs. Preceding the race was more attractive to advertisers because spectators gathered by the road long before the race or could be attracted from their houses. Advertisers following the race found that many who had watched the race had already gone home.
Menier handed out tons of chocolate in that first year of preceding the race, as well as 500,000 policemen's hats printed with the company's name. The success led to the caravan's existence being formalised the following year.
The caravan was at its height between 1930 and the mid-1960s, before television and especially television advertising was established in France. Advertisers competed to attract public attention. Motorcycle acrobats performed for the [[Cinzano]] apéritif company and a toothpaste maker, and an accordionist, Yvette Horner, became one of the most popular sights as she performed on the roof of a Citroën Traction Avant.<ref>Le Petit Bleu de Lot-et-Garonne, France, 20 July 2005</ref> The modern Tour restricts the excesses to which advertisers are allowed to go but at first anything was allowed. The writer Pierre Bost<ref group="n">Pierre Bost was a journalist and playwright known for the prolific film and stage scripts he wrote in the 1940s. He died in 1975.</ref> lamented: "This caravan of 60 gaudy trucks singing across the countryside the virtues of an apéritif, a make of underpants or a dustbin is a shameful spectacle. It bellows, it plays ugly music, it's sad, it's ugly, it smells of vulgarity and money."<ref>"Cette caravane de soixante camions barriolés qui chantent à travers la campagne les vertus d'un apéritif, d'un caleçon ou d'une boîte à ordures fait un honteux spectacle. Cela crie, cela fait de la sale musique, c'est laid, c'est triste, c'est bête, cela sue la vulgarité et l'argent." – Laget, Serge (1990), La Saga du Tour de France, Découvertes Gaillard, France, ISBN 978-2-07-053101-1. Legend says people in remote areas ran into their houses at the sight of a giant model black lion on the roof of a car promoting Lion Noir shoe polish in 1930.</ref>
Advertisers pay the Société du Tour de France approximately €150,000 to place three vehicles in the caravan.<ref name=autogenerated3>Le Tour Guide, France, 2000</ref> Some have more. On top of that come the more considerable costs of the commercial samples that are thrown to the crowd and the cost of accommodating the drivers and the staff—frequently students—who throw them. The vehicles also have to be decorated on the morning of each stage and, because they must return to ordinary highway standards, disassembled after each stage. Numbers vary but there are normally around 250 vehicles each year. Their order on the road is established by contract, the leading vehicles belonging to the largest sponsors.
The procession sets off two hours before the start and then regroups to precede the riders by an hour and a half. It spreads 20–25 km and takes 40 minutes to pass at between 20 and 60 km/h. Vehicles travel in groups of five. Their position is logged by [[GPS]] and from an aircraft and organised on the road by the caravan director—Jean-Pierre Lachaud<ref group="n">Jean-Pierre Lachaud joined the Tour de France caravan in 1983 to distribute publicity for Crédit Lyonnais, the bank that sponsors the yellow jersey. The experience led to his starting his own company, Newsport, which now administers the caravan for the Société du Tour de France</ref>—an assistant, three motorcyclists, two radio technicians and a breakdown and medical crew.<ref name=autogenerated3 /> Six motorcyclists from the Garde Républicaine, the élite of the gendarmerie, ride with them.<ref name=autogenerated7>GAN Spécial Tour de France, 1994</ref>
The advertisers distribute publicity material to the crowd. The number of items has been estimated at 11 million, each person in the procession giving out 3,000 to 5,000 items a day.<ref name=autogenerated3 /> A bank, GAN, gave out 170,000 caps, 80,000 badges, 60,000 plastic bags and 535,000 copies of its race newspaper in 1994. Together, they weighed 32 tons.<ref name=autogenerated7 />
Spectators have died in collisions with the caravan (see below).
==Organizers==
[[File:Jacques Goddet Memorial.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jacques Goddet]] memorial at the top of the [[Col du Tourmalet]]]]
The first organizer was Henri Desgrange, although daily running of the 1903 race was by Lefèvre. He followed riders by train and bicycle. In 1936 Desgrange had a prostate operation. At the time, two operations were needed; the Tour de France was due to fall between them. Desgrange persuaded his surgeon to let him follow the race.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} The second day proved too much and, in a fever at [[Charleville-Mézières|Charleville]], he retired to his château at Beauvallon. Desgrange died at home on the Mediterranean coast on 16 August 1940.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} The race was taken over by his deputy, [[Jacques Goddet]].<ref>''Tour de France, 100 ans, 1903–2003'', L'Équipe, France, 2003, p227</ref>
War interrupted the Tour. The German Propaganda Staffel wanted it to be run and offered facilities otherwise denied, in the hope of maintaining a sense of normality.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}}{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2006|p=}} They offered to open the borders between German-occupied France in the north and nominally independent [[Vichy France]] in the south but Goddet refused.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}}{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=}}
In 1944, ''L'Auto'' was closed – its doors nailed shut – and its belongings, including the Tour, sequestrated by the state for publishing articles too close to the Germans.<ref name="Liberation1">Libération, France, 4 July 2003.</ref> Rights to the Tour were therefore owned by the government. Jacques Goddet was allowed to publish another daily sports paper, ''L'Équipe'', but there was a rival candidate to run the Tour: a consortium of ''Sports'' and ''Miroir Sprint''. Each organised a candidate race. ''L'Équipe'' and ''Le Parisien Libéré'' had La Course du Tour de France<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cyclingrevealed.com/timeline/Race%20Snippets/TdF/TdF1940_46.htm |title=Cycling Revealed – Tour de France Timeline |publisher=Cyclingrevealed.com |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref> and ''Sports'' and ''Miroir Sprint'' had La Ronde de France. Both were five stages, the longest the government would allow because of shortages.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=}} ''L'Équipe'''s race was better organised and appealed more to the public because it featured national teams that had been successful before the war, when French cycling was at a high. ''L'Équipe'' was given the right to organise the [[1947 Tour de France]].{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}}
''L'Équipe'''s finances were never sound and Goddet accepted an advance by Émilion Amaury, who had supported his bid to run the post-war Tour.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} Amaury was a newspaper magnate whose condition was that his sports editor, [[Félix Lévitan]] should join Goddet for the Tour.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} The two worked together, Goddet running the sporting side and Lévitan the financial.
Lévitan began to recruit sponsors, sometimes accepting prizes in kind if he could not get cash.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=69}} He introduced the finish of the Tour at the Avenue des [[Champs-Élysées]] in 1975. He left the Tour on 17 March 1987 after losses by the Tour of America, in which he was involved. The claim was that it had been cross-financed by the Tour de France.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} Lévitan insisted he was innocent but the lock to his office was changed and his job was over.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} Goddet retired the following year. They were replaced in 1988 by Jean-Pierre Courcol, the director of ''L'Équipe'', then in 1989 by Jean-Pierre Carenso and then by [[Jean-Marie Leblanc]], who in 1989 had been race director. The former television presenter [[Christian Prudhomme]] — he commentated on the Tour among other events — replaced Leblanc in 2007, having been assistant director for three years.
Current race director Prudhomme works for the Société du Tour de France, a subsidiary of [[Amaury Sport Organisation]] (ASO), which since 1993 has been part of the media group [[Amaury Group]] that owns ''L'Équipe.''{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=87}} It employs around 70 people full-time, in an office facing but not connected to ''L'Équipe'' in the [[Issy-les-Moulineaux]] area of outer western Paris. That number expands to about 220 during the race itself, not including 500 contractors employed to move barriers, erect stages, signpost the route and other work.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=37}}
==Politics==
The first three Tours stayed within France. The 1906 race went into [[Alsace-Lorraine]], territory annexed by the [[German Empire]] in 1871 after the [[Franco-Prussian War]]. Passage was secured through a meeting at [[Metz]] between Desgrange's collaborator, Alphonse Steinès, and the German governor.
No teams from Italy, Germany or Spain rode in 1939 because of tensions preceding the [[Second World War]]. Henri Desgrange planned a Tour for 1940, after war had started but before France had been invaded. The route, approved by military authorities, included a route along the [[Maginot Line]].<ref name="The Bicycle, UK, 8 July 1943, p6">The Bicycle, UK, 8 July 1943, p6</ref> Teams would have been drawn from military units in France, including the British, who would have been organised by a journalist, Bill Mills.<ref name="The Bicycle, UK, 8 July 1943, p6"/> Then the Germans invaded and the race was not held again until 1947 (see [[Tour de France during the Second World War]]). The first German team after the war was in 1960, although individual Germans had ridden in mixed teams. The Tour has since started in Germany three times: in Cologne in 1965, in Frankfurt in 1980 and in West Berlin on the city's 750th anniversary in 1987. Plans to enter [[German Democratic Republic|East Germany]] that year were abandoned.
===Corsica===
Prior to 2013, the Tour de France had visited every region of [[Metropolitan France]] except [[Corsica]].<ref name=nouvelobs>{{cite web|url=http://leplus.nouvelobs.com/contribution/158813;la-corse-fait-elle-peur-au-tour-de-france.html |title=La Corse fait-elle peur au Tour de France ? – le Plus |publisher=Leplus.nouvelobs.com |accessdate=23 February 2012}}</ref> Jean-Marie Leblanc, when he was organiser, said the island had never asked for a stage start there. It would be difficult to find accommodation for 4,000 people, he said.<ref name=autogenerated2>L'Équipe Magazine, France, 23 October 2004</ref> The spokesman of the Corsican nationalist party [[Party of the Corsican Nation]], [[François Alfonsi]], said: "The organisers must be afraid of terrorist attacks.<ref group="n">Corsica has known periods of violent action attributed to those seeking separation from France.</ref> If they are really thinking of a possible terrorist action, they are wrong. Our movement, which is nationalist and in favour of self-government, would be delighted if the Tour came to Corsica."<ref name=autogenerated2 /> The opening three stages of the [[2013 Tour de France]] were held on Corsica as part of the celebrations for the 100th edition of the race.
==Prizes==
[[File:TdFPrizeMoney.png|thumb|300px|Prize money in Euros in the Tour de France, not corrected for inflation.]]
