Le Tour de France

The Tour de France is one of the most known and televised sports event across the globe. It is one of the most arduous event testing the endurance, stamina, willpower, team spirit, consistency of the athletes involved. It is also a logistical challenge in a way it encircles complete France and also Neighbouring countries, so managing the entourage, athletes, teams, audio-video people, tourists, and also the security aspect as more than one country are involved.

The rest of cycling events are not much popular outside the country or continent,they are held in.The other notable events are Giro D Italia (Tour of Italy), Tour Of Spain, World Championships.

Established in 1903 by a french newspaper L` Auto as a publicity event. From then there have been 93 editions barring the world war years. This year it will be 94th edition of The Tour De France.

There have been a handfull of cyclists who have bagged the lifetime gorly because of their exploits in The Tour.

The tours started as 2400-2500 kms six stage race with racer also required to ride in the night. Now it stretches over 3 weeks with 2 or 3 rest days and about 20 /21 day time stages. It covers the distance of about 3500-4000 kms over this race.



The Tour:

This year the Tour is strarting from London for the first time, creating a history. Most stages take place in France though it is common to have stages in nearby countries, such as Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Great Britain (visited in 1974 and 1994 and start of the 2007 tour).

In recent years, the Tour has been preceded by a short individual time trial (1 to 15km) called the prologue. Since 1975, the traditional finish of the Tour has been in Paris on the Champs-Élysées, the only time the city's most symbolic avenue is closed other than for the processions of July 14, the national holiday. Prior to 1975, the race finished at the Parc des Princes stadium in western Paris.

The tour is organized as a Stage race. Which means each stage in itself is a race, awarding prize to the winner and second and third placed riders. The tour consists of Flat sprint stages, Mountain stages, or undulating, Individual Time Trials and Occassionally Team Time Trials.

The race alternates each year between clockwise and counter-clockwise circuits of France. For example, 2005 was a clockwise direction Tour — visiting the Alps first and then the Pyrenees — while the 2006 race went in the opposite direction. For the first half of its history, the Tour was a near-continuous loop, often running close to France's borders. Rules intended to restrict drug-taking have, since the 1960s, limited the overall distance, the daily distance and the number of days raced consecutively, and the modern Tour frequently skips between one city or one region and another.

A feature of the Tour almost from the start has been those stages which take place in the mountains, which are physically very arduous to ride at speed. The roads that climb them are now in good condition but at first they were no more than tracks of hard-packed earth on which riders frequently had to get off and push their bicycles. Even into the 1950s and 1960s, the road at the summit of mountains could be potholed and strewn with small rocks, and falls and serious injuries were quite common.

Mountain passes such as the Tourmalet in the Pyrenees have been made famous by the Tour de France and they attract large numbers of amateur cyclists every day in summer, anxious to test their own speed and fitness on roads used by the champions. The physical difficulty of climbs is established in a complex formula that rates a mountain by its steepness, its length and its position on the course. The easiest climbs are graded 4, most of the hardest as 1 and the exceptional (such as the Tourmalet) as unclassified, or "hors-catégorie".

Some recur almost annually. The most famous hors-catégorie peaks include the Col du Tourmalet, Mont Ventoux, Col du Galibier, the climb to the ski resort of Hautacam, and Alpe d'Huez.

Prize money

Since the first Tour in 1903, prize money is awarded. From a total 20.000 francs the first year, the total amount of prize money increases each year. Prizes and bonuses are awarded according to the classification in each stage and the overall classifications at the end of the race. A smaller amount is paid to teams as participation expense or presence bonus. In 2006, a total of over €3,000,000 ($3,958,796) was awarded, the winner of the individual general classification receiving €450,000 ($593,819). Notwithstanding these increasing amounts, the importance of the prize money decreased through the years, as riders are well paid by their employers -the cycling teams- by contract.

Classification jerseys

Traditionally The Tour de. France is famous for the colour of the Jerseys it awards to the respective category, stage, points, leader at the end of the day. This traditionhas been followed by some other races around the world either in the same way of with a little difference.

Overall leader (maillot jaune) Yellow Jersey

The maillot jaune (yellow jersey), which is worn by the general classification (or overall time) leader, is the most prized. It is awarded by calculating the total combined race time up to that point for each rider. The rider with the lowest total time is the leader, and at the end of the event is declared the overall winner of the Tour. Desgrange added the yellow jersey in 1919 because he wanted the race leader to wear something distinctive and because the pages of his magazine, L'Auto, were yellow.

