Le Tour De France

All you need to know about the biggest bicycle race known to man kind Le Tour De France

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Opening Ceremony

The Tour De France opening Ceremony is a big ceremony to celebrate the start of the race. Each year they have a different theme and place they start at, 2014 they started in Leeds, where 22 of the worlds top cycling teams paraded through the town. The send off was so big that as they rode around thousands of church bells rang out across Yorkshire.

After the bells a Yorkshire band, followed by and orchestra and to finish a member of a english girls band. The bells ringing in the towns and villages across the county was organised as part of the events theme "The People of Yorkshire Welcome The World".

The Opening Ceremony was a big part of the race as that village or town got to see some of the great riders and send them of with style.

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Tour de France 2011 Opening on Versus

The opening montage of the 2011 Tour de France on Versus. Music by Cody Westheimer (www.codywestheimer.com)

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This years 2014 Route

Ran from Saturday July 5th to Sunday July 27th 2014, the 101th Tour de France was made up of 21 stages and covered a total distance of 3,664 kilometres.

These stages have the following profiles:

9 flat stages

5 hill stages

6 mountain stages with 5 altitude finishes

1 individual time-trial stage

2 rest days

It was an overall great race and the winner was Vincenzo Nibali. Nibali actually led for 18 days out of the 21.

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Bathroom breaks

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Interesting facts :)

1. When nature calls

While there are times when riders have to relieve themselves on the run, there’s an official agreement called ‘pause pipi’, which allows for quick bathroom breaks that don’t interfere with clocked time.

2. Top speed

Speeds of up to 100km/h have been clocked on the downhill runs.The fastest average speed for the whole race was 41.5 km/h, recorded in 2005.

3. Calorie counting

The riders burn around 9000 calories each day! that calorie burn is equal to hitting a punching bag for around 19 hours straight.

4. Bad sports

Back in the early days, riders resorted to extreme tactics to put the opposition off their game. Antics included putting itching powder down the other riders shorts, scattering glass across their riding path and spiking their water bottles.

5. The ultimate price

The Tour de France has claimed the lives of four contestants – three in on-course crashes and one while swimming on a rest day.

6. Chain changes

Cyclists will go through an average of three bicycle chains during the Tour.

7. Visual stimulation

Some cyclists will do anything to boost motivation. Mario Cipollini taped a picture of Pamela Anderson to his handlebars in the hope of increasing testosterone levels and his speed during the race.

8. Going the distance

During the 2014 Tour cyclists will cover 3,664 kms over 21 days, which is equivalent to riding from Melbourne to Perth.

9. Sweating it out

On average, the riders will produce around 1.5 litres of sweat per hour – that’s enough to flush a toilet 39 times during the 21-day race.

10. Drink-riding

Until a law was passed in the 1960s prohibiting the consumption of any stimulants, cyclists were allowed to consume alcohol while riding.

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Sportsmanship

Le Tour De France isn't just about winning and gaining a yellow jersey quite a lot of sportsmanship is put into it.

One of the most famous examples of sportsmanship within the Tour de France occurred in 1993 when Lance Armstrong was knocked to the floor by the bag of a spectator. Jan Ullrich could of rode away, win the stage and make up the fifteen seconds that he had on the Armstrong, but instead Ullrich waited for Armstrong to remount, get up to speed and rejoin Ullrich before he started to cycle again.

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Different people, different drugs

Drug scandals started happening from 1998 and still continues today! these are a few cases of doping!

1998 Willy Voet was intercepted with a car full of drugs on the Belgian border just before the start of the Tour. After they realized this they began testing some of the other riders for drugs and Nine riders were taken into custody and later admitted doping.

In 2000 winner Stefano Garzelli tested positive for probenecid, was expelled from the race and given a nine-month ban.

At the 2005 Tour de France  police took Dario Frigo the 2nd place contestant in for questioning after finding performance-enhancing drugs in a car driven by his wife.

The 2006 Tour de France was one of the 'worst years yet for doping. A day before the race even got started, top riders including Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso, Oscar Sevilla, and Francisco Mancebo were kicked out for the involvement in a blood-doping scandal.

Tom Boonen tested positive for cocaine in an out of competition, test on 27 April. He had previously been found to have taken the same substance in May 2008.

In 7 February, it was found that Lorenzo Bernuccii, had been banned from cycling for five years. After his house was raided in 2010, prohibited substances were found and he was banned for 'the use or attempted use by an athlete of a prohibited substance or method, as well as the possession of prohibited substances'.

In February 2012, the Spaniard was handed a two-year ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport for doping and was stripped of his 2010 Tour de France and 2011 Giro d'Italia titles, as well as 10 other victories.

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Crashes!

Every year the tour de France sees many crashes, especially in the first few stages as they are the easiest and flattest, crashes are bound to happen when 200 riders speed along at 60km/h riding extremely close to one another.

Chris Froome who was in the tour de france in 2014, suffered from three crashes, which lead to him having to give up the race. After the first crash even though injured he got back on his bike, unfortunately this caused him to become 1 minute and 10 seconds behind. Just as he got back into the flow of the race he crashed again, his wrist was badly injured and it was too difficult to steer the bike again.

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Lance Armstrong in the 2002 race!

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Drug Scandal

Lance Armstrong was stripped of his 7 Tour de France title by the UCI following the United States Anti-Doping Agency's investigation into systematic doping.

Armstrong was given a lifetime ban for what they called "the most professionalised and successful doping program that sport has ever seen".

Armstrong, who overcame cancer before winning his seven consecutive titles from 1999-2005, later admitted doping throughout his career.

During his career Armstrong had been tested more than 200 times and never caught.

The evidence against Armstrong was documented in more than 1,000 pages and included testimonies from 26 people (including 15 riders) all sharing their knowledge of riders who had supposedly being taking drugs.

Two other members of the team - Dr Michele Ferrari and Dr Garcia del Moral - were also handed lifetime bans for their part in this conspiracy.

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Travelling

Not only do the cyclists and support have to travel from around the world to get to the race but they also have to travel between stages. Not all stages pick up from where the last stage left off. Often there are long drives, boat rides or airplane flights to get cyclists to the next starting line! 

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No gears!

During the very early years of the tour de france, gears were banned! Cyclists had to grind up steep hills on a single speed! Or riders could stop, remove their chain and flip their rear wheel for another gear!

Early tour riders were as much mechanics as they were cyclists, they were expected to make their own repairs! Some even strapped spare tires over their shoulders!

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Stage 16! Also known as the circle of death, the hardest stage in the Pyrenees.

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Slowest and Fastest years!

The 2005 Tour had the fastest average speed at 41.5 km per hour, which is nearly double the slowest year, which was 1919 at 24.1 km per hour!