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Tour de France
The Tour de France is a bicycle race held in France. Bicyclists from all over the world come to compete. Ask questions about the Tour de France path, rules, and records here.
443 Questions
What are France's customs and traditions?
French culture has had a marked influence on the Western world, especially in the arts and letters. Ever since the Middle Ages, France and its main city Paris have been key centers in Europe's blooming culture. France's wealthy monarchy drew many commissioned artists, craftsmen and architects to what we know today as the City of Lights. French styles regarding the arts, architecture, design, dress and etiquette developed and flourished and some persist even to this day. The French film industry has also had an increasing role in the past century, producing important cultural works.
Where does the tour de France start?
The race route changes every year, in 2008 the first stage of the race began in Brest, in 2009 the race will begin in Monte Carlo.
The 2010 Tour will be launched from the south side of Rotterdam, for a prologue time-trial. The launching pad will actually be set up in Zuidplein, from where the riders will move north
Source: http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html
When does the tour de France end this year?
It always finishes in Paris, France, by the Arc du Triomphe on the Champs Elysees, with a sprint. Usually this day will decide the green jersey as well.
In downtown Paris.
The finish line has been in the same spot every year. 2010's finish line is Avenue des Champs-Elysees, close to the Arc de Triomphe
The Tour de France always ends in downtown Paris.
Paris. As it always does
British riders to have died in the tour de France?
- 1910: French racerAdolphe 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. Amphetamines were found in Simpson's jersey and blood.
- 1995: 18 July, Stage 15: Fabio Casartelli crashed at 88 km/h (55 mph) while descending the Col de Portet d'Aspet.
Another six fatal accidents have occurred:
- 1957: 14 July: Motorcycle rider Rene Wagter and passenger Alex Virot, a journalist for Radio-Luxembourg, went off a mountain road near Ax-les-Thermes.
- 1958: An official, Constant Wouters, died after an accident with sprinter André Darrigade at the Parc des Princes.[128]
- 1964: Twenty people died when a supply van hit a bridge in the Dordogne region, resulting in the highest tour-related death toll.[129]
- 2000: A 12-year-old from Ginasservis, known as Phillippe, was hit by a car in the Tour de France publicity caravan.[130]
- 2002: A seven-year-old boy, Melvin Pompele, died near Retjons after running in front of the caravan.[130]
- 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.[129]
Also a motorcyclist entertaining the crowd prior to the peloton's arrival in 1934.
So, total riders while racing: 3. Total riders in the Tour: 4. Total including spectators: 31.
What colour t-shirt does the leader of tour de France have to wear?
Being a stage leader doesn't guarantee that you get any of the jerseys at all.
The ones wearing the special jerseys are:
- overall fastest
- best climber
- best sprinter
- best/fastest under the age of 25
And it's entirely possible to lead a stage w/o being any of the above.
What is the number of stages including the prologue in the annual Tour de France?
The prologue in the 2005 Tour de France was replaced by a time trial. Including the time trial, there were 21 stages in the 2005 Tour de France. Click on the '2005 Tour de France' link on this page to read about the race and see what each of the stages were.
What is a domestique and peloton in Tour de France?
The Peloton is the name given to the main group of riders.
A Domestique is a support rider, someone who isn't expected to win anything important whose job is to support the star(s) in the team. They carry water bottles and food, they'll give up their bike if the star(s) should suffer a mechanical problem, they'll ride first and take most of the headwind so that the star(s) arrive "rested" at the climb, or the sprint where they are expected to shine.
How do you get into the Tour de France?
The Overall winner of the Tour De France (Yellow Jersey) is the Rider with the least accumulated Time over all the Race stages for the Three week Race.