Sometimes a rider takes the overall lead during a stage and gets sufficiently far ahead of the yellow jersey wearer his current lead is greater than his time deficit to the yellow jersey in the general classification; when this happens, this rider may be referred to as being "the yellow jersey on the road". Obviously, no jerseys can be exchanged in this situation, which is why in some other languages the leading rider is referred to as the "virtual yellow".

Previous ten years winners


1997 Jan Ullrich Germany Telekom
1998 Marco Pantani Italy Mercatone Uno
1999 Lance Armstrong United States U.S. Postal
2000 Lance Armstrong United States U.S. Postal
2001 Lance Armstrong United States U.S. Postal
2002 Lance Armstrong United States U.S. Postal
2003 Lance Armstrong United States U.S. Postal
2004 Lance Armstrong United States U.S. Postal
2005 Lance Armstrong United States Discovery Channel
2006 Floyd Landis United States Phonak Hearing Systems

Points classification (maillot vert) Green Jersey

The maillot vert (green jersey) is awarded for sprint points. At the end of each stage, points are earned by the riders who finish first, second, etc. The number of points for each place and the number of riders rewarded varies depending on the stage - flat stages give 35 points down to 1 point for 25th; medium mountain stages give 25 points down to 1 for 20th; high mountain stages give 20 points down to 1 for the 15th. This is because, generally speaking, the more mountainous a stage is, the less likely is a sprint finish between many riders. Points are also awarded for individual time trials: 15 for the winner down to 1 for 10th. Additional points are available for sprints along the route, often two or three times a day, with the idea of pepping up the race.


Winners of the maillot vert for previous 10 years

2006 Robbie McEwen288 Erik Zabel 199 Thor Hushovd 195
2005 Thor Hushovd 194 Stuart O'Grady 182 Robbie McEwen178
2004 Robbie McEwen272 Thor Hushovd 247 Erik Zabel 245
2003 Baden Cooke 216 Robbie McEwen214 Erik Zabel 188
2002 Robbie McEwen280 Erik Zabel 261 Stuart O'Grady 208
2001 Erik Zabel 252 Stuart O'Grady 244 Damien Nazon 169
2000 Erik Zabel 321 Robbie McEwen203 Romans Vainsteins 184
1999 Erik Zabel 323 Stuart O'Grady 275 Christophe Capelle 196
1998 Erik Zabel 327 Stuart O'Grady 230 Tom Steels 221
1997 Erik Zabel 350 Frederic Moncassin 223 Mario Traversoni 198

King of the Mountains (maillot à pois rouges) Polka dot jersey

The "King of the Mountains" wears a white jersey with red dots (maillot à pois rouges), referred to as the "polka dot jersey" and inspired by a jersey that the former organiser, Félix Lévitan saw while at the Vélodrome d'Hiver track in Paris in his youth. The vivid design of red dots on a white background is not popular with riders.

The competition is calculated by points awarded to the first riders at the top of designated hills and mountains, the greatest number of points being awarded for the hardest ascents. Although the best climber was first recognised in 1933, the jersey was not introduced until 1975.

List of previous ten years winners

2006 Michael Rasmussen Denmark
2005 Michael Rasmussen Denmark
2004 Richard Virenque France
2003 Richard Virenque France
2002 Laurent Jalabert France
2001 Laurent Jalabert France
2000 Santiago Botero Colombia
1999 Richard Virenque France
1998 Christophe Rinero France
1997 Richard Virenque France

Other classifications
There are three lesser classifications, though only one awards the leader with a jersey.

Best Young Rider (malliot blanc) White Jersey

The maillot blanc (white jersey) is for the best-placed rider less than 25 years old on January 1 of the year the Tour is ridden.

Previous Ten Years Winners
2006 Damiano Cunego Italy Lampre-Fondital
2005 Yaroslav Popovych Ukraine Discovery Channel
2004 Vladimir Karpets Russia Illes Balears
2003 Denis Menchov Russia iBanesto.com
2002 Ivan Basso Italy Fassa Bortolo
2001 Oscar Sevilla Spain Kelme
2000 Francisco Mancebo Spain Banesto
1999 Benoît Salmon France Casino
1998 Jan Ullrich Germany Deutsche Telekom
1997 Jan Ullrich Germany Deutsche Telekom


The Combativity Award:
The "prix de combativité" goes to the rider who has done most to animate the day's racing, usually by trying to break clear of the field. The rider with most points wears a number printed white-on-red instead of black-on-white. At the end of the Tour, an award is given to the rider who was thought to be the most aggressive bike racer throughout the entire three week tour.

