Cycling's ultimate prize - and the world's greatest bicycle race - originated at the turn of the previous century from a feud between two rival French sport newspapers (Le Velo & L’ Auto-velo). 

The 2009 Tour de France will be the 96th Tour de France. Beginning on July 4, it will start in Monaco with a 15 km individual time trial (to include a section of the Circuit de Monaco). Stage 2 will also start in Monaco. A destination of Tour '09 will be Barcelona, and will include six nations: Monaco, France, Spain, Andorra, Switzerland and Italy. The total length is 3445 km, that includes 93km of time-trialing. There will be seven mountain stages with three uphill finishes, and one "medium" mountain stage. A team time trial will be held for the first time since the 2005 Tour de France.

Lance Armstrong, the seven-time winner from 1999 to 2005, is coming out of retirement and considering competing in the 2009 Tour de France. 
 

Background.
 
L'Auto-velo was founded by a former client of Le Velo - the original publication - who had become unhappy with their editorial policies. Le Velo won a trademark infringement suit against  L'Auto-velo, forcing it  to become  'L'Auto' (the predecessor to the present l'Équipe). Fearful of the namechange, L'Auto's editor - Henri Desgrange - embarked on a publicity drive, launching a bicycle race to rival the popular Paris-Brest and Bordeaux-Paris rides of the time.

The idea for an around-France stage race over roads and through towns (rather than on a track) came from one of Desgrange's youngest journalists - Georges Lefèvre - with whom Desgrange had lunch (at what is today the 'TGI Fridays' bar in Montmartre) in Paris on November 20, 1902.

On January 19, 1903, L'Auto announced "The greatest cycling trial in the entire World", a race from Paris to Lyon to Marseille to Toulouse to Bordeaux to Nantes, back to Paris. The race was to be ridden on the basic cycle-machinery of the day with no breaks, riders being expected to ride through the night. With a 20 franc entrance fee the response was poor, and only 15 riders had signed up by a week before the scheduled May 31st start.

Desgrange postponed the race to July 1, amending the conditions so that the first 50 riders would earn 5 francs a day (for their expenses), and by increasing the prize money to 20,000 franc.  60 cyclists entered this time around, and a legend was born.

The race’s start  had to be postponed to July 19th for logistical reasons, and comprised  six stages covering 2,428 kilometres over 19 days. When Maurice Garin – the Tour’s 1st winner - entered Paris, a crowd of 20,000 fanatic spectators greeted him, a special edition of L'Auto sold 130,000 copies and the event turned out a massive success.

The Tour increased L'Auto's daily circulation from 25,000 before the 1903 Tour to 65,000 after it.  In 1908 the race boosted circulation to a quarter of a million, during the 1923 Tour it was selling 500,000 copies a day, and a record of 854,000 copies sold was achieved during the 1933 Tour.

Today, the Tour is operated by the Société du Tour de France, a subsidiary of Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) - part of the media group that owns l'Équipe.
 
 

The Tour's development

With the instant popularity of the first race, the second race (1904) became notorious.

The riders’ poor behaviour and outright cheating (taking car trips and train rides) with fans leaving nails in the way of their favourites' rivals, forced Race officials to consider closure of the event. They eventually decided to keep going, but added rules.

The basic idea of a race through France, broken into stages and won on a cumulative time result has remained throughout the history of the Tour, but Desgrange felt that interest could only be sustained if it regularly changed.  In 1910 he added a stage through the Pyrenees, and in 1911 the Alps. Partway through the 1919 race it occurred to Desgrange that the race leader ought to wear something distinctive, since spectators along the route often had no idea who was winning. He decided on a yellow jersey - mainly because L'Auto was printed on yellow paper - and the famous maillot jaune (yellow jersey) was born. The first man who won it refused to wear this 'golden fleece' - as he (quite rightly) believed it singled him out as a target for his opponents and their supporters!

In 1930 the race was realigned with competitors organized into national teams, it was opened to advertisers, and live radio broadcasts reported on the Tour. In 1937 the use of the three-speed derailleur was allowed.  In 1952 and 1953 - respectively - two of the most famous climbs, Mont Ventoux (1,912 m / 6272.89 ft)) and Alpe d'Huez  (1,860 m / 6,102.288 ft) were added to the mix. In 1953 France's Louison Bobet's marked the tour's 50th anniversary with the first of three consecutive wins. In 1961 the Tour returned from national teams to sponsored teams. In 1975 the Tour finished along the Champs Elysees for the first time. In 1997 Uzbekistan's Dshamolidin Abdushparov became the first rider to be disqualified for taking performance enhancing banned substances.