Prize money has always been awarded. From 20,000 old [[French franc|francs]] the first year,{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=300–304}}
prize money has increased each year, although from 1976 to 1987 the first prize was an apartment offered by a race sponsor. The first prize in 1988 was a car, a studio-apartment, a work of art and 500,000 francs in cash. Prizes only in cash returned in 1990.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=69–83}}
Prizes and bonuses are awarded for daily placings and final placings at the end of the race. In 2009, the winner received €450,000, while each of the 21 stage winners won €8,000 (€10,000 for the team time-trial stage). The winners of the points classification and mountains classification each win €25,000, the young rider competition and the combativity prize €20,000, and €50,000 for the winner of the [[team classification]] (calculated by adding the cumulative times of the best three riders in each team).<ref name="Letour Prix">{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/LIVE/us/reglements.html |title=Règlement de l'épreuve et Liste des prix |publisher=Letour.fr |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref>
The Souvenir [[Henri Desgrange]], in memory of the founder of the Tour, is awarded to the first rider over the col du Galibier where his monument stands,<ref name="Letour Prix"/> or to the first rider over the highest col in the Tour. A similar award is made at the summit of the col du Tourmalet, at the memorial to Jacques Goddet, Desgrange's successor.
==Classifications==
A few riders from each team aim to win overall but there are three further competitions to draw riders of all specialties: points, mountains, and a classification for young riders with general classification aspirations.<ref name="SL exp">{{cite web|url=http://www.sportinglife.com/other-sports/news/article/678/8788944/tour-de-france-jerseys-explained|title=Tour de France jerseys explained|date=1 July 2013 |accessdate=18 July 2013|work=sportinglife|publisher=British Sky Broadcasting Ltd}}</ref> The oldest of the four classifications is the general classification.<ref name="SL exp"/> The leader of each aforementioned classifications wears a distinctive jersey.<ref name="SL exp"/> If a rider leads more than one classification that awards, he wears the jersey of the most prestigious classification.<ref name="SL exp"/> The abandoned jersey is worn by the rider who is second in the competition.<ref name="SL exp"/>
===General classification===
{{Main|General classification in the Tour de France}}
{{See also|Yellow jersey statistics}}
[[File:Voigt Cancellara TDF 2010 Cambrai (cropped).JPG|thumb|upright|[[Fabian Cancellara]] pictured at the [[2010 Tour de France]]. He is the rider with the most yellow jerseys not to win the [[General classification in the Tour de France|general classification]] overall.]]
The oldest and most sought after classification in the Tour de France is the general classification.<ref name="SL exp"/><ref name="clasexp">{{cite web|url=http://www.roadcycling.co.nz/TourdeFrance/tour-de-france-demystified-part-1.html|title=Tour de France demystified — Evaluating success|first=Sarah|last=Christian|date=2 July 2009 |accessdate=18 July 2013|publisher=RoadCycling.co.nz Ltd}}</ref> All of the stages are timed to the finish.<ref name="clasexp"/> The riders' times are compounded with their previous stage times; so the rider with the lowest aggregate time is the leader of the race.<ref name="SL exp"/><ref name="clasexp"/> The leader is determined after each stage's conclusion. The leader of the race also has the privilege to wear the race leader's yellow jersey.<ref name="clasexp"/> The jersey is presented to the leader rider on a podium in the stage's finishing town. If a rider is leading more than one classification that awards a jersey, he will wear the maillot jaune since the general classification is the most important one in the race. The lead can change after each stage.<ref name="ASO">{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDF/LIVE/docs/reglement_2006_us.pdf|publisher=ASO/letour.fr|title=Regulations of the race|format=PDF|accessdate=28 September 2009}}</ref>
The Tour was not always determined by total time. After a scandal riddled [[1904 Tour de France|1904 edition]], the organizers chose to switch over to a point based system that awarded points to the riders based on their placings in each stage, and the rider with the lowest total of points after the Tour's conclusion was the winner. In [[1913 Tour de France|1913]] the organizers shifted to the system used nowadays, where riders would have their finishing times for each stage totaled together to determine the overall leader.<ref name="clasexp"/>
The leader in the [[1903 Tour de France|first Tour de France]] was awarded a yellow armband.{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=}} The color yellow was chosen as the magazine that created the Tour, ''[[L'Auto]]'', printed its newspapers on yellow paper. The yellow jersey was added to the race in the 1919 edition and it has since become a symbol of the Tour de France.<ref name="SL exp"/> The first rider to wear the yellow jersey was [[Eugène Christophe]]. Each team brings multiple yellow jerseys in advance of the Tour in case one of their riders becomes the overall leader of the race. Riders usually try to make the extra effort to keep the jersey for as long as possible in order to get more publicity for the team and the sponsor(s) of the team. [[Eddy Merckx]] has worn the yellow jersey for 96 stages, which is more than any other rider in the history of the Tour de France. Four riders have won the general classification five times in their career: [[Jacques Anquetil]], [[Eddy Merckx]], [[Bernard Hinault]], and [[Miguel Indurain]].
===Mountains classification===
{{Main|Mountains classification in the Tour de France}}
[[File:Richard Virenque - Tour de France 2003 - Alpe d'Huez (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Richard Virenque]] pictured at the [[2003 Tour de France]] wearing the polka dot jersey. He has won the [[Mountains classification in the Tour de France|mountains classification]] a record seven times.]]
The mountains classification is the second oldest jersey awarding classification in the Tour de France. The mountains classification was added to the Tour de France in the [[1933 Tour de France|1933 edition]] and was first won by [[Vicente Trueba]].<ref name="SL exp"/>{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=203}} Prizes for the classification were first awarded in [[1934 Tour de France|1934]].{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=203}} During stages of the race containing climbs, points are awarded to the rider who is first to reach the top of each categorized climb. Points are also awarded for riders who closely follow the leader up each climb. The number of points awarded varies according to the hill classification, which is determined by the steepness and length of that particular hill. The classification was preceded by the ''meilleur grimpeur'' ({{lang-en|best climber}}) which was awarded by the organising newspaper ''l'Auto'' to a cyclist who completed each race.
The climbers' jersey is worn by the rider who, at the start of each stage, has the largest amount of climbing points.<ref name="clasexp"/> If a rider leads two or more of the categories, the climbers' jersey is worn by the rider in second, or third, place in that contest. At the end of the Tour, the rider holding the most climbing points wins the classification. In fact, some riders, particularly those who are neither sprinters nor particularly good at time-trialing, may attempt only to win this particular competition within the race. The Tour has five categories for ranking the mountains the race covers. The scale ranges from category 4, the easiest, to hors catégorie, the hardest. The difficulty of a climb is established by its steepness, length and its position on the course. [[Richard Virenque]] has won the mountains classification a record seven times.
The classification awarded no jersey to the leader until the [[1975 Tour de France]], when the organizers decided to award a white jersey with red dots to the leader.<ref name="SL exp"/>{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=203}} The idea for the jersey came from race organizer Félix Lévitan who had seen a similar jersey at the [[Vélodrome d'Hiver]] in Paris in his youth.{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}} [[Thomas Voeckler]] won the mountains classification at the 2012 Tour de France. Nairo Quintana won the mountains classification in 2013.
The point distribution for the mountains is as follows:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/LIVE/us/reglements.html |title=Tour de France 2011 – Rules |publisher=Letour.fr |accessdate=23 February 2012}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan=2|Type||1st||2nd||3rd||4th||5th||6th||7th||8th||9th||10th
|-
|[[File:Mountainstage.svg]]||align=left|Hors catégorie||25||20||16||14||12||10||8||6||4||2
|-
|[[File:Mountainstage.svg]]||align=left|First Category||10||8||6||4||2||1|| || || ||
|-
|[[File:Mountainstage.svg]]||align=left|Second Category||5||3||2||1|| || || || || ||
|-
|[[File:Mediummountainstage.svg]]||align=left|Third Category||2||1|| || || || || || || ||
|-
|[[File:Mediummountainstage.svg]]||align=left|Fourth Category||1|| || || || || || || || ||
|}
*Points awarded are doubled for finishes that are of category two or above.
===Points classification===
{{Main|Points classification in the Tour de France}}
[[File:Alessandro Petacchi TDF 2010 Paris.JPG|thumb|right|[[Alessandro Petacchi]] in the [[Points classification in the Tour de France|green jersey]]]]
The points classification is the third oldest of the four jersey current awarding classifications in the Tour de France.<ref name="SL exp"/> It was introduced in the [[1953 Tour de France]] and was first won by [[Fritz Schär]]. The classification was added to draw the participation of the sprinters as well as celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Tour. Points are given to the rider who is first to reach the end of, or determined places during, any stage of the Tour. The point classification leader green jersey is worn by the rider who at the start of each stage, has the greatest number of points.<ref name="clasexp"/>
In the first years, the cyclist only received penalty points for not finishing with a high place, so the cyclist with the fewest points was awarded the green jersey. From 1959 on, the system was changed so the cyclists were awarded points for high place finishes (with first place getting the most points, and lower placings getting successively fewer points), so the cyclist with the most points was awarded the green jersey. Since, the amount of points awarded varies depending on the type of stage, with flat stages awarding the most points at the finish and time trials and high mountain stages awarding the least amount of points at the finish.<ref name="clasexp"/> The winner of the classification is the rider with the most points at the end of the Tour. In case of a tie, the leader is determined by the number of stage wins, then the number of intermediate sprint victories, and finally, the rider's standing in the general classification. The classification has been won a record six times by [[Erik Zabel]].<ref name="SL exp"/> The winner of the classification in [[2012 Tour de France|2012]] and 2013 was [[Peter Sagan|Peter Sagan (Slovakia)]].