1997 - Richard Virenque
1998 - Jacky Durand
1999 - Jacky Durand
2000 - Erik Dekker
2001 - Laurent Jalabert
2002 - Laurent Jalabert
2003 - Alexander Vinokourov
2004 - Richard Virenque
2005 - Oscar Pereiro
2006 - David de la Fuente

The Team Award:

The team prize is assessed by adding the times 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 instead of black-on-white. The number of riders in a team has varied widely but is now normally nine. Until 1930, teams represented countries, groups of countries or French regions. From 1930, but with the exception of 1967 and 1968 when there was a return to geographical teams, riders have been entered by commercial teams.

As in all road races, national and world champions wear not their ordinary team colours but their world or national championship jerseys when competing in the appropriate race: the time-trial champion in the time-trial, the road race in massed stages.

Historical jerseys

Previously, there was a red jersey for the standings in non-stage-finish sprints: points were awarded to the first three riders to pass two or three intermediate points during the stage. These sprints also scored points towards the green jersey and bonus seconds towards the overall classification, as well as cash prizes offered by the residents of the area where the sprint took place. The sprints remain, with all these additional effects, the most significant now being the points for the green jersey. The red jersey was abolished in 1989.

There was also a combination jersey, scored on a points system based on standings for the yellow, green, red, and polka-dot jerseys. The design was a patchwork, with areas resembling each individual jersey design. This was abolished in the same year as the red jersey.

Stages
Mass-start stages

In an ordinary stage, all riders start simultaneously and share the road. The real start (départ réel) usually is some 2 to 5 km (1 to 3 miles) away from the starting point, and is announced by the Tour director in the officials' car waving a white flag.

Riders are permitted to touch (but not push or nudge) and to shelter behind each other, in slipstream (see drafting). The rider who crosses the finish line first wins. In the first week of the Tour, this often leads to spectacular mass sprints.

While only finishers are awarded sprint points, all riders finishing in an identifiable group (with no significant gap to the rider in front, as determined by race officials) are deemed to have finished the stage in the same time as the lead rider of that group for overall classification purposes. This avoids what would otherwise be dangerous mass sprints. It is not unusual for the entire field to finish in a single group, taking some time to cross the line, but being credited with the same time as the stage winner.

Time bonuses are awarded at some intermediate sprints and stage finishes to the first three riders who reach the specified point. These bonuses generally are a maximum of 20 seconds, and can allow a good sprinter to qualify for the yellow jersey early in the Tour.

Riders who crash within the last 3 kilometres of the stage are credited with the finishing time of the group that they were with when they crashed . This prevents riders from being penalised for accidents that do not accurately reflect their performance on the stage as a whole given that crashes in the final kilometre can be huge pileups that are hard to avoid for a rider farther back in the peloton. A crashed sprinter inside the final kilometre will not win the sprint, but avoids being penalised in the overall classification. The final kilometre is indicated in the race course by a red triangular pennant - known as the flamme rouge - raised above the road.

Some ordinary stages take place in the mountains, almost always causing major shifts in the General Classification. On ordinary stages that do not have extended mountain climbs, most riders can manage to stay together in the peloton all the way to the finish; during mountain stages, however, it is not uncommon for some riders to lose 40 minutes to the winner of the stage. The so called mountain stages are often the deciding factor in determining the winner of the Tour de France. With the exception of the now traditional finish at the Champs-Elysées all famous stages, like Alpe d'Huez and Mont Ventoux, are mountain stages, and these often bring out the most spectators who line up the roads by the thousands to cheer and encourage the cyclists and support their favorites.


Individual time trials

In an individual time trial each rider rides individually. The first stage of the tour is often a short time trial known as a prologue. Here, riders start in reverse order of race number, meaning the weakest rider on the lowest ranked team will be first off, with the final rider being the defending champion, wearing Number 1. If the winner of the previous year does not take part, number 1 will be given to the first rider of the team of the former champion. The prologue is to decide who wears yellow on the opening day, and provide a spectacle for the organising city.

