Tour de France
The Tour de France is a yearly multi-stage bicycle race for men that takes place largely in France and sporadically in neighboring nations. It runs for 23 days, including the Bastille Day holiday, and has 21 stages, each lasting a day, just like the previous Grand Tours.
The Amaury Sport Organisation presently manages the race, which was initially organized in 1903 to boost sales for the newspaper L’Auto. Since the first edition in 1903, the race has been held every year with the exception of the two World Wars. The race was lengthened as the Tour rose in stature and popularity, and its influence grew internationally.
As more riders from around the world started to compete in the race each year, the field grew from a predominately French one. The Tour is a UCI World Tour event, hence all of the teams who participate in the race, with the exception of the teams that the organizers invite, are UCI WorldTeams. It has become into “the biggest annual sporting event in the globe.
Between 1984 and 2009, a similar race for women was held under various names. A one- or two-day event was staged between 2014 and 2021 in response to complaints from activists and the professional women’s peloton, and the Tour de France Femmes will hold its debut in 2022. The majority of the race is normally held in July, with the COVID-19 epidemic delaying the race in 2020 to August 29, 2020, being the sole exception to this rule since the end of World War II. The race’s format, which includes the appearance of time trials, travel through the Pyrenees and Alps mountain ranges, and the conclusion on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, does not alter even while the route does. The contemporary Tour de France consists of 21 day-long portions (stages) over a period of 23 days, covering around 3,500 kilometers (2,200 mi). France’s clockwise and anticlockwise circuits are alternated during the race.
There are often 20 to 22 teams, each with eight riders. All of the stages are timed to the finish line, and the riders’ times are multiplied by the times of the preceding stages. The race leader and wearer of the yellow jersey is the cyclist with the lowest total finishing time. There are other competitions held during the Tour besides the general classification, including the sprinters’ points competition, the climbers’ mountains competition, the young rider competition for riders under the age of 26, and the teams’ team competition, which is determined by the top three finishers from each team on each stage. The sprint specialist on a team or a rider who participates in a breakaway often win stages to gain prestige.
ORIGINS
In 1903, the Tour de France was first held. The birth of two competing sports publications in the nation is where the Tour de France got its start. Le Vélo, the first and biggest daily sports publication in France, sold 80,000 copies each day. On the other hand, there was L’Auto, a publication founded in 1899 by a group of journalists and businessmen that included Comte Jules-Albert de Dion, Adolphe Clément, and Édouard Michelin. The Dreyfus Affair, a cause célèbre that divided France at the close of the 19th century over the innocence of Alfred Dreyfus, a French army officer convicted—though ultimately exonerated—of selling military secrets to the Germans, was the catalyst for the rival paper’s emergence. Henri Desgrange was named editor of the brand-new publication. Along with Victor Goddet, he was a well-known cyclist and co-owner of the velodrome at the Parc des Princes. De Dion was familiar with him because of his riding notoriety, his books and essays on cycling, and publicity pieces he had done for the Clément tire firm.
The success L’Auto’s backers anticipated was not achieved. On November 20, 1902, a crisis meeting was held on the middle floor of L’Auto’s office at 10 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre in Paris due to stagnant sales that were below the rival it was meant to overtake. The youngest person there, lead cycling journalist Géo Lefèvre, age 26, was the last to speak. He had been stolen from Giffard’s paper by Desgrange. Lefèvre proposed a six-day race similar to those that are common on the track and throughout France. Although long-distance cycling competitions were a common way to increase newspaper sales, none had reached the length Lefèvre requested. If it was successful, L’Auto would be able to compete with its rival and possibly drive it out of business. Desgrange remarked that it might “nail Giffard’s beak shut.” After lunch, Desgrange and Lefèvre talked about it. Desgrange had his doubts, but Victor Goddet, the paper’s financial director, had high hopes. Take everything you need, he instructed Desgrange as he gave them the keys to the corporate safe. The contest was announced by L’Auto on January 19, 1903.
The start and finish of the Tour
The majority of stages take place on French territory, but since the middle of the 1950s, it has become common for stages to travel to nearby nations: Andorra, Belgium, Denmark, Germany (and the former West Germany), Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom have all hosted stages or portions of stages. From 1903 to 1967, the race ended at the Parc des Princes stadium in western Paris, and from 1968 to 1974, it did so at the Piste Municipale in the south of the city. The finish line has been on the Champs-Élysées in Paris since 1975. In the 1980s, race director Félix Levitan was eager to host stages in the United States, but these ideas were never carried through.
Related Events
Between the 1980s and the 2000s, a number of other Tour de France-style races for women were held, but they were all unsuccessful for a variety of reasons, including exorbitant expenses, a lack of sponsorship, and the inability to utilize the Tour de France name. La Course by Le Tour de France, a one-day classic run in conjunction with the men’s race, was introduced by ASO in 2014 as a result of a push by the professional women’s peloton. La Course later used various Tour stages before the men’s race, with places like Pau, Col de la Colombière, and Col d’Izoard. The first edition was held on the Champs-Élysées before the final stage of the men’s race. A stop on the UCI Women’s World Tour, the event.
With effect from 2022, La Course will be replaced by the 8-day Tour de France Femmes, a stage event on the UCI Women’s World Tour.
2022 Tour de France
The current 109th edition of the Tour de France is taking place in 2022. On July 1, it began in Copenhagen, Denmark, and will conclude on July 24, with the final stage taking place on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The inaugural Tour de France Femmes, whose first stage will take place on the race’s final day, will come after it.