Over the years technology forced Tour officials to continue to modify the rules that govern the overall race. In the early part of its history riders were responsible for carrying everything they needed to fix their steeds in the event of a breakdown, and it was against the rules to have help (much like today’s mountain bike races). Eventually, with roads and bikes improving, team-support cars were allowed and could carry spares & bikes in support of their riders.

The Tour is decided over a number of components wherein both teams and individual riders compete with one another. 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 the UK (visited in 1974, 1994 and hosting the start of the 2007 Tour).

The three weeks of racing will usually include two rest days, and the Tour alternates between starting inside and outside of France. The first few stages often go into or start in a neighbouring country, and it alternates running between clock - and anti-clockwise circuits (2003 having been a clockwise direction). From 1984 to 2003 there was a race called La Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale, often considered the Tour de France for women.

Entry to the race is by invitation only. Race organizers invite about 20 teams (each with nine cyclists) to compete, and for 2007 the total prize money is equivalent to approximately US$ 2.1 million.
 
 

The Tour's format

The Tour is often kicked off with a prologue - an individual time trial - wherein the riders ride hard for general classification points. The prologue and first stage are particularly prestigious and will typically be hosted by one town. In some years - like 2005 - there was no prologue.

During the first 10 days or so the stages are normally relatively flat giving rise to spectacular mass sprint finishes, whereafter it moves into the Alps and Pyrenees.

The particularly tough climb of Alpe d'Huez is a favourite, providing a stage finish in most Tours. In 2004 the mountain time trial ended at Alpe d'Huez, but it is unlikely to be repeated following complaints of abusive spectator behaviour from the riders.

Another famous mountain stage is the climb of the Mont Ventoux - often claimed to be the hardest climb due to its harsh conditions - and the Tour will usually involve one of either Mont Ventoux or Alpe'd'Huez in a year.

Mont Ventoux is by far the biggest mountain in its region, has been dubbed the "Giant of Provence", and lies some 20 km north-east of Carpentras, Vaucluse. The road over the mountain is often closed due to high winds. The top of the mountain is bare limestone without vegetation or trees, despite having been originally forested. (It was systematically stripped of trees from the 12th century onwards to serve the demands of the shipbuilders of the naval port of Toulon.) Its fame as a scene of great Tour dramas achieved worldwide notoriety when it claimed the life of Tom Simpson, who died on July 13, 1967 from a combination of amphetamines, alcohol and heat exhaustion whilst ascending. ( There is a memorial to Simpson near the summit.) In 1970, Eddy Merckx rode himself to collapse - winning the stage - for which he had to received oxygen. He woud recover and win the Tour!

Most of the stages of the Tour are mass start stages where the riders all start off together to cover a set route from one town to another. In an ordinary stage all riders start simultaneously, but the real start (départ réel) is some 2 to 5 km away from the starting point, and is announced by the Tour's director from the officials' car waving a white flag.  Riders are permitted to touch (but not push or nudge) and to shelter in drafting behind one another, and the rider who crosses the stage's finish line first wins.

The Tour will include individual time trials wherein the riders start out one at a time, in intervals, timed separately. The rider with the lowest time for the day is the winner of such ITT stage.

A team time trial stage - TTT - wherein all members of a team start off together in a time trial format, may also be included. All members will be credited with that of the 5th team member to cross the finishline. Riders who cannot keep up with their team-mates, however, are on their own and will be timed individually.

Unless the final stage consititutes a time trial, the riders generally do not attack during this stage leaving the leader to bask in the glory of winning. The final stage of the Tour is traditionally a relaxed procession sipping champagne into Paris's Champs Elysees, as the important classifications have usually been decided.

Given that crashes in the final kilometre can be huge pileups that are almost impossible to avoid, 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, preventing riders from being penalised for accidents that do not accurately reflect their performance on the stage as a whole. A crashed sprinter leading 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.

The Tour is popular and important for the fanatic cycling fans of  Europe. Millions of spectators line the route every year - nowhere more so than the Dutch at Alpe d'Huez - some having camped a week in advance to get a good view of the riders and the publicity caravane. Since 1993 Didi Senft -  dressed in a red devil's costume - has been the Tour's charismatic El Diablo, having been inspired by the flamme rouge.