There are usually three or four time trials during the Tour. One may be a team time trial (see below). Traditionally the final time trial has been the penultimate stage, and effectively determines the winner before the final ordinary stage which is not ridden competitively until the last hour. On a few occasions, the race organisers made the final stage into Paris a time trial. The most recent occasion on which this was done, in 1989, yielded the closest ever finish in Tour history, when Greg LeMond beat Laurent Fignon by eight seconds overall. Fignon wore the yellow jersey for the final stage, with a lead of 50 seconds, and was beaten by LeMond's superior time trial performance. LeMond's unusual handlebars which placed his forearms close together and reduce wind resistance, and his streamlined helmet, were considered a major factor in his victory.


Team time trial

Often in the first week of the Tour there is a team time trial (TTT), in which each team rides together without interference from competing teams. The team time is determined by the fifth rider to cross the line; all riders ahead of the fifth rider, and those finishing within one bike length of each other, are awarded this same time. Riders who finish more than one bike-length behind their respective teams are awarded their own individual times.

The TTT has been criticized for strongly favoring strong teams and handicapping strong riders in weaker teams. To address this criticism, the 2004 and 2005 editions of the Tour limited the maximum team time difference relative to the fastest team, according to the team rankings on the stage. The following table indicates the maximum time penalty added to the winning team's time that a team will receive, according to its team time placing. However, this does not apply to riders finishing behind their own teams, and does not protect riders in case of crashing in the last kilometre, unlike during normal stages.

For example, a team that finishes in 14th place, six minutes behind the winning team, would lose only two minutes and 20 seconds in the General Classification relative to the winners of the TTT. If the team time had been 2:13 behind the winning team, then the team time will be 2:13 assuming that this were still the 14th place.

The most recent TTT was held in 2005.

Code of Conduct

The riders temper their competitiveness and enthusiasm with an elaborate but unwritten code of conduct. When possible, a rider is allowed to lead the race through his home village or on his birthday. It is considered unsporting to attack a leading rider delayed by a mechanical breakdown or other misfortune, one who is eating in the feed zone or one who is enjoying un besoin naturel (roughly translated to "a natural need", referring to urinating). Not sticking to these customs can lead to animosity. Unless the final stage is a time trial, or the gap between the top two is extremely close, riders generally do not attack on the final stage, leaving the leader to bask in the glory of winning.

The rider ranked last in the general classification, who may wind up in Paris with an overall time five or more hours slower than that of the winner, is called the lanterne rouge. Such was the sympathy shown to the last rider in the past that he could command higher fees in other races than riders who finished better. This custom has died along with the round-the-houses races one run off all over France in the weeks after the Tour.


Terminology

Much of the terminology used to describe the Tour de France is used in bicycle racing across the world. Terms specific to the Tour de France include:


Flamme rouge ("red kite")

The red pennant hanging as close as possible to a kilometre from the finish.

Lanterne rouge (red lantern)
Meaning (as found at the end of a rail train), the name for the overall last-place rider.

Voiture balai
The "broom wagon" follows the race to collect riders who cannot continue. Some riders prefer to be picked up by their team's car instead. Riders are generally expected to finish the race within 10–12 percent of the winner’s time or risk being dropped from the tour.

Doping at the Tour de France

Allegations of doping have plagued the Tour almost since its beginning in 1903. Early Tour riders were said to have consumed alcohol and used ether, among other substances, as a means of dulling the pain of competing in endurance cycling. As time went by, riders began using substances as a means of increasing performance rather than dulling the senses, and organizing bodies such as the Tour and the International Cycling Union (UCI), as well as government bodies, enacted policies to combat the practice.

On July 13, 1967, British cyclist Tom Simpson died climbing Mont Ventoux following use of amphetamines, complicated by the now defunct practice of drinking as little as possible. His now-supposed last words, "put me back on my bike", were invented by Sid Saltmarsh of the British magazine "Cycling" and the daily paper "The Sun".

At the 1998 Tour de France, dubbed the "Tour of Shame", a doping scandal erupted when Willy Voet, one of the soigneurs for the Festina cycling team, was arrested for possession of erythropoietin (EPO), growth hormones, testosterone and amphetamines. French police raided several teams in their hotels and found doping products in the possession of the TVM team. The riders staged a sit-down strike on stage 17. After mediation by Jean-Marie Leblanc, the Director of the Tour, police agreed to limit the most heavy-handed tactics and the riders agreed to continue. Some riders and teams had already abandoned and only 96 riders finished the race. In a 2000 criminal trial, it became clear that the management and health officials of the Festina team had organised the doping.