The "short" answer is least total aggregate time for all stages (the legs) of the event. If you watch the event, you'll note that the rider in second is at "+34 seconds" or the 22nd rider is at "+1 minute 15 seconds" or something. The meaning is that's how much more time that particular rider has taken than the leader has taken to cover the entire distance of the completed stages up to a point. In each stage, the race is tracked the same way, and a given rider is either "leading" the stage or is "x" number of seconds behind the leader at a given point in that stage of the event. A link can be found below for more particulars.
The "short" answer is least total aggregate time for all stages (the legs) of the event. If you watch the event, you'll note that the rider in second is at "+34 seconds" or the 22nd rider is at "+1 minute 15 seconds" or something. The meaning is that's how much more time that particular rider has taken than the leader has taken to cover the entire distance of the completed stages up to a point. In each stage, the race is tracked the same way, and a given rider is either "leading" the stage or is "x" number of seconds behind the leader at a given point in that stage of the event. A link can be found below for more particulars.
By being the overall fastest ovar all the stages.
What was the theme song of the 2005 Tour de France?
The 2010 Roland Garros French Open theme song was a custom piece of music scored by Tom Player for all stock broadcasts. Different broadcasters can also make their own music.
How many total stages did lance armstrong complete during his 7 titles?
There are two answers; 1 or zero. During the race he won the second to last stage, which was an individual tme trial. Zero is the other option as he was later stripped of his Tour victories after admitting to using PEDs.
What coulor jersey does the leading young rider wear in the tour de France 2010?
TdF isn't raced by nations, it's raced by teams.
These teams will usually have riders of several different nationalities.
Most of the riders, regardless of nationality, will ride in the team jersey.
Rides who do specially well, will get a jersey from the race organisation displaying their specialty:
- Shortest overall time - yellow
- best sprinter - green
- best uphill - red dots on white
- best young rider - white
Who won the 1909 Tour De France?
Vincenzo Nibali, from Messina, Sicily, Italy, won the 2014 Tour de France. The race featured 21 stages and covered a distance of 2,276 miles.
Where did Lance Armstrong win his first Tour de France?
American cancer survivor Lance Armstrong set a record when he won 7 Tour de France, from 1999-2005.
He always won while riding a Trek brand bicycle and riding for the US Postal Service (USPS) first and then later the Discovery Channel.
He has now been stripped of his titles and the record, due to the compelling evidence and his eventual confession to the systematic use of illegal performance enhancing drugs.
Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France every year from 1999 to 2005.
Seven consecutive wins.
Who compete in le tour de France?
The people competing in the TdF are all professional cyclists, arranged in teams. It doesn't have to be the same teams every year, nor will the teams have the samemembers from one year to the next.
To know exactly who raced you need to look for info for the particular year you're interested in.
How do riders eat during the tour DE France?
Each team has a couple of riders known as "domestiques", help/assist riders.
During a lull in the race they'll drop back to the team car and pick up bottles, energy gels, bars, bananas etc and then catch up with the rest of the team and distribute the food drink.
Sometimes they'll stuff their pockets, sometimes they'll get a simple shoulder bag to carry it back with.
During a professional race, the riders don't stop for anything. They'll eat and drink on the move, and if needed, pee on the move.
In which sporting event does the leader wear a yellow jersey?
Before the days of easy media access, having the different types of top riders wear easily recognizable jerseys was a simple way of helping the spectators track the action.
There's nothing special about the jersey being yellow, it might just as well have been any other easily recognizable colour/pattern - but now they choose yellow.
What is a sprint in the tour de France?
It's a specially posted sub-section of the stage, with a beginning and an end. Out of those riders who reach the beginning of the sprint section together, the one who is first to the end will get the points for that sprint.
After the end of the sprint section, the stage will continue.
A solo rider ahead of the pack won't get any sprint points, even if he is first through the sprint section.
Why wasnt the tour de France held from 1940 to 1945?
Tour de France was interrupted during World War 1 and 2.
How many cyclists have died in the tour de France?
More than 200 cyclists will compete this year. Here is the full list:
AG2R-La Mondiale (France): John Gadret (Fra), Christophe Riblon (Fra), Nicolas Roche (Irl).