The first year the points classification was used it was sponsored by La Belle Jardinière, a lawn mower producer, and the jersey was made green. In [[1968 Tour de France|1968]] the jersey was changed to red to please the sponsor.<ref>[http://www.cvccbike.com/tour/eddy/xtra_bestanden/green.htm Tour Xtra: Green Jersey<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> However, the color was changed back the following year. The current sponsor for the classification is Pari Mutuel Urbain, a state betting company.{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=203}}
In [[2011 Tour de France|2011]] the points system was altered and now stands as:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/COURSE/docs/reglement.pdf|publisher=ASO/letour.fr|title=Regulations of the race|accessdate=29 June 2011}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan=2|Type||1st||2nd||3rd||4th||5th||6th||7th||8th||9th||10th||11th||12th||13th||14th||15th
|-
|[[File:Plainstage.svg]]||Flat stage finish||45||35||30||26||22||20||18||16||14||12||10||8||6||4||2
|-
|[[File:Mediummountainstage.svg]]||Medium mountain stage finish||30||25||22||19||17||15||13||11||9||7||6||5||4||3||2
|-
|[[File:Mountainstage.svg]]||High mountain stage finish||20||17||15||13||11||10||9||8||7||6||5||4||3||2||1
|-
|[[File:History.gif|22px]]||Individual time trial||20||17||15||13||11||10||9||8||7||6||5||4||3||2||1
|-
| ||intermediate sprint||20||17||15||13||11||10||9||8||7||6||5||4||3||2||1
|}
===Young rider classification===
{{Main|Young rider classification in the Tour de France}}
[[File:Andy Schleck Tour de France 2009.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Andy Schleck]] in the [[Young rider classification in the Tour de France|white jersey]]]]
The leader of the classification is determined the same way as the general classification, with the riders' times being added up after each stage and the eligible rider with lowest aggregate time is dubbed the leader. The Young rider classification is restricted to the riders that are under the age of 26. Originally the classification was restricted neo-professionals - riders that are in their first three years of professional racing - until [[1983 Tour de France|1983]]. In 1983, the organizers made it so that only first time riders were eligible for the classification. In [[1987 Tour de France|1987]], the organizers changed the rules of the classification to what they are today.
This classification was added to the Tour de France in the [[1975 Tour de France|1975 edition]], with [[Francesco Moser]] being the first to win the classification after placing seventh overall. The Tour de France did award the white jersey that it does today between 1989 and 2000.<ref name="SL exp"/> The Tour de France awards a white jersey to the leader of the classification. Four riders have won both the young rider classification and the general classification in the same year: [[Laurent Fignon]] (1983), [[Jan Ullrich]] ([[1997 Tour de France|1997]]), [[Alberto Contador]] ([[2007 Tour de France|2007]]), and [[Andy Schleck]] (2010). Two riders have won the young rider classification three times in their respective careers: Jan Ullrich and Andy Schleck. In [[2013 Tour de France|2013]] it was won by [[Nairo Quintana]].
===Minor classifications===
The ''[[combativity award|prix de la combativité]]'' goes to the rider who most animates the day, usually by trying to break clear of the field. The most combative rider wears a number printed white-on-red instead of black-on-white next day. An award goes to the most aggressive rider throughout the Tour. Already in 1908 a sort of combativity award was offered, when ''Sports Populaires'' and ''L'Education Physique'' created ''Le Prix du Courage'', 100 francs and a silver gilt medal for "the rider having finished the course, even if unplaced, who is particularly distinguished for the energy he has used."{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=96}}{{sfn|Thompson|2008|p=40}} The modern competition started in 1958.{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=96}}{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=45}} In 1959, a Super Combativity award for the most combative cyclist of the Tour was awarded. It was initially not rewarded every year, but since 1981 it has been given annually.
The [[team classification]] is assessed by adding the time of each team's best three riders each day. The competition does not have its own jersey but since 2006 the leading team has worn numbers printed black-on-yellow. Until 1990, the leading team would wear yellow caps. As of 2012, the riders of the leading team wear yellow helmets.<ref>{{cite web|author=Simon_MacMichael on 1 July 2012 – 22:45 |url=http://road.cc/content/news/60789-team-skys-yellow-helmets-cause-kerfuffle-during-tour-de-france-stage-1 |title=Team Sky's yellow helmets cause a kerfuffle during Tour de France Stage 1 | road.cc | Road cycling news, Bike reviews, Commuting, Leisure riding, Sportives and more |publisher=road.cc |date=1 July 2012 |accessdate=9 July 2012}}</ref> The best national teams are France and Belgium, with 10 wins each.{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=203}} From 1973 up to 1988, there was also a team classification based on points (stage classification); members of the leading team would wear green caps.
===Historical classifications===
There has been an [[Intermediate sprints classification in the Tour de France|intermediate sprints classification]], which from 1984 awarded a red jersey{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=77}} for points awarded to the first three to pass intermediate points during the stage. These sprints also scored points towards the points classification and bonuses towards the general classification. The intermediate sprints classification with its red jersey was abolished in 1989,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3197171
|title=The Tour de France |accessdate=9 July 2007 |format=website |work=BBC H2G2}}</ref> but the intermediate sprints have remained, offering points for the points classification and, until 2007, time bonuses for the general classification.
From 1968 there was a [[Combination classification in the Tour de France|combination classification]],{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=61}} scored on a points system based on standings in the general, points and mountains classifications. The design was originally white, then a patchwork with areas resembling each individual jersey design. This was also abolished in 1989.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=83}}
===Lanterne rouge===
The rider who has taken most time is called the ''[[lanterne rouge]]'' (''red lantern, as in the red light at the back of a vehicle so it can be seen in the dark'') and in past years sometimes carried a small red light beneath his [[saddle]]. Such was sympathy that he could command higher fees in the races that previously followed the Tour. In 1939 and 1948 the organisers excluded the last rider every day, to encourage more competitive racing.<ref group="n">Jacques Goddet said in his autobiography that teams were using the rule to eliminate rivals. A rider in last position knew he would be disqualified at the end of the stage. If he dropped out before or during the stage, another competitor became the last and he would leave the race as well. That weakened a rival team, which now had fewer helpers.</ref>
==Stages==
===Mass-start stages===
[[File:Tour de France 2006.JPG|thumb|A collected peloton in the [[2006 Tour de France]]]]
Riders in most stages start together. The first kilometres, the ''départ fictif'', are a rolling start without racing. The real start, the ''départ réel'' is announced by the Tour director waving a white flag. Riders are permitted to touch, but not push or nudge, each other. The first to cross the stage finish line wins the stage.
All riders in a group finish in the same time as the lead rider. This avoids dangerous mass sprints. It is not unusual for the entire field to finish in a group, taking time to cross the line but being credited with the same time. Since 2005, when riders fall or crash within the final 3 kilometres of a stage with a flat finish, they are awarded the same time as the group they were in.<ref>{{cite web |title=2006 Regulations of the Race and Prize Money |publisher=Amaury Sport Organisation |work=Tour de France regulations |url=http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDF/LIVE/docs/reglement_2006_us.pdf|accessdate=9 July 2007 |format=PDF}}</ref> This change encourages riders to sprint to the finish for points awards without fear of losing time to the group. The final kilometre has been indicated since 1906 by a red triangle – the ''flamme rouge'' – above the road.
Time bonuses for the first three at intermediate sprints and stage finishes were discontinued with the 2008 race.
Stages in the mountains often cause major shifts in the general classification. On ordinary stages, most riders can stay in the peloton to the finish; during mountain stages, it is not uncommon for riders to lose 30 minutes or to be eliminated after finishing outside the time limit.
The first photo-finish was in 1955.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=48}}
===Individual time trials===
[[File:Bradley Wiggins Tour 2012 EZF.jpg|thumb|right|[[Bradley Wiggins]] riding the [[2012 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 10#Stage 9|stage 9]] [[individual time trial]] of the [[2012 Tour de France]]]]
Riders in a time trial compete individually against the clock, each starting at a different time. The first time trial was between La Roche-sur-Yon and Nantes (80 km) in 1934.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=34}} The first stage in modern Tours is often a short trial, a ''prologue'', to decide who wears yellow on the opening day. The first prologue was in 1967.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=60}} The 1988 event, at La Baule, was called "la préface".{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=81}}
There are usually two or three time trials. One may be a [[team time trial]]. The final time trial has sometimes been the final stage, more recently often the penultimate stage.
The launch ramp, a sloping start pad for riders, was first used in 1965, at Cologne.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=58}}
===Team time trial===
A team [[time trial]] (TTT) is a race against the clock in which each team rides alone. The time is that of the fifth rider of each team: riders more than a bike-length behind their team's fifth rider are awarded their own times. The TTT has been criticised for favouring strong teams and handicapping strong riders in weak teams. After a four-year absence, the TTT returned in [[2009 Tour de France|2009]] but was not included in 2010. It was reintroduced into the 2011 Tour.
The prologue stage in [[1971 Tour de France|1971]] was a team time trial.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=60}} The [[1939 Tour de France|1939]] TTT crossed the Iseran mountain pass between Bonneval and Bourg-St-Maurice.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=39}}
===Notable stages===
[[File:L'Alp-d'Huez.JPG|thumb|Altitude profile of the [[Alpe d'Huez]] climb]]
The race has finished since 1975 with [[Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France|laps of the Champs-Élysées]]. This stage rarely challenges the leader because it is flat and the leader usually has too much time in hand to be denied. But in 1987, [[Pedro Delgado]] broke away on the Champs to challenge the 40-second lead held by [[Stephen Roche]]. He and Roche finished in the peloton and Roche won the Tour. In modern times, there tends to be a gentlemen's agreement: while the points classification is still contended if possible, the overall classification is not fought over; because of this, it is not uncommon for the de facto winner of the overall classification to ride into Paris holding a glass of champagne.
In 1989 the last stage was a time trial. [[Greg LeMond]] overtook [[Laurent Fignon]] to win by eight seconds, the closest margin in the Tour's history.
The climb of [[Alpe d'Huez]] is a favourite, providing either a mass-start or individual time trial stage in most Tours. During the [[2004 Tour de France]], for example, Alpe d'Huez was the scene of an epic 15.5 km mountain time trial on the 16th stage. While the TV spectacle was overwhelming, the riders complained of abusive spectators who threatened their progress up the climb, and the time-trial on this stage may not be repeated.<ref>{{cite news
|title =Tour de France Letters Special – 23 July 2004
|publisher = CyclingNews
|date =23 July 2004
|url =http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/tour04.php?id=letters/2004/jul23tourletters#Fan
|accessdate =27 May 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
|last =Maloney
|first =Tim
|title =Stage 16 – 21 July: Bourg d'Oisans – Alpe d'Huez ITT, 15.5 km; Sign of the times: Armstrong dominates on l'Alpe d'Huez
|publisher = CyclingNews
|date = 21 July 2004
| url =http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2004/tour04/?id=results/stage16
|accessdate =27 May 2007}}</ref> [[Mont Ventoux#Tour de France|Mont Ventoux]] is often claimed to be the hardest in the Tour because of the harsh conditions. Another notable mountain stage frequently featured during the Tour climbs the [[Col du Tourmalet#Tour de France|Col du Tourmalet]]. [[Col du Galibier]] is the most visited mountain in the Tour. The [[2011 Tour de France]] stage to Galibier marked the 100th anniversary of the mountain in the Tour and also boasted the highest finish altitude ever: 2,645 m.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/COURSE/us/le_galibier.html |title=Tour de France 2011 – The Galibier 1911–2011 |publisher=Letour.fr |date=10 July 1911 |accessdate=23 February 2012}}</ref> Some mountain stages have become memorable because of the weather. An example is a stage in [[1996 Tour de France]] from [[Val-d'Isère]] to [[Sestriere]]. A snowstorm at the start area led to a shortening of the stage from 190 to just 46 km.
