Tour of France

The Tour de France (French for "Tour of France"), often referred to as La Grande Boucle, Le Tour or The Tour, is the most famouestigious roaycle race in t It has been held annually since 1903, interrupted only by World War I and World War II, and is contested over the course of three weeks each July. It is a long-distance stage r competition for professional cycling teams, travder who finhes the course of the race in the least accumulated time.Other major stage races include the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) and the Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain). The Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and World Cycling Championship constitute the Triple Crown of Cycling. While the other two European Grand Tours are well-known in Europe and ate the continent, and even the UCI World Cycling Cp is only familiar to cycling enthusiasts. The Tour de France, in contrast, has long been a household name around the globe, even among people who are not generally interested i cycling, and is for cycling what IFA World Cup is to football (so in global popularity. The race is the world's largest annual pro sporting event, measured in the number of viewers.
of the UCI ProTour race series. The most recent Tour was th as a publicity event for the newspaper L'Auto (ancestor of the present l'Équipe) by its editor and coPetit Journal), and Bordeaux-Paris. The idea for a round-France is also credited to one of his nali Lefèvre, with whom Desgrange had lunch at the Café de Madrid in Parin leapt from 25,000 before th Tour to 65,000 after it; in 1908he race boosted circulation past a quarter of a miduring the 1923 Tour it was selli0,00di takes each rider to complete each stage is noted, recorded and accumulated. Riders who finish in the same group are awarded the same time, with possible subtractions due to time bonuses. Two riders are said to have finished in the same group if the gap between them is less than one bike-length. A crashin the same group entering the final kilometer ais known as the General Classification, or GC. The overall winner is the one who is ranked first on GC at the end of the finhich Greg LeMond did in 1990). Winning a Tour de France stage is considered a great pro cycling achievement, more prestigious than wmber of stages has varied in the past, recently the Tour has consisted of about 20 stages, with a total length of between 3,000 and 4,000 km (1800 to 2500 mi). In addition to the race for the oof these competitions are represented by certain coloured jerseys; see below for more information.