And six riders from: José Luis Arrieta (Spa), Maxime Bouet (Fra), Dimitri Champion (Fra), Cyril Dessel (Fra), Hubert Dupont (Fra), Vladimir Efimkin (Rus), Martin Elmiger (Swi), David Le Lay (Fra), Julien Loubet (Fra), Lloyd Mondory (Fra), Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita), Ludovic Turpin (Fra).
Astana (Kazakhstan): Alberto Contador (Spa), Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), David De la Fuente (Spa), Andriy Grivko (Ukr), Jesus Hernandez (Spa), Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz), Daniel Navarro (Spa), Benjamin Noval (Spa), Paolo Tiranlongo (Ita).
BBox-Bouygues Telecom (France): Thomas Voeckler (Fra), Pierrick Fédrigo (Fra), Pierre Rolland (Fra), Cyril Gautier (Fra), Yukiya Arashiro (Jap), Nicolas Vogondy (Fra), Matthieu Sprick (Fra), Anthony Charteau (Fra), Sébastien Turgot (Fra).
BMC Racing (US): Alessandro Ballan (Ita), Brent Bookwalter (US), Marcus Burghardt (Ger), Cadel Evans (Aus), Mathias Frank (Swi), George Hincapie (US), Karsten Kroon (Hol), Steve Morabito (Swi), and Mauro Santambrogio (Ita).
Caisse d'Epargne (Spain): Imanol Erviti (Spa), José Iván Gutiérrez (Spa), Vasil Kiryienka (Blr), Christophe Moreau (Fra), Mathieu Perget (Fra), Rubén Plaza (Spa), José JoaquÃn Rojas (Spa), Luis León Sánchez (Spa), Rui Costa (Por).
Cervelo (Switzerland): Xavier Florencio (Spa), Volodimir Gustov (Ukr), Jeremy Hunt (GB), Thor Hushovd (Nor), Andreas Klier (Ger), Ignatas Konovalovas (Lit), Brett Lancaster (Aus), Dan Lloyd (GB), Carlos Sastre (Spa).
Cofidis, le Crédit en ligne (France): TBC
Euskaltel-Euskadi (Spain): Iñaki Isasi (Spa), Juan José Oroz (Spa), Alan Pérez (Spa), Rubén Pérez (Spa), Samuel Sánchez (Spa), Egoi Martinez (Spa), Amets Txurruka (Spa), Iván Velasco (Spa), Gorka Verdugo (Spa).
Footon-Servetto (Spain): TBC
Française des Jeux (France): TBC
Garmin-Transitions (US): Julian Dean (NZ), Tyler Farrar (US), Ryder Hesjedal (Can), Robbie Hunter (SA), Martijn Maaskant (Hol), David Millar (GB), Johan Van Summeren (Bel), Christian Vande Velde (US), David Zabriskie (US).
HTC-Columbia (US): Mark Cavendish(GB), Bernhard Eisel (Aut), Bert Grabsch (Ger), Adam Hansen (Aus), Tony Martin (Ger), Maxime Monfort (Bel), Mark Renshaw (Aus), Michael Rogers (Aus), Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Blr).
Katusha (Russia): Pavel Brutt (Rus), Sergei Ivanov (Rus), Joaquim RodrÃguez (Spa), Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Robbie McEwen (Aus), Alexander Kolobnev (Rus), Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel), Eduard Vorganov (Rus), Alexandr Pliuschin (Rus).
Lampre-Farnese (Italy): Grega Bole (Slo), Damiano Cunego (Ita), Mauro Da Dalto (Ita), Francesco Gavazzi (Ita), Danilo Hondo (Ger), Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita), Adriano Malori (Ita), Alessandro Petacchi (Ita), Simon Spilak (Slo).