To host a stage start or finish brings prestige and business to a town. The prologue and first stage are particularly prestigious. Usually one town will host the prologue (too short to go between towns) and the start of stage 1. In 2007 director [[Christian Prudhomme]] said that "in general, for a period of five years we have the Tour start outside France three times and within France twice."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://provenceblog.typepad.com/provence_blog_by_provence/2007/06/tour-de-france-.html |title=Provence Blog by ProvenceBeyond: Tour de France starting in Monaco |publisher=Provenceblog.typepad.com |accessdate=4 November 2008}}</ref>
==The start and finish of the Tour==
Most stages are in mainland France, although since the 1960s it has become common to visit nearby countries:{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=149}} Andorra, Belgium, England, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland have all hosted stages or part of a stage. Austria, Qatar and Scotland have expressed an interest in hosting future starts.{{citation needed|date=January 2012}} Stages can be flat, undulating or mountainous. Since 1975 the finish has been on the [[Champs-Élysées]] in Paris; from 1903 to 1967 the race finished at the [[Parc des Princes]] stadium in western Paris and from 1968 to 1974 at the [[Vélodrome de Vincennes|Piste Municipale]] south of the capital.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=61}} Yorkshire has been announced as the host for the first two stages of the Tour de France 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.com/le-tour/2013/us/grand-depart-2014.html |title=Grand Départ in Yorkshire for 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Pidd|first=Helen|title=2014 to be held in Yorkshire|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jan/17/tour-de-france-yorkshire|accessdate=28 May 2013|newspaper=The Guardian|date=17 January 2014|location=London}}</ref>
===Starts abroad===
<ref>http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/12/tour-de-france/foreign-grand-tour-starts-are-big-business_269064</ref>
'''1954''' Amsterdam, Netherlands
'''1958''' Brussels, Belgium
'''1965''' Cologne, Germany
'''1973''' Scheveningen, Netherlands
'''1975''' Charleroi, Belgium
'''1978''' Leiden, Netherlands
'''1980''' Frankfurt, Germany
'''1982''' Basel, Switzerland
'''1987''' West Berlin, West Germany
'''1989''' Luxembourg
'''1992''' San Sebastián, Spain
'''1996''' ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
'''1998''' Dublin, Republic of Ireland
'''2002''' Luxembourg
'''2004''' Liège, Belgium
'''2007''' London, United Kingdom
'''2009''' Monte Carlo, Monaco
'''2010''' Rotterdam, Netherlands
'''2012''' Liège, Belgium
'''2014''' Leeds, United Kingdom
==Broadcasting==
The Tour was first followed only by journalists from ''L'Auto'', the organisers. The race was founded to increase sales of a floundering newspaper and its editor, Desgrange, saw no reason to allow rival publications to profit.
The first time papers other than ''L'Auto'' were allowed was 1921, when 15 press cars were allowed for regional and foreign reporters.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=21}}
The Tour was shown first on cinema newsreels a day or more after the event. The first live radio broadcast was in 1929, when Jean Antoine and Alex Virot of the newspaper ''L'Intransigeant'' broadcast for Radio Cité. They used telephone lines. In 1932 they broadcast the sound of riders crossing the col d'Aubisque in the Pyrenees on 12 July, using a recording machine and transmitting the sound later.
The first television pictures were shown a day after a stage. The national TV channel used two 16mm cameras, a Jeep and a motorbike. Film was flown or taken by train to Paris. It was edited there and shown the following day.
The first live broadcast, and the second of any sport in France, was the finish at the Parc des Princes in Paris on 25 July 1948.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=134}} [[Rik van Steenbergen]] of Belgium led in the bunch after a stage of 340 km from [[Nancy, France|Nancy]]. The first live coverage from the side of the road was from the Aubisque on 8 July 1958. Proposals to cover the whole race were abandoned in 1962 after objections from regional newspapers whose editors feared the competition.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=136}} The dispute was settled but not in time and the first complete coverage was the following year.
The leading television commentator in France was a former rider, [[Robert Chapatte]]. At first he was the only commentator. He was joined in following seasons by an analyst for the mountain stages and by a commentator following the competitors by motorcycle.
Broadcasting in France was largely a state monopoly until 1982, when the [[Socialist Party (France)|socialist]] president [[François Mitterrand]] allowed private broadcasters and privatised the leading television channel. Competition between channels raised the broadcasting fees paid to the organisers from 1.5 per cent of the race budget in 1960 to more than a third by the end of the century.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=117}} Broadcasting time also increased as channels competed to secure the rights. The two largest channels to stay in public ownership, [[Antenne 2]] and [[FR3]], combined to offer more coverage than its private rival, [[TF1]]. The two stations, renamed France 2 and France 3, still hold the domestic rights and provide pictures for broadcasters around the world.
The stations use a staff of 300 with four helicopters, two aircraft, two motorcycles, 35 other vehicles including trucks, and 20 podium cameras.<ref group="n">A podium camera is not one focused on the winner's podium but a full-scale camera on a mount, or podium.</ref>
Domestic television covers the most important stages of the Tour, such as those in the mountains, from mid-morning until early evening. Coverage typically starts with a survey of the day's route, interviews along the road, discussions of the difficulties and tactics ahead, and a 30-minute archive feature. The biggest stages are shown live from start to end, followed by interviews with riders and others and features such an edited version of the stage seen from beside a team manager following and advising riders from his car.
Radio covers the race in updates throughout the day, particularly on the national news channel, [[France Info]], and some stations provide continuous commentary on long wave. Other countries broadcast the Tour, including the United States, which has shown the Tour since 1999 on [[NBCSN]].
The combination of unprecedented rigorous doping controls and almost no positive tests helped restore fans' confidence in the 2009 Tour de France. This led directly to an increase in global popularity of the event. The most watched stage of 2009 was stage 20, from Montélimar to Mont Ventoux in Provence, with a global total audience of 44 million, making it the 12th most watched sporting event in the world in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://initiative.com/sites/default/files/ViewerTrack_2010.pdf |title=ViewerTrack, The most watched TV sporting events of 2009}}</ref>
==Culture==
[[File:Didi Senft-Einzelzeitfahren-Deutschlandtour 2005.jpg|thumb|left|Part of the crowd during most days of the Tour is [[Didi Senft]] who, in a red [[devil]] costume, has been the Tour devil since 1993.]]
The Tour is important for fans in Europe. Millions<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gofrance.about.com/od/tourdefrance/ss/06tourdefrance_2.htm |title=Tour de France Facts, Figures and Trivia |publisher=Gofrance.about.com |accessdate=4 November 2008}}</ref> line the route, some having camped a week to get the best view.
The Tour de France appealed from the start not just for the distance and its demands but because it played to a wish for national unity,{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=67}} a call to what [[Maurice Barrès]] called the France "of earth and deaths" or what Georges Vigarello called "the image of a France united by its earth."<ref>''L'image d'une France unifiée par le sol'', Vigarello, Georges, Le Tour de France, p3807, cited Boeuf, p67</ref>
[[File:G.Bruno01.jpg|right|thumb|School book by Augustine Fouillée under the 'nom de plume' G. Bruno.]]
The image had been started by the 1877 travel/school book ''[[Le Tour de la France par deux enfants]]''.<ref group="n">A school book written by Augustine Fouillée under the name G. Bruno and published in 1877, it sold six million by 1900, seven million by 1914 and 8,400,000 by 1976. It was used in schools until the 1950s and is still available.</ref> It told of two boys, André and Julien, who "in a thick September fog left the town of Phalsbourg in [[Lorraine (region)|Lorraine]] to see France at a time when few people had gone far beyond their nearest town."
The book sold six million copies by the time of the first Tour de France,{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=67}} the biggest selling book of 19th century France (other than the Bible).<ref>[http://oyc.yale.edu/history/france-since-1871/content/transcripts/transcript-9-general-boulanger-and-captain-dreyfus France Since 1871: Lecture 9 Transcript], by [[John M. Merriman]], [[Open Yale Courses]], 3 October 2007.</ref> It stimulated a national interest in France, making it "visible and alive", as its preface said. There had already been a car race called the Tour de France but it was the publicity behind the cycling race, and Desgrange's drive to educate and improve the population,{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=70}} that inspired the French to know more of their country.{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=74}}
The academic historians Jean-Luc Boeuf and Yves Léonard say most people in France had little idea of the shape of their country until ''L'Auto'' began publishing maps of the race.{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=75-76}}
===Arts===
The Tour has inspired several popular songs in France, notably ''P'tit gars du Tour'' (1932), ''Les Tours de France'' (1936) and ''Faire le Tour de France'' (1950). [[Kraftwerk]] had a hit with [[Tour de France (song)|Tour de France]] in 1983 – described as a minimalistic "melding of man and machine"<ref name="kraftwerk">Chris Jones, [http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/classicpop/reviews/kraftwerk_france.shtml Kraftwerk, Tour De France Soundtracks], ''[[BBC]]'', 4 August 2003</ref> – and produced an album, ''[[Tour de France Soundtracks]]'' in 2003, the centenary of the Tour.
The Tour and its first Italian winner, [[Ottavio Bottecchia]], are mentioned at the end of [[Ernest Hemingway]]'s ''[[The Sun Also Rises]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gilhaney.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/a-splendid-thing/|title=A splendid thing|date=16 November 2009}}</ref>
In films, the Tour was background for ''Cinq Tulipes Rouges'' (1949) by Jean Stelli, in which five riders are murdered. A burlesque in 1967, ''Les Cracks'' by Alex Joffé, with Bourvil et Monique Tarbès, also featured him. Patrick Le Gall made ''Chacun son Tour'' (1996). The comedy, ''Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert'' (2001), featured the Tour of 1974.