The Tour's various competitions

The Tour has evolved into a race within a race, and with it a number of different coloured jerseys and titles are competed for:

• The General Classification (GC) – the winner of the GC is the rider with the lowest cumulative time over the entire race, and it is the most prestigious of titles. Standings in the GC are reported with reference to the time of the leader, as the time each of the other riders being slower than the leader. The standings for the GC are subject to adjustments as riders can earn “bonus” seconds (as deductions from their cumulative time) by winning or placing highly in a mass start stage, or by being one of the first 3 riders across pre-determined points on the course. In addition, riders who cross the finish line in an identifiable group are credited with the same time, and the rules try to accomodate a crash in the dying moments of the stage.
• The Points Competition - riders earn points based on the order of their finish in each stage. The leader in the points competition wears the - maillot vert - green jersey. The maillot vert is awarded for sprint points 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. Generally speaking, the more mountainous a stage, the less likely a sprint finish between many riders becomes.  Often the overall winner of the green jersey has been decided by the very last stage finish.
• Points are also awarded for individual time trials: 15 for the winner down to 1 for 10th palce. Additional points are available for sprints along the route, often two or three times a day, to pep-up the race. 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 aims to avoid what could result in dangerous mass sprints, and it is not unusual for the entire field to finish within in a single group - taking some time to cross the line - but being credited with the same time as the stage winner.
• The King of the Mountains competition – over the duration of the Tour it goes over a number of cols with key stage finishes at summits in the Pyrenees and / or Alps. Each of the major climbs in the Tour is categorized based on its level of difficulty (from a relatively painless category 4 up to long, steep category 1). The nastiest climbs - Galibier, Mont Ventoux, the Tourmalet and Alpe d’ Huez - are classed as “hors categorie”, where points are awarded to the first riders over the top of each climb  (the tougher the climb, the more the points). The King of the Mountains is decided by accumulated points with the leader / winner wearing the famed maillot a pois - white & red polka dot- jersey. It is a jersey said to have been inspired by a jersey that a 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, but very distinctive.
• The leader of the Best Young Rider competition (the highest placed GC rider under the age of 25) wears a - maillot blanc - white jersey.
• Prizes are also available for the leaders of the Team competiton, a separate GC result based on the total time of the first three riders of a team (exclusive of bonuses) on each stage. Another competition - a subjective assessment by race officials - determines who has the honour of wearing a red race number as the leader in the Most Aggressive Rider competition "prix de combativité" – which is awarded to the most stubborn break-away specialists / the rider who has done most to try to break clear of the field. There is also the unofficial competition not to be the Lanterne Rouge – the rider in last place on the GC.

Since inception to 2008 there has been 95 Tours, with 57 different GC winners. 5 riders have won 4 tours's GC (or more), with Lance Armstrong having won 7 on-the-trot. Germany's Erik Zabel have won the points competition 6 times, and France's Richard Virenque have won the King of the Mountains competition 7 times.

The riders are bound by an unwritten code of ethics and conduct. When possible a rider is 'allowed' to lead the race through his home village or on his birthday, and it is considered unsporting to attack a leading rider delayed by a mechanical breakdown, eating 'in the feed zone' or enjoying un besoin naturel. 

Not sticking to the ethics will lead to animosity, aggravation and 'flicking'. Strangely, younger riders often do attack in the feedzone...

How hard is it?

Today the Tour is referred to as the hardest sporting event on the planet, and by most measures it's true.

No other event demands similar aerobic effort day after day over three weeks, tearing across 3 600km of the French countryside via mountain passes, with riders riding themselves into a state of collapse. The distance and time within which the Tour is held is comparable to running a marathon several days a week for nearly three weeks, whilst elevating oneself over three Everests. As a result  the riders' energy expenditure frequently top 9,000 (gargantuan) calories a day, being of the highest ever recorded.

In order to sustain themselves (having an average daily food intake of 4,000 to 8,000 calories) riders not only have to eat to achieve full muscle glycogen recovery off the bike, but also during the stage / on the bike - a complicated task given the intricacies of race dynamics, intestinal tolerances and fuel demands during the race.