Liquigas-Doimo (Italy): Ivan Basso (Ita), Francesco Bellotti (Ita), Kristjan Koren (Slo), Roman Kreuziger (Cze), Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Blr), Daniel Oss (Ita), Manuel Quinziato (Ita), Sylwester Szmyd (Pol), Brian Bach Vandborg (Den).
Milram (Germany): Gerald Ciolek (Ger), Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger), Linus Gerdemann (Ger), Roger Kluge (Ger), Christian Knees (Ger), Luke Roberts (Aus), Thomas Rohregger (Aut), Niki Terpstra (Hol), Fabian Wegmann (Ger).
Omega Pharma-Lotto (Belgium): Mario Aerts (Bel), Francis de Greef (Bel), Mickaël Delage (Fra), Sebastian Lang (Ger), Matthew Lloyd (Aus), Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa), Jürgen Roelandts (Bel), Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel), Charly Wegelius (GB).
Quick Step (Belgium): Carlos Barredo (Spa), Tom Boonen (Bel), Sylvain Chavanel (Fra), Dries Devenyns (Bel), Kevin De Weert (Bel), Jérôme Pineau (Fra), Kevin Seeldrayers (Bel), Jurgen Van de Walle (Bel), Maarten Wynants (Bel).
Rabobank (Holland): Denis Menchov (Rus), Robert Gesink (Hol), Óscar Freire (Spa), Lars Boom (Hol), Grischa Niermann (Ger), Koos Moerenhout (Hol), Maarten Tjallingii (Hol), Bram Tankink (Hol), Juan Manuel Gárate (Spa).
RadioShack (US): Lance Armstrong(US), Levi Leipheimer (US), Andreas Klöden (Ger), Chris Horner (US), Janez Brajkovic (Slo), Sergio Paulinho (Por), Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr), Grégory Rast (Swi), Dmitry Muravyev (Kaz).
Saxo Bank (Denmark): Fabian Cancellara (Swi), Andy Schleck (Lux), Fränk Schleck (Lux), Jens Voigt (Ger), Stuart O'Grady (Aus), Matti Breschel (Den), Chris Anker Sorensen (Den), Jakob Fuglsang (Den), Nicki Sorensen (Den).
Team Sky (GB): Michael Barry (Can), Steve Cummings (GB), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Swe), Simon Gerrans (Aus), Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa), Thomas Lofkvist (Swe), Serge Pauwels (Bel), Geraint Thomas (GB), Bradley Wiggins(GB).
Who is trying to win their seventh tour de France?
Right now(2013) there's no one in a position to win the 7th overall TdF.
But there might be several riders hoping for a 7th stage win.
How much money does the french economy make from tourism during the tour de France?
Right now, it's about 450,000 euros, which is approximately 594,495.
The 2009 winner of the Yellow Jersey receives a prize of EUR 450,000.
I believe they get like a few million dollars which they split among their team. You don't win the tour for the money. You win for the title. The money easily follows if you're the winner and you haven't been found to be a doper. Also the overall winner for the team gets a yellow jersey.
There are actually multiple "winners" in the Tour. Recognized riders include best overall time (maillot juane), best sprinter (maillot verte), best climber (king of the mountains, or maillot à pois rouges), and a few others.
Besides eternal fame and glory (in the eyes of Europe at least), that rider is considered top pick for teams that wish to compete in the Tour next year. There's also prize money--the maillot juane gets somewhere around $720,000 to $750,000 (US).
Representing the prestige of the race, these riders are also presented with special jerseys. Riders who end a stage of the race with the best overall time get to take home the "yellow jersey" (english for maillot jaune) and wear it in the next day's stage. The person ending le Tour with the best time gets to wear it next year on stage 1 if they compete. Same thing with the other riders--maillot verte is the "green jersey", maillot à pois rouges is the "polka dot jersey", etc.
There are also trophies, lion stuffed animals, flowers, podium girl kisses, and special prizes awaiting riders who accomplish certain things like stage wins, fastest to a certain landmark, and others.