In 2005, three films chronicled a team. The German ''Höllentour'', translated as ''[[Hell on Wheels (2004 film)|Hell on Wheels]]'', recorded 2003 from the perspective of [[Team Columbia|Team Telekom]]. The film was directed by Pepe Danquart, who won an Academy Award for live-action short film in 1993 for ''Black Rider'' (''Schwarzfahrer'').<ref>{{cite news
|title =Blood, sweat and gears
|work=Sydney Morning Herald
|date =27 May 2005
|url =http://www.smh.com.au/news/Film/Blood-sweat-and-gears/2005/05/26/1116950807781.html
|accessdate =27 May 2007}}</ref> The Danish film ''Overcoming'' by Tómas Gislason recorded the 2004 Tour from the perspective of [[Team CSC]].
'''Wired to Win''' chronicles [[Française des Jeux (cycling team)|Française des Jeux]] riders [[Baden Cooke]] and Jimmy Caspar in 2003. By following their quest for the points classification, won by Cooke, the film looks at the working of the brain. The film, made for IMAX theaters, appeared in December 2005. It was directed by Bayley Silleck, who was nominated for an Academy Award for documentary short subject in 1996 for ''[[Cosmic Voyage]]''.<ref>{{cite news
|title ="Wired" is winning tour of race, brain
|work=BOSTON GLOBE
|date =30 December 2005
|url =http://www.boston.com/movies/display?display=movie&id=8598
|accessdate =11 July 2008
| first=Wesley
| last=Morris}}</ref>
A fan, Scott Coady, followed the 2000 Tour with a handheld video camera to make ''The Tour Baby!'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thetourbaby.com/ |title=thetourbaby.com |publisher=thetourbaby.com |date= |accessdate=29 June 2013}}</ref> which raised $160,000 to benefit the [[Lance Armstrong Foundation]],<ref>{{cite web
|last =Melvin
|first =Ian
|title =The Tour Baby!
|publisher =RoadCycling.com
|date =8 October 2004
|url =http://www.roadcycling.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/4/874
|accessdate =27 May 2007}}</ref> and made a 2005 sequel, ''Tour Baby Deux!''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tourbabydeuxmovie.com/ |title=tourbabydeuxmovie.com |publisher=tourbabydeuxmovie.com |date= |accessdate=29 June 2013}}</ref>
''Vive Le Tour'' by [[Louis Malle]] is an 18-minute short of 1962. The 1965 Tour was filmed by [[Claude Lelouch]] in ''Pour un Maillot Jaune''. This 30-minute documentary has no narration and relies on sights and sounds of the Tour.
In fiction, the 2001 animated feature ''Les Triplettes de Belleville'' (''[[The Triplets of Belleville]]'') ties into the Tour de France.
===Post-Tour criteriums===
After the Tour de France there are [[criterium]]s in the [[Netherlands]], [[Belgium]] and [[Germany]]. These races are public spectacles where thousands of people can see their ''heroes'', from the Tour de France, race. The budget of a criterium is over 100.000 Euro, with most of the money going to the riders. Jersey winners or big name riders earn between 20 and 60 thousand euros per race in start money.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftp.cyclingnews.com/features/?id=post_tour_crits |title=Fixed for the fans - the post-TdF criteriums |publisher=cyclingnews.com |accessdate=21 May 2013}}</ref>
==Doping==
{{Main|Doping at the Tour de France}}
{{See also|Festina affair|Floyd Landis doping case|Doping at the 2007 Tour de France}}
[[File:Tour de Doping.jpg|thumb|left|Spectators' banner during the [[2006 Tour de France]]]]
Allegations of [[Use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport|doping]] have plagued the Tour almost since 1903. Early riders consumed [[ethanol|alcohol]] and used [[diethyl ether|ether]], to dull the pain. Over the years they began to increase performance and the [[Union Cycliste Internationale]] and governments enacted policies to combat the practice.
In 1924, [[Henri Pélissier]] and his brother [[Charles Pélissier|Charles]] told the journalist [[Albert Londres]] they used [[strychnine]], [[cocaine]], [[chloroform]], [[aspirin]], "horse ointment" and other drugs.<ref>''Tour de France, 100 ans, 1903–2003'', L'Équipe, France 2003, p149</ref> The story was published in ''[[Le Petit Parisien]]'' under the title ''Les Forçats de la Route'' ('The Convicts of the Road'){{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=}}{{sfn|de Mondenard|2003|p=}}<ref name="abcc01">{{cite web|url=http://www.abcc.co.uk/Articles/DrgsTdeF.html |title=Association of British Cycling Coaches (ABCC), Drugs and the Tour De France by Ramin Minovi |publisher=ABCC |date=1 June 1965 |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref>{{sfn|Moore|2011|p=145}}
On 13 July 1967, British cyclist [[Tom Simpson]] died climbing [[Mont Ventoux]] after taking [[amphetamine]]. In 1998, the "Tour of Shame", [[Willy Voet]], [[soigneur]] for the [[Festina]] team, was arrested with [[erythropoietin]] (EPO), [[growth hormone]]s, [[testosterone]] and amphetamine. Police raided team hotels and found products in the possession of the cycling team [[TVM (cycling team)|TVM]]. Riders went on strike. After mediation by director [[Jean-Marie Leblanc]], police limited their tactics and riders continued. Some riders had abandoned and only 96 finished the race. It became clear in a trial that management and health officials of the Festina team had organised the doping.
Further measures were introduced by race organisers and the [[Union Cycliste Internationale|UCI]], including more frequent testing and tests for [[blood doping]] ([[blood transfusion|transfusions]] and [[erythropoietin|EPO]] use). This would lead the UCI to becoming a particularly interested party in an [[International Olympic Committee]] initiative, the [[World Anti-Doping Agency]] (WADA), created in 1999. In 2002, the wife of [[Raimondas Rumšas]], third in the [[2002 Tour de France]], was arrested after [[erythropoietin|EPO]] and [[anabolic steroids]] were found in her car. Rumšas, who had not failed a test, was not penalised. In 2004, [[Philippe Gaumont]] said doping was endemic to his [[Cofidis]] team. Fellow Cofidis rider [[David Millar]] confessed to [[erythropoietin|EPO]] after his home was raided. In the same year, [[Jesus Manzano]], a rider with the Kelme team, alleged he had been forced by his team to use banned substances.<ref>{{cite news
|title =Ex-Kelme rider promises doping revelations
|publisher =VeloNews
|date =20 March 2004
|url =http://velonews.com/article/5743
|accessdate =27 May 2007}}</ref>
Doping controversy has surrounded [[Lance Armstrong]]. In August 2005, one month after Armstrong's seventh consecutive victory, ''L'Équipe'' published documents it said showed Armstrong had used EPO in the 1999 race.<ref>L'Équipe, France, 23 August 2005, p1</ref><ref>{{cite news
|title =''L'Équipe'' alleges Armstrong samples show EPO use in 99 Tour
|publisher =VeloNews
|date =23 August 2005
|url =http://velonews.com/article/8740
|accessdate =27 May 2007}}</ref> At the same Tour, Armstrong's urine showed traces of a glucocorticosteroid hormone, although below the positive threshold. He said he had used skin cream containing [[triamcinolone]] to treat [[saddle sores]].<ref>{{cite news
|title =Armstrong's journey : Tour leader rides from Texas plains to Champs-Elysees
|publisher = CNN Sports Illustrated
|date =22 July 2000
|url =http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/cycling/2000/tour_de_france/news/2000/07/22/amstrong_journey_ap/
|accessdate =27 May 2007}}</ref> Armstrong said he had received permission from the UCI to use this cream.{{sfn|Armstrong|Jenkins|2001|p=}} [[History of Lance Armstrong doping allegations|Further allegations]] ultimately culminated in the United States Anti Doping Agency ([[USADA]]) disqualifying him from all his victories since 1 August 1998, including his seven consecutive Tour de France victories, and a lifetime ban from competing in professional sports.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usada.org/media/sanction-armstrong8242012 |title=Lance Armstrong Receives Lifetime Ban And Disqualification Of Competitive Results For Doping Violations Stemming From His Involvement In The United States Postal Service Pro-Cycling Team Doping Conspiracy |publisher=U.S. Anti-Doping Agency|date= |accessdate=29 June 2013}}</ref> He chose not to appeal the decision and in January 2013 he admitted doping in a television interview conducted by [[Oprah Winfrey]],<ref>{{cite news|author=15 January 2013, 4:05 PM |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-400_162-57563952/lance-armstrong-tells-oprah-he-doped-to-win/ |title=Lance Armstrong tells Oprah he doped to win |publisher=CBS News |date=15 January 2013 |accessdate=29 June 2013}}</ref> despite having made repeated denials throughout his career.<ref name="ArmstrongNYTimes">{{cite news|title=In Reversal, Armstrong Is Said to Weigh Admitting Drug Use|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/sports/cycling/lance-armstrong-said-to-weigh-admission-of-doping.html?emc=na&_r=0|publisher=New York Times|accessdate=5 January 2013|first=Juliet|last=Macur|date=4 January 2013}}</ref><ref name="Armstrongcbsnews1">{{cite news|title=Atty. denies report Lance Armstrong will admit doping|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-400_162-57562227/atty-denies-report-lance-armstrong-will-admit-doping/|publisher=CBS News|accessdate=5 January 2013}}</ref> On 1 August 2013, [[Jan Ullrich]]—arguably Armstrong's biggest Tour de France rival—reportedly said that Armstrong should have his seven stripped wins reinstated, due to the prevalence of doping at the time. Ullrich had won the [[1997 Tour de France|1997 Tour]] and finished second to Armstrong three times—in [[2000 Tour de France|2000]], [[2001 Tour de France|2001]] and [[2003 Tour de France|2003]]—but declined to stake a claim for his rival's stripped titles.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://espn.go.com/sports/endurance/story/_/id/9527824/jan-ullrich-says-lance-armstrong-get-tour-de-france-titles-back|title=Jan Ullrich supports Lance|work=[[Associated Press]]|publisher=[[ESPN]]|date=1 August 2013|accessdate=17 October 2013}}</ref>
The [[2006 Tour de France|2006 Tour]] had been plagued by the [[Operación Puerto doping case]] before it began. Favourites such as [[Jan Ullrich]] and [[Ivan Basso]] were banned by their teams a day before the start. Seventeen riders were implicated. American rider [[Floyd Landis]], who finished the Tour as holder of the overall lead, had tested positive for [[testosterone]] after he won stage 17, but this was not confirmed until some two weeks after the race finished. On 30 June 2008 Landis lost his appeal to the [[Court of Arbitration for Sport]], and [[Óscar Pereiro]] was named as winner.<ref>{{cite news