Over the course of the Tour's 19 stages a rider will perform 71,000 kilojoules of work, burning approximately 75,000 calories (equivalent to 135 decadent hamburgers) during the race itself. Even more impressive than the total amount of work done, however, is the peak power that such riders are able to sustain

In the past, riders used speed and (later) heart rate as rough approximations of how hard they were riding. Unfortunately, these measures are highly dependent on outside factors such as wind, or sickness, and does not really reflect the output delivered by a rider.

In measuring watt based power-output one can objectively measure one rider against another. A watt is a watt - it might get you farther in some conditions than others, and sometimes it feels harder to produce - but it's a consistent way to measure just how much power is being generated.

Over the course of the Tour a top rider will generally average 230 watts of power. However, during a time trial stage it can spike to an average of 380 watts (over 75 minutes) delivered. A top rider will spend almost four hours during the Tour at a power output level of more than 500 watts, being a (professional) flat-out sprint. Mere mortals cannot even reach such output, never mind sustain it!

With weight being the most important factor in climbing, a low-level amateur-racer can be expected to render an output of just less than 4 watts per kilogram. Top Tour riders can ride at such a level almost indefinitely, whilst delivering over 7-watts per-kilogram at their maximum.

In addition, professional riders can spend some time well over their lactic threshold and keep riding. They can do a 15 minute surge, drop back down below their threshold to recover, and do it all over again. Mortals having crossed their lactic  threshold, simply can't recover enough to be able to 'do it again'.

Merkx, Indurain and Armstrong are the great riders of our time. It would seem that they could simply put out more power - without crossing the anaerobic threshold - than other riders, which means they could ride harder, for longer.

Life after 'Le Tour' : the wind-down.
 
There is a post-Tour criterium circuit over the two weeks following its completion. These popular races are held in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Denmark and Austria, and are public spectacles where the fans can see their heroes, with jersey winners, big name riders and the Tour's lanterne rouge earning substantially in appearance fees and prize money.

In the heyday of Dutch post-Tour crits in the '70s there were more than 90 on offer, but today only a dozen or so remain. Before, these crits used to be an important part of a rider's annual earnings, however, television have improved salaries and realigned the crits as an exercise in publicity. The riders ride for applause, recognition, to promote their own brands, and - perhaps - just for fun.

In these crits the peloton's job is to put on a good show, to let a local hero break - pleasing the crowd - while the rest of the peloton will grimace in riding him down. Tactics aren't as important as presenting the riders to their audience. People come for the fun, they want to see the big names in a nice race - and they get what they want.

Allowing for the fact that the top three positions are usually pre-determined, the rest of the placings can be fought out in earnest with genuine racing, and there are various other races on show for amateurs, women, juniors and vets, all of whom are free to race eyeballs out while the crowd succumbs to the local brew.

In many European countries the 'fiets feest' is an ingrained part of culture, and a cycle-show to go with their beer is a long established pastime, allowing the Tour its 'fun' side.

Memorable moments of the Tour.

