Did you know that the Tour de France is the biggest cycling race in the world? Every year in June, around 170 riders set off to cycle across France and neighboring countries in just over three weeks. The riders have just two rest periods. That’s pretty crazy, isn’t it? In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the Tour de France as a amateur to be able to join in the conversation.
There are three major national tours in road cycling: the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España. Together they form the ”Grand Tours„.
The Tour de France is the oldest of the three races and has been held annually in June and July since 1903. It is also considered the toughest road cycling race and the third largest sporting event in the world. The route runs right across France – over mountains and valleys – and occasionally through neighboring countries. The exact route and the places it passes through change every year – one year the route heads east in a clockwise direction and the next year it heads west or south, for example. However, the route is always around 3,500 kilometers long. Traditionally, the route forms a hexagon and is ridden in several stages. In 2024, there will be 21 different stages that the riders have to complete within 23 days.
A different stage, i.e. a different section of the route, is ridden each day. There are different types of stages that are ridden in the Tour de France: The flat stage, mountain, hilly and individual time trials.
The type of stage also describes the section of the route. In a flat stage, the route is, as the name suggests, very flat, so the main focus here is on fast sprints. In the mountain stage, the riders cycle between 120 and 200 kilometers on very demanding mountainous terrain. The hilly stage includes both flat and steep sections. The hilly and flat stages are between 150 and 250 kilometers long. In the individual time trials, the time of each rider is measured individually. Here the riders start one after the other and not in a bunch.
As a rule, there is one rider in each team who specializes in one type of stage. There is the time trial rider who wants to ride the fastest sprints, the mountain rider who wants to ride the best classification in the mountain stages and a rider who rides for the overall victory of all stages. The remaining riders in a team provide support, for example by providing slipstream or fetching water. There are 22 teams at the start of the Tour de France. A team consists of 8 cyclists, plus other team members who accompany the cyclists by car or motorcycle and transport spare bicycles, for example.
The riders receive points after each stage. The best riders in each stage receive a special jersey, which they may wear until another rider receives a better score. These jerseys are presented at a ceremony at the end of each stage (even if the rider currently wearing the jersey is allowed to keep it).
The leader of the overall classification receives the yellow jersey. The rider with the best mountain classification may wear a white jersey with red dots. The green jersey identifies the cyclist with the highest number of points. There is also a white jersey for the best rider under the age of 26.
In the first Tour de France, the participants cycled for 18 hours at a stretch – day and night – to cover the (then significantly shorter overall) distance. Today, a stage takes between 4 and 5 hours. Fun fact: A cyclist burns up to 130,000 calories during the entire Tour de France route.
A new stage does not always start where the last one ended, but usually at a new location so that as many cities as possible can be visited. The riders then travel together with their team to the next venue.
No matter where the Tour de France begins, since 1975 it has always ended with a ride along the Champs Elyséees in Paris.
It is an unwritten law among Tour de France participants that the leader is not attacked on the final stage. Therefore, the last stage is more like a show ride.
The overall winner in the individual classification will receive prize money of 500,000 euros. Prize money totaling 2.6 million euros will be paid out. Every driver who makes it to Paris in places 20-160 will receive another 1,000 euros.