|title = Landis loses appeal, must forfeit Tour de France title
|work=Houston Chronicle
|date =30 June 2008
|url = http://www.chron.com/disp/commnts.mpl/sports/5863703.html
|accessdate =30 June 2008}}</ref>
On 24 May 2007, [[Erik Zabel]] admitted using EPO during the first week of the 1996 Tour,<ref>{{cite news
|first=Susan
|last= Westemeyer
|title= Zabel and Aldag confess EPO usage
|url=http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/may07/may24news2
|publisher=CyclingNews
|date=24 May 2007
|accessdate=27 May 2007}}</ref> when he won the points classification. Following his plea that other cyclists admit to drugs, former winner [[Bjarne Riis]] admitted in [[Copenhagen]] on 25 May 2007 that he used EPO regularly from 1993 to 1998, including when he won the 1996 Tour.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aG.4N3TyZIVM&refer=europe
|title=Riis, Tour de France Champ, Says He Took Banned Drugs
|publisher=Bloomberg
|date=25 May 2007
|accessdate=26 May 2007}}</ref> His admission meant the top three in 1996 were all linked to doping, two admitting cheating. On 24 July 2007 [[Alexander Vinokourov]] tested positive for a blood transfusion ([[blood doping]]) after winning a time trial, prompting his Astana team to pull out and police to raid the team's hotel.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/24/AR2007072400938.html Astana Pulls Out of Tour de France] Washington Post. 24 July 2007.</ref> The next day [[Cristian Moreni]] tested positive for [[testosterone]]. His Cofidis team pulled out.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/6915683.stm BBC.co.uk] – Tour hit by second doping result</ref>
The same day, leader [[Michael Rasmussen]] was removed for "violating internal team rules" by missing random tests on 9 May and 28 June. Rasmussen claimed to have been in Mexico. The Italian journalist [[Davide Cassani]] told Danish television he had seen Rasmussen in Italy. The alleged lying prompted his firing by Rabobank.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=aIr0zYGwnFr8&refer=home |title=Rasmussen, Tour de France Leader, Is Expelled by Team |publisher=Bloomberg |date=26 July 2007 |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref>
On 11 July 2008 [[Manuel Beltrán]] tested positive for EPO after the first stage.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j99v8lGDDLVr7JnBjqOPuu0iupiwD91RQJG01 |title=Doping agency: Beltran positive for EPO |accessdate=7 November 2008 |agency=Associated Press |publisher=google}}{{Dead link|date=November 2008}}</ref> On 17 July 2008, [[Riccardo Riccò]] tested positive for [[Methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta|continuous erythropoiesis receptor activator]], a variant of EPO,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/7511518.stm |title=BBC SPORT | Other sport ... | Tour 'winning war against doping' |publisher=News.bbc.co.uk |date=Page last updated at 18:30 GMT, Thursday, 17 July 2008 19:30 UK |accessdate=4 November 2008}}</ref> after the fourth stage. In October 2008, it was revealed that Riccò's teammate and [[2008 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11#Stage 10|Stage 10]] winner [[Leonardo Piepoli]], as well as [[Stefan Schumacher]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/oct08/oct07news |title=Piepoli and Schumacher Tour de France samples positive for CERA |publisher=Autobus.cyclingnews.com |date=7 October 2008 |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref> – who won both time trials – and [[Bernhard Kohl]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/oct08/oct14news |title=Kohl positive confirmed |publisher=Autobus.cyclingnews.com |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref> – third on general classification and King of the Mountains – had tested positive.
After winning the [[2010 Tour de France]], it was announced that [[Alberto Contador]] had tested positive for low levels of [[clenbuterol]] on the 21 July rest day.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/09/news/contador-tests-positive-for-clenbuterol_143791 |title=Contador tests positive for low levels of clenbuterol |publisher=VeloNews.competitor.com |date=Page last updated 30 September 2010 4:23 pm UTC |accessdate=7 July 2011}}</ref> On 26 January 2011, the [[RFEC|Spanish Cycling Federation]] proposed a 1-year ban<ref>{{cite web|url=http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/01/news/spanish-federation-proposes-one-year-ban-for-contador_157185 |title=Spanish federation proposes one-year suspension for Contador |publisher=VeloNews.competitor.com |date=Page last updated 27 January 2011 12:59 pm UTC |accessdate=7 July 2011}}</ref> but reversed its ruling on 15 February and cleared Contador to race.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/02/news/it%E2%80%99s-official-spanish-fed-clears-contador_159920 |title=Spanish fed clears Alberto Contador, Contador plans to start Algarve |publisher=VeloNews.competitor.com |date=Page last updated 15 February 2011 1:30 pm UTC |accessdate=7 July 2011}}</ref> Despite a pending appeal by the [[Union Cycliste Internationale|UCI]], Contador finished 5th overall in the [[2011 Tour de France]], but in February 2012, Contador was suspended and stripped of his 2010 victory.<ref name="cascontador">{{cite news|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cas-sanction-contador-with-two-year-ban-in-clenbuterol-case|title=CAS sanctions Contador with two-year ban in clenbutorol case|date=6 February 2012|accessdate=6 February 2012|publisher=Future Publishing Limited|work=Cyclingnews}}</ref>
During the 2012 Tour, the 3rd placed rider from 2011, [[Frank Schleck]] tested positive for the banned diuretic Xipamide and was immediately disqualified from the Tour.<ref>{{cite news|title=Disgraced Schleck will miss Tour de France after failing drug test during last year's race|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2270898/Frank-Schleck-miss-Tour-France-failing-drug-test-years-race.html#axzz2JfEkYvH8|accessdate=1 February 2013 | location=London|work=Daily Mail|first=David|last=Kent|date=30 January 2013}}</ref>
In October 2012 [[USADA]] released a report on doping by the [[U.S. Postal Service cycling team]], implicating, amongst others, Armstrong. The report contained affidavits from riders including [[Frankie Andreu]], [[Tyler Hamilton]], [[George Hincapie]], [[Floyd Landis]], [[Levi Leipheimer]], and others describing wide spread use of [[Erythropoietin]] (EPO), blood transfusion, testosterone, and other banned practices in several Tours.<ref>[http://cyclinginvestigation.usada.org/ U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team Investigation], USADA, 2012 October, retr 2012 10 14</ref> In October 2012 the UCI acted upon this report, formally stripping Armstrong of all titles since 1 August 1998, including all seven Tour victories,<ref name="BBCArmstrong">{{cite web | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/20008520 | title=Lance Armstrong stripped of all seven Tour de France wins by UCI | publisher=BBC | date=22 October 2012 | accessdate=22 October 2012}}</ref> and announced that his Tour wins would not be reallocated to other riders.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/20103406 | title=Lance Armstrong's Tour de France victories will not be reallocated | publisher=BBC | date=26 October 2012 | accessdate=26 October 2012}}</ref>
==Strikes, exclusions and disqualifications==
{{refimprove section|date=July 2013}}
In '''1904''' twelve riders, including the frontrunner [[Maurice Garin]] and all the stage frontrunners, were disqualified for various reasons including illegal use of cars and trains.
In '''1907''' [[Emile Georget]] was placed last in the day's results after changing his bicycle outside a permitted area. Edmond Gentil, sponsor of the rival [[Alcyon]] team, withdrew all his riders in protest at what he considered too light a penalty. They included [[Louis Trousselier]], the winner in 1905.
In '''1912''' and in '''1913''' [[Octave Lapize]] withdrew all his La Française team in protest at what he saw as the collusion of Belgian riders.
In '''1913''' as well, [[Odile Defraye]] pulled out of the race with painful legs and took the whole Alcyon team with him.
In '''1920''' half the field pulled out at Les Sables d'Olonne in protest at Desgrange's style of management.
In '''1925''' the threat of a strike ended Desgrange's plan that riders should all eat exactly the same amount of food each day.
In '''1937''' [[Sylvère Maes]] of Belgium withdrew all his national team after he considered his French rival, [[Roger Lapébie]], had been punished too lightly for being towed uphill by car.
In '''1950''' the two Italian teams went home after the leader of the first team, [[Gino Bartali]], thought a spectator had threatened him with a knife.
In '''1950''' much of the field got off their bikes and ran into the [[Mediterranean]] at [[Ste-Maxime]]. The summer had been unusually hot and some riders were said to have ridden into the sea without dismounting. All involved were penalised by the judges.
In '''1966''' riders went on strike near Bordeaux after drug tests the previous evening.
In '''1968''' journalists went on strike for a day after Félix Lévitan had accused them of watching "with tired eyes", his response to the writers' complaint that the race was dull.
In '''1978''' they rode slowly all day and then walked across the line at Valence d'Agen in protest at having to get up early to ride more than one stage in a day.
In '''1982''' striking steel workers halted the team time trial.
In '''1987''' photographers went on strike, saying cars carrying the Tour's guests were getting in their way.
In '''1988''' the race went on strike in a protest concerning a drugs test on [[Pedro Delgado]].
In '''1990''' the organisers learned of a blockade by farmers in the Limoges area and diverted the race before it got there.
In '''1991''' riders refused to race for 40 minutes because a rider, [[Urs Zimmerman]], was penalised for driving from one stage finish to the start of the next instead of flying.
In '''1991''' the PDM team went home after its riders fell ill one by one within 48 hours.
In '''1992''' activists of the Basque separatist movement bombed followers' cars overnight.
