Explaining the Tour de France
I suspect most understand that the Tour de France is going on right now, and I’m sure that many know that Lance Armstrong has made his triumphant return to the event. There’s probably a select few who have seen enough of the well-known race to refer to it affectionately as the Tour de Lance. 1 But what exactly is Le Tour de France? “Oui” can help answer that.
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race that stretches from between 3,000 to 4,000 kilometers throughout France and its bordering countries. The race is broken into 21 day-long stages over 23 days, with the cyclists given a mere 2 days of rest. The overall winner is the rider with the lowest aggregate time over the individual stages. Along the Tour, the rider with the lowest aggregate time at the end of each stage has the privilege of wearing the prestigious maillot jaune or yellow jersey during the following stage. While ceremonial today, originally the leader was given the yellow jersey so that his pursuers could easily find him in the succeeding stage. 2
The organizers change the Tour course every year but it always finishes in Paris and since 1975, the finish has been along the Champs-Élysées. Every year, hundreds of towns apply to host the start or finish of a tour stage. Welcoming the Tour on one of its daily stopovers gives local towns a chance to organize a day of festivities while basking in the headlines for a brief moment. This year, the Tour winds through the countryside and mountains of France, as well as small stretches of Spain, Italy and Switzerland. The Tour de France has been staged since 1903, when 60 cyclists set off on a 2,500 kilometer tour broken into 6 mammoth stages. Not surprisingly, only 21 cyclists finished.
Today, entry is by invitation only and typically there are 20-22 teams, comprised of 9 riders each, totally nearly 200 cyclists. Each team is named after its sponsor and dons a distinctive jersey. The race has become so team-oriented that one entire stage is devoted to a team time trial. Nevertheless, while the modern Tour is dominated by teams and sponsors, the Tour itself is as popular as ever, with millions jockeying for road-side viewing along the Tour route.
Read on:
- Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France from 1999-2005. ↩
- The French phrase maillot jaune (pronounced “my-owe zhawn”) was mispronounced “mellow johnny” originally and famously by Lance Armstrong, who wore the jersey many times. It is said that even today Lance Armstrong uses Jonathan Mellow, a derivative of the mispronunciation, as a pseudonym when checking into hotels. ↩
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