In the years following the Festina scandal, further anti-doping measures were introduced by race organizers and the UCI, including more frequent testing of riders and new tests for blood doping (transfusions and EPO use). A new, independent organization, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), was also created. Evidence of doping has however persisted. In 2002, the wife of Raimondas Rumšas, third in the 2002 Tour de France, was arrested by French police after EPO and anabolic steroids were found in her car. Rumšas, who had not failed a doping test, was not penalised. In 2004, Philippe Gaumont, a rider with the Cofidis team, told investigators and the press that doping with various substances was endemic to the team. Fellow Cofidis rider David Millar confessed to EPO use. In the same year, Jesus Manzano, a rider with the Kelme team, described in detail how he had allegedly been forced by his team to use banned substances.

Doping controversy has surrounded seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong for some time, although there has never been evidence sufficient for him to be penalised by any sports authority. In late August 2005, one month after Armstrong's seventh consecutive victory, the French sports newspaper l'Équipe claimed to have uncovered evidence that Armstrong had used EPO in the 1999 Tour de France. Armstrong denied using EPO and the UCI did not penalise him. In response to the L'Equipe allegations, an investigation was begun by the UCI in October 2005. The investigation reported that Armstrong did not engage in doping and that the actions of the World Anti-Doping Agency were "completely inconsistent" with testing rules. At the same 1999 Tour, Armstrong's urine showed traces of a glucocorticosteroid hormone, although the amount detected was well below the “positive” threshold. Armstrong explained that he had used the skin cream Cemalyt containing triamcinolone to treat of saddle sores. Armstrong had previously received permission from the UCI to use this skin cream for his saddle sores.

The 2006 Tour had been plagued by the Operación Puerto doping case before its beginning, when many of the riders considered to be favorites, such as Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso were banned from competing by their respective teams one day prior to the Prologue due to doping allegations. 17 riders were implicated . Then, one of the most serious doping outrages in Tour history emerged when four days after winning the 2006 Tour de France, the American rider Floyd Landis was announced as having given a positive test result for a testosterone imbalance, in his 'A' or initial test sample, after he won stage 17 . This was confirmed in his 'B' sample result published on August 5, 2006. The decision to strip Landis of the victory rests with the International Cycling Union, but Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said: "It goes without saying that for us Floyd Landis is no longer the winner of the 2006 Tour de France". Landis has stated that he will fight to clear his name.

At a press conference on May 24, 2007, Erik Zabel admitted to using EPO during the first week of the 1996 Tour de France, when he won the overall maillot vert (green jersey). Following a plea from Zabel for former cyclists to admit to using drugs, former Tour de France winner and manager of Team CSC, Bjarne Riis admitted at a press conference in Copenhagen on May 25 2007 that he used EPO regularly from 1993 to 1998, including during his 1996 Tour de France win. His admission means the top three finishers in the 1996 Tour have all been linked to doping, with two admitting to cheating. Riis is the first Tour de France winner to confess the use of doping.

Cycling's governing body said even though time limits for sanctioning Riis have expired, it "urges the former rider to return his yellow jersey, the symbol of his victory."


Statistics

One rider has won the Tour a record seven times:
Lance Armstrong (USA) in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 (seven consecutive years).

Four other riders have won the Tour five times:
Jacques Anquetil (France) in 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1964;
Eddy Merckx (Belgium) in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1974;
Bernard Hinault (France) in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985;
Miguel Indurain (Spain) in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995 (the first to do so in five consecutive years).

Three other riders have won the Tour three times:
Philippe Thys (Belgium) in 1913, 1914, and 1920;
Louison Bobet (France) in 1953, 1954, and 1955;
Greg LeMond (USA) in 1986, 1989, and 1990.

Gino Bartali holds the record of longest time span between titles, having earned his first and last Tour victories 10 years apart (in 1938 and 1948).

Riders from France have won most Tours (36), followed by Belgium (18), United States (11), Italy (9), Spain (8), Luxembourg (4), Switzerland and the Netherlands (2 each) and Ireland, Denmark and Germany (1 each).

One rider has won the points competition a record six times:
Erik Zabel (Germany) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 (six consecutive years)

One rider has won the "King of the Mountains" a record seven times:
Richard Virenque (France) in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2003 and 2004.

Two riders have won the "King of the Mountains" six times:
Federico Bahamontes (Spain) in 1954, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964
Lucien Van Impe (Belgium) in 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1983

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