In '''1997''' Belgian sprinter [[Tom Steels]] was expelled from the race for throwing his drinking bottle at another rider in a bunch sprint at [[Marennes, Charente-Maritime|Marennes]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Lionel Birnie |url=http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/475463/tom-steels-on-mark-cavendish-he-s-the-man-to-beat.html |title=Tom Steels on Mark Cavendish: 'He's the man to beat' |work=Cycling Weekly |date=2 July 2010 |accessdate=24 July 2010}}</ref>
In '''[[Festina affair|1998]]''':
* The [[Festina cycling team|Festina team]] was disqualified after revelations of organised doping within the team.
* After this discovery, the race stopped in protest at what the riders saw as heavy-handed investigation of this and other doping allegations.
In '''1999''' demonstrating firemen stopped the race and pelted it with stink bombs.
In '''2006''' [[Floyd Landis]] was stripped of his title after [[Floyd Landis doping case|testing positive]] for synthetic testosterone.
In '''[[Doping at the 2007 Tour de France|2007]]''':
* Team Astana abandoned the race after [[Alexander Vinokourov]] was caught doping, and the [[Cofidis (cycling team)|Cofidis]] team withdrew the next day following [[Cristian Moreni]] failing a drug test
* [[Michael Rasmussen]] was removed by his team, Rabobank, while wearing the yellow jersey for lying about his whereabouts during a team training session in Mexico. This was an issue as by claiming to be in Mexico he was unavailable for random drugs tests in Europe where he was actually residing.
In '''2008''':
* Riccardo Ricco was kicked out of the race after testing positive for CERA.
* Moisés Dueñas Nevado was kicked out of the race after testing positive for Erythropoietin.
* Manuel Beltrán was kicked out of the race after testing positive for EPO.
In '''2010''' [[Alberto Contador]] failed a doping test. After a series of events, the CAS finally in February 2012 declared [[Andy Schleck]] the new winner. Also in '''2010''' lead out man [[Mark Renshaw]] (HTC-Columbia) was disqualified after headbutting another rider, [[Julian Dean]], as well as his blocking of Garmin-Transitions rider [[Tyler Farrar]].
In '''2011''' [[Alexandr Kolobnev]] left the race after testing positive for [[hydrochlorothiazide]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/07/11/cycling.tour.sky.flecha/ |title=cnn.com |publisher=CNN |date=11 July 2011 |accessdate=23 February 2012}}</ref>
In '''2012''':
* Jan Ullrich was stripped of his 3rd-place finish in the [[2005 Tour de France|2005 Tour]], in February 2012.<ref name="Ullrich-stripped 3rd">{{cite news|url=http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=cycling&id=7557582|title=Ullrich stripped of 3rd-place finish at 2005 Tour|work=[[Associated Press]]|publisher=[[ESPN]]|date=9 February 2012|accessdate=14 October 2013}}</ref>
* [[Frank Schleck]] tested positive for a banned [[diuretic]] [[Xipamide]] and left the competition.<ref>{{cite news|title=Frank Schleck to leave Tour de France after failing doping test|url=http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/17/sport/cycling-tour-schleck-doping/index.html|publisher=CNN|accessdate=17 July 2012|date=17 July 2012}}</ref>
* [[Lance Armstrong]] was retroactively stripped of all seven of his titles (1999–2005), in October 2012.<ref name=Reuters-Armstrong-Stripped>{{cite news|url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/22/us-cycling-armstrong-idUSBRE89L0HC20121022|title=Armstrong's Tour titles stripped|last=Pretot|first=Julien|date=22 October 2012|publisher=Reuters|accessdate=22 October 2012|location=Geneva}}</ref>
==Deaths==
{{See also|List of professional cyclists who died during a race}}
Cyclists who have died during the Tour de France:
* 1910: French racer Adolphe Helière drowned at the [[French Riviera]] during a rest day.
* 1935: Spanish racer Francisco Cepeda plunged down a ravine on the [[Col du Galibier]].
* 1967: 13 July, Stage 13: [[Tom Simpson]] died of heart failure during the ascent of Mont Ventoux. [[Amphetamine]]s were found in Simpson's jersey and blood.
* 1995: 18 July, Stage 15: [[Fabio Casartelli]] crashed at {{convert|88|km/h|mph|abbr=on}} while descending the [[Col de Portet d'Aspet]].
Another seven fatal accidents have occurred:
* 1934: A motorcyclist giving a demonstration in the velodrome of La Roche Sur Yon, to entertain the crowd before the cyclists arrived, died after he crashed at high speed.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://hemeroteca.elmundodeportivo.es/preview/1934/07/28/pagina-2/621791/pdf.html|date=28 July 1934|page=2|language=Spanish|publisher=El Mundo Deportivo|title=Ultimas Informaciones – La XXVIII Vuelta a Francia}}</ref>
* 1957: 14 July: Motorcycle rider Rene Wagter and passenger Alex Virot, a journalist for [[Radio Luxembourg (French)|Radio Luxembourg]], went off a mountain road near [[Ax-les-Thermes]].
* 1958: An official, Constant Wouters, died from injuries received after sprinter [[André Darrigade]] collided with him at the [[Parc des Princes]].{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=105}}
*1964: Twenty people died when a supply van hit a bridge in the [[Dordogne]] region, resulting in the highest tour-related death toll.<ref name=autogenerated10>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8157409.stm |title=Europe | Tour de France spectator killed |publisher=BBC News |date= 18 July 2009|accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref>
* 2000: A 12-year-old from [[Ginasservis]], known as Phillippe, was hit by a car in the Tour de France publicity caravan.{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=80}}
* 2002: A seven-year-old boy, Melvin Pompele, died near [[Retjons]] after running in front of the caravan.{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=80}}
* 2009: 18 July, Stage 14: A spectator in her 60s was struck and killed by a police motorcycle while crossing a road along the route near [[Wittelsheim]].<ref name="autogenerated3"/>
==Records and statistics==
{{Main|Tour de France records and statistics|Yellow jersey statistics}}
One rider has been [[King of the Mountains]], won the combination classification, combativity award, the points competition, and the Tour in the same year—[[Eddy Merckx]] in 1969, which was also the first year he participated.<ref>[http://memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_1947_1977/tdf1969.php Memoire du cyclisme]. Retrieved 13 July 2012</ref>
Twice the Tour was won by a racer who never wore the yellow jersey until the race was over. In 1947, [[Jean Robic]] overturned a three-minute deficit on a 257 km final stage into Paris. In 1968, [[Jan Janssen]] of the Netherlands secured his win in the individual time trial on the last day.
The Tour has been won three times by racers who led the general classification on the first stage and holding the lead all the way to Paris. [[Maurice Garin]] did it during the Tour's very first edition, 1903; he repeated the feat the next year, but the results were nullified by the officials as a response to widespread cheating. Ottavio Bottechia completed a GC start-to-finish sweep in 1924. And in 1928, Nicolas Frantz held the GC for the entire race, and at the end, the podium consisted solely of members of his racing team. While no one has equalled this feat since '28, four times a racer has taken over the GC lead on the second stage and carried that lead all the way to Paris.
The most appearances have been by [[George Hincapie]] with 17. In light of Hincapie's suspension for use of performance enhancing drugs, before which he held the mark for most consecutive finishes with sixteen, having completed all but his very first, [[Joop Zoetemelk]] holds the record for the most finishes, having completed all 16 of the Tours that he started.
In the early years of the Tour, cyclists rode individually, and were sometimes forbidden to ride together. This led to large gaps between the winner and the number two. Since the cyclists now tend to stay together in a [[peloton]], the margins of the winner have become smaller, as the difference usually originates from time trials, breakaways or on mountain top finishes, or from being left behind the peloton. In the table below, the eight smallest margins between the winner and the second placed cyclists at the end of the Tour are given. The largest margin, by comparison, remains that of the first Tour in 1903: 2h 49m 45s between Maurice Garin and [[Lucien Pothier]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/COURSE/us/histoire_statistiques.html |title=Tour de France 2009 – Stats |publisher=Letour.fr |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref> The eight smallest margins between first and second placed riders are as follows:<ref>{{cite web
|url= http://www.tourde-france.nl/verschil_nummerS_1en2.htm
|title= Verschil tussen de nummers 1 en 2 van het eindklassement
|accessdate=17 March 2008
|publisher= tourde-france.nl
|language= Dutch
}}</ref>
Three riders have won 8 stages in a single year: [[Charles Pélissier]] ([[1930 Tour de France|1930]]<ref>{{cite web|title= Charles Pélissier |url=http://www.letour.fr/HISTO/us/TDF/coureur/2534.html|work=Results history|publisher=letour.fr|accessdate=23 July 2012}}</ref>), [[Eddy Merckx]] ([[1970 Tour de France|1970]], [[1974 Tour de France|1974]]<ref>{{cite web|title= Eddy Merckx |url=http://www.letour.fr/HISTO/us/TDF/coureur/4004.html|work=Results history|publisher=letour.fr|accessdate=23 July 2012}}</ref>), [[Freddy Maertens]] ([[1976 Tour de France|1976]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Freddy Maertens|url=http://www.letour.fr/HISTO/us/TDF/coureur/4314.html|work=Results history|publisher=letour.fr|accessdate=23 July 2012}}</ref>). Mark Cavendish has the most mass finish stage wins with 25, ahead of André Darrigade and André Leducq with 22, François Faber with 19 and Eddy Merckx with 18.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2012/docs/Historique-VERSION_INTEGRALE-fr.pdf p125|title=Letour Guide Historique 2012 |publisher=Letour.fr |date=10 July 2012 |accessdate=23 July 2012}}</ref> The youngest Tour de France stage winner is [[Fabio Battesini]], who was 19 when he won one stage in the [[1931 Tour de France]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Peter Sagan captures Stage 1|url=http://espn.go.com/olympics/tdf2012/story/_/id/8119085/2012-tour-de-france-slovakia-peter-sagan-wins-stage-1-fabian-cancellara-keeps-lead|agency=Associated Press |publisher=ESPN |date=1 July 2012 |accessdate=8 July 2012}}</ref>
The fastest massed-start stage was in 1999 from Laval to Blois (194.5 km), won by [[Mario Cipollini]] at 50.4 km/h.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jul/08/sports/sp-54125 |title=Cipollini Sprints to Record Win – Los Angeles Times |work=Los Angeles Times |date=8 July 1999 |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref> The fastest full-length time-trial is [[David Zabriskie]]'s opening stage of 2005, Fromentine – Noirmoutier-en-l'Ile (19 km) at 54.7 km/h.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.tdg.ch/TG/TG/-/article-2005-07-152/1david-zabriskie--54676-kmh-record--2 |title=1david zabriskie 54676 km/h record 2 – Archives de la Tribune de Geneve |publisher=Archives.tdg.ch |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref> [[Chris Boardman]] rode faster during the 1994 prologue stage,<ref>Prologue time-trials are shorter than those later in the race.</ref> Lille-Euralille (7.2 km), with 55.2 km/h.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/roa/News2006/20060209_TDF_Interviews.asp |title=Tour de France Launch Interviews (Chris Boardman) |publisher=Britishcycling.org.uk |accessdate=18 July 2009 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20060321091326/http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/roa/News2006/20060209_TDF_Interviews.asp |archivedate = 21 March 2006}}</ref> The fastest stage win was by the 2013 Orica GreenEDGE team in a team time-trial. It completed the 25 km in Nice (stage 5) at 57.8 km/h.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://velonews.com/article/8393 |title=Armstrong in yellow after Discovery powers through TTT |publisher=VeloNews |date=5 July 2005 |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/Press_Release_100065.aspx |title=Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team Breaking Records With Trek Bikes Designed On AMD64 Technology |publisher=Amd.com |accessdate=18 July 2009}}</ref>
The longest successful post-war breakaway by a single rider was by [[Albert Bourlon]] in the [[1947 Tour de France]]. In the stage Carcassone-Luchon, he stayed away for 253 km.<ref name=autogenerated9>Tour 09, Procycling (UK) summer 2009</ref> It was one of seven breakaways longer than 200 km, the last being [[Thierry Marie]]'s 234 km escape in 1991.<ref name=autogenerated9 /> Bourlon finished 16 m 30s ahead. This is one of the biggest time gaps but not the greatest. That record belongs to [[José-Luis Viejo]], who beat the peloton by 22 m 50s in the 1976 stage Montgenèvre-Manosque.<ref name=autogenerated9 /> He was the fourth and most recent rider to win a stage by more than 20 minutes.