• In 1905 harsh mountain roads were added to the race. The Ballon d'Alsace  was the first big climb on any Tour, and René Pottier the first rider to the top, also winning the subsequent 1906 Tour.
• The first double-winner was Lucien Petit-Breton (1907 & 1908).
• 1909 saw the first really bad weather on Tour with snow on the higher ground.
• The Tour introduced the Pyrenees (1910) and the Alps (1911), but many riders were not convinced of the soundness of their inclusion, Octave Lapize having accused Desgrange of being "an assassin". He, however, won GC that same year.
• In 1911 there were allegations of rival teams poisoning riders. (It probably was true.)
• Phillippe Thys became the first rider to win three Tours.
• Frenchman Henri Pelissier's 1923 win was France's sole success  from 1910 to 1930, and the host nation began a love-hate relationship, as the Tour fascinated - but also appalled - France.
• Desgrange's creation had become the toughest event in world sport - riders being described as "convicts of the road" - the race was almost 5,500km in length with draconian enforcement of rules. Riders were restricted from any outside assistance and could not change either bikes, or anything else.
• In 1924, Ottavia Bottechia became the first Italian winner, repeating the victory a year later to became one of his country's major sporting figures. In 1927 he was murdered while out on a training ride, being the (much later deathbed confirmed) victim of Fascists who he had spoken out against during his reign.
• The 1930's saw the introduction of the Tour's 'caravane' which remains as a principal revenue earner for the organisers.
• In 1937 derailleur systems were permitted. Until then competitors had to get off and turn their wheel around every time the road changed from uphill to downhill!
• The post war years ( 1947 - 1958) saw the Italian rivalry between Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali as well as Louison Bobet's historic hattrick from 1953 to 1955.
• Jacques Anquetil won an unprecedented five Tours between 1957 to 1964. Until Miguel Indurain's emergence Anquetil was the greatest time-triallist in history having won 12 such tests in the Tour alone. He set a world hour record even before his first Tour win establishing himself as a sprinter, but he could also ride the mountains and won two stages in 1963 to prove the point. Anquetil did not always follow "a monk's life" in order to race. His idea of training was "A few whiskies, blonde cigarettes and a woman," he once suggested with tongue (only slightly) in cheek. Over-indulgence at a Tour barbecue in 1964 left him requiring revitalising champagne in the Pyrenees the next day!
• During this time Raymond Poulidor would top any popularity poll, after some agonising near-misses. The "eternal second" finished 2nd on five occasions, 3rd in three further Tours, never having worn the elusive yellow jersey.
• During the 1960s the Tour changed back to sponsored teams as opposed to the 'national team' format it had adopted previously.
• The 1967 Tour will always be remembered as the one in which Tom Simpson died on Mont Ventoux. The best British rider of his day was a victim of heat, altitude, his own determination and sadly, from doping. It is widely accepted that drugs were a way of life to ease the pain of the Tour (if not to improve performance). Simpson's death led to the first drug tests in 1968.
• Belgian Eddy Merckx burst onto the scene in 1969, with a stunning debut that earned him his nickname "The Cannibal". Merckx had 17 minutes to spare in Paris after a ride which included a 130km's solo effort across the Pyrenees. Not only did he win the race, but he also took the green jersey for the points classification, and the best climbers' prizes as well. He remains the only man in history to have won a clean sweep. Merckx is considered as both lucky and brilliant, and there was to be no attempt at his five consecutive victories untill only two decades later. Bernard Thevenet defeated Merckx in 1975 (having sat out 1973) after the Belgian was punched and knocked from his bike by a French fan.
• Bernard Hinault "Le Blaireau" (the Badger) was  as good a sequel as France could expect to Merckx. Like Anquetil, Hinault 'did not suffer fools gladly', and his five wins were marked with a series of rows with rivals and team-mates alike. Hhe emulated Coppi, Anquetil, Hugo Koblet and Merckx by winning the Tour on debut in 1978. Le Blaireau would win the Tour's GC a total of 4 times.
• Greg Lemond was set to become the first non-European winner of the Tour. The American's success changed cycling forever, and he could manage three wins,  but his achievements were  overshadowed by Spain's Miguel Indurain.
• Miguel Indurain dominated the Tour. His physique was unique with a resting heartbeat of 29 beats per minute and lungs being able to scoop up eight litres of air. Indurain destroyed rivals on the flats before holding his advantage on the climbs, and nobody could match up to the "extra terrestrial". Unlike the other five-times winners Indurain did not win his first Tour. He neither finished either it or even his second. But his career culminated in 5 consecutive wins, th esame year Italian Fabio Casartelli - Olympic gold medallist in Barcelona and a popular member of the Motorola team - died on a Pyrenean descent.
• After glimpses of greatness from Bjarne Riis,  Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani, the tour's greatest rider - to date - emerged from having been ransacked by cancer. Lance Edward Armstrong (previously Gunderson) first Tour success was regarded by some as 'a fluke' as both Ullrich and Pantani was absent. The millennium Tour - however - left no doubt as the best in the world were decisively beaten by the Texan's second win. He has gone on to win Le Tour's GC an unrivalled 7 times at average faster than anybody else, leaving a legendary legacy of cycling feats in the world's greatest endurance event. Armstrong stands larger than life as a monument to the potential of sheer willpower and the human spirit, and he will be long remembered for his far-reaching cancer awareness initiatives.
• American Floyd Landis won the Tour in 2006, riding what many considered the greatest stage ride of all time (pulling back an unheard of 8 minutes in stage 17, having cracked the day before) only to be subjected to doping scandal. The doping allegations were - perhaps - the culmination of cycling's 'summer of drugs', and raised the bar for cycling to clean up its act.
• Prior to the start of the 2007 tour, Ivan Basso, Erik Zabel and Bjarne Riis admitted having taking banned substances during their careers. (Time will tell how many others will 'come clean'.)
   
  Vive le Tour!