===Record winners===
Four riders have won five times:
* [[Jacques Anquetil]] (FRA) in [[1957 Tour de France|1957]], [[1961 Tour de France|1961]], [[1962 Tour de France|1962]], [[1963 Tour de France|1963]] and [[1964 Tour de France|1964]];
* [[Eddy Merckx]] (BEL) in [[1969 Tour de France|1969]], [[1970 Tour de France|1970]], [[1971 Tour de France|1971]], [[1972 Tour de France|1972]] and [[1974 Tour de France|1974]];
* [[Bernard Hinault]] (FRA) in [[1978 Tour de France|1978]], [[1979 Tour de France|1979]], [[1981 Tour de France|1981]], [[1982 Tour de France|1982]] and [[1985 Tour de France|1985]];
* [[Miguel Indurain]] (ESP) in [[1991 Tour de France|1991]], [[1992 Tour de France|1992]], [[1993 Tour de France|1993]], [[1994 Tour de France|1994]] and [[1995 Tour de France|1995]] (* record five consecutive wins).
Three riders have won three times:
* [[Philippe Thys]] (BEL) in [[1913 Tour de France|1913]], [[1914 Tour de France|1914]], and [[1920 Tour de France|1920]];
* [[Louison Bobet]] (FRA) in [[1953 Tour de France|1953]], [[1954 Tour de France|1954]], and [[1955 Tour de France|1955]];
* [[Greg LeMond]] (USA) in [[1986 Tour de France|1986]], [[1989 Tour de France|1989]], and [[1990 Tour de France|1990]].
==See also==
{{Portal|Cycling}}
* [[Tour de France Féminin]]
==Notes==
{{Reflist|50em|group=n}}
==Citations==
{{Reflist|25em}}
==References==
{{Refbegin}}
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* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Nicholson | first=Geoffrey | title=Le Tour: The Rise and Rise of the Tour de France | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=RDgUHAAACAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year= 1991 | publisher=[[Hodder & Stoughton]] | location=London | isbn=978-0-340-54268-2 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Augendre | first=Jacques | authorlink=Jacques Augendre | title=Le Tour de France: panorama d'un siècle | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=1fv5NAAACAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year=1996 | publisher=Service Communication-presse de la Société du Tour de France }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Seray | first=Jacques | title=1904 Tour de France | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=lFhrAAAACAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year=2000 | publisher=Ann Arbor Press | isbn=978-0-9649835-2-6 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Woodland | first=Les | title=The Unknown Tour De France: The Many Faces of the World's Biggest Bicycle Race | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=zqXUAAAACAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year= 2000 | publisher=Cycling Resources | location=U.S. | isbn=978-1-892495-26-6 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last1=Armstrong | last2=Jenkins | first1=Lance | first2=Sally | authorlink1=Lance Amstrong | authorlink1=Sally Jenkins | title=It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=5ATbkSDvfd0C | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year= 2001 | origyear=1st. pub. 2000 | publisher=[[Random House]] | location=New York City | isbn=978-0-224-06087-5 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Harp | first=Stephen L. | title=Marketing Michelin: Advertising and Cultural Identity in Twentieth-Century France | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=IcB2x74UgUAC | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year=2001 | publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] | location=Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | isbn=978-0-8018-6651-7 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Ollivier | first=Jean-Paul | title=L'ABCdaire du Tour de France | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=TdOoPAAACAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year= 2001 | publisher=[[Groupe Flammarion]] | location=Paris | isbn=978-2-08-012727-3 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last1=Boeuf | last2=Léonard | first1=Jean-Luc | first2=Yves | title=La République du Tour de France | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=9NeBAAAAMAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year= 2003 | publisher=[[Éditions du Seuil]] | isbn=978-2-02-058073-1 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last1=Allchin | last2=Bell | first1=Richard | first2=Adrian | title=Golden stages of the Tour de France : tales from the legendary stages of the world's greatest bike race | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=7KsTAQAAIAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year= 2003 | publisher=Mousehold Press | location=London | isbn=978-1-874739-28-9 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=de Mondenard | first=Jean-Paul | title=Dopage: l'imposture des performances : mensonges et vérités sur l'école de la triche | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=UxVwcgAACAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year= 2003 | publisher=Chiron | location= }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Masso | first=Benjamin | title=Het zweet der goden: legende van de wielersport | edition=4th | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=K3jGZwEACAAJ | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year=2003 | publisher=Atlas | location= | isbn=978-90-450-1126-4 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last1=McGann | last2=McGann | first1=Bill | first2=Carol | title=The Story of the Tour de France, Volume 1 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=jxq20JskqMUC | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year=2006 | publisher=Dog Ear Publishing | location=Indianapolis, U.S. | isbn=978-1-59858-180-5 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Woodland | first=Les | title=The Yellow Jersey Companion to the Tour de France | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=QdMSjfvjDhUC | accessdate=26 April 2013 | year= 2007 | origyear=1st. pub. 2003 | publisher=[[Random House]] | location=London | isbn=978-0-224-08016-3 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last1=McGann | last2=McGann | first1=Bill | first2=Carol | title=The Story of the Tour De France: 1965-2007 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=V8mlwItBhhcC | accessdate=25 April 2013 | year=2008 | publisher=Dog Ear Publishing | location=Indianapolis, U.S. | isbn=978-1-59858-608-4 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Thompson | first=Christopher S. | title=The Tour de France: A Cultural History | edition=2nd | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=UpzzPqexF00C | accessdate=26 April 2013 | year=2008 | publisher=[[University of California Press]] | location=[[Berkeley, California]], U.S. | isbn=978-0-520-93486-3 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last1=Cazeneuve | last2=Chany | first1=Thierry | first2=Pierre | authorlink2=Pierre Chany | title=La fabuleuse histoire du Tour de France | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=u2KeSYyU_gsC | accessdate=13 February 2013 | year=2011 | publisher=[[La Martinière Groupe|La Martinière]] | location=Paris | isbn=978-2-7324-4792-6 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Moore | first=Tim | authorlink=Tim Moore (writer) | title=French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=lFZ_3KWZ9f8C | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year= 2011 | origyear=1st. pub. 2001 | publisher=[[Random House]] | location=London | isbn=978-1-4464-1497-2 }}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last1=Dauncey | last2=Hare | first1=Hugh | first2=Geoff | title=The Tour De France, 1903-2003: A Century of Sporting Structures, Meanings and Values | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=8zXIYTnkxAIC | accessdate=6 May 2013 | year=2013 | origyear=1st. pub. 2003 | publisher=[[Routledge]] | location=London | isbn=978-1-135-76239-1 }}
{{Refend}}
==Further reading==
{{Refbegin}}
*{{Cite book |last= Delanzy |first= Eric|title= Inside the Tour de France: The Pictures, the Legends, and the Untold Stories|publisher=Rodale Books|isbn=1-59486-230-3|year= 2006}}
* {{cite book | ref=harv | last=Nelsson | first=Richard | title=The Tour De France ... to the Bitter End | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ZMGMzYS5eTYC | accessdate=26 April 2013 | year= 2012 | publisher=[[Random House]] | location=London | isbn=978-0-85265-336-4 }}
*{{Cite book|last=Wheatcroft|first=Geoffrey|title=Le Tour: A History of the Tour de France, 1903–2003|origyear=2005|publisher=Simon & Schuster UK|isbn=0-684-02879-4|year=2004}}
{{Refend}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|Tour de France}}
* {{official website|http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2013/us/}}
* {{Cycling archives race|846}}
* [http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/cycling/tour-de-france/ Yahoo! Sport ''(UK & Ireland)'':] Tour de France
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2012}}
{{Tour de France}}
{{Grand Tour}}
{{UCI World Tour}}
{{Post–Tour de France criteriums in the Netherlands}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tour De France}}
[[Category:Tour de France| ]]
[[Category:Cycle races in France]]
[[Category:Recurring sporting events established in 1903]]
[[Category:UCI ProTour races]]
[[Category:UCI World Tour races]]
[[Category:1903 establishments in France]]
[[Category:Grand Tour (cycling)]]
{{Link FA|de}}
{{Link FA|vi}}
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