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| Route of the 2010 Tour de France 3642 km (2263 mi) of riding |
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race that covers approximately 3,600 kilometres (2,200 mi) throughout France and bordering countries. The race lasts three weeks in summer and its competitors come from around the world. The race is broken into segments called stages run non-stop during the day. There are typically 21 stages that cover a variety of terrains from flat plains to mountains. Individual times to finish each stage are totalled to determine the overall winner at the end of the race. The rider with the lowest accumulated / aggregate time at the end of each day wears a yellow jersey. The course changes every year but it always finishes in Paris. Since 1975, the climax of the final stage has several circuits of the boulevards of the Champs-Élysées.
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| Images from stage 18 of the 2010 Tour de France. LtoR, Stage winner, Britain's Mark Cavendish celebrating on the finish line. The breakaway lead group, LtoR: Italy's Daniel Oss, Denmark's Matti Breschel, France's Benoit Vaugrenard and France's Jerome Pineau. The peloton pack ridding past a horseman. Yellow jersey (worn by the overall leader) wearer, Spain's Alberto Contador (C) celebrating on the podium with US actors and official guests Tom Cruise (R) and Cameron Diaz (L) in the 198 km and 18th stage of the 2010 Tour de France cycling race run between Salies-de-Bearn and Bordeaux, southwestern France. Image Credit: Joel Saget-Lionel Bonaventure-PA/AFP/Getty Images at Yahoo Sports |
Riders and Teams
The participants are all members of teams that are usually identified by their main sponsor or sponsors. Entry is by invitation to teams chosen by the race organiser, the Amaury Sport Organisation
Each team starts with nine riders though because of injury, fatigue or disqualification, the number of riders can drop and in some instances, the number of teams can drop as well. The number of starting teams usually varies between 20 to 22. In total, the race starts with close to 200 racers. In 2010, the number was 197.
Team members help one another during the race. One of the most significant ways is for support riders called lead-out riders, to ride in front of a team member who specializes in sprinting to the finish. Riding behind a group reduces the energy required to maintain a particular speed by as much as 30%. This tactic is called drafting. The sprinter will ride behind the lead-out group until he is within sight of the finish line when he will sprint out from behind the group and race to the finish. Additional support is provided by a team manager, mechanics and other support staff members who ride in cars behind the main body of racers.
During the race itself, many riders from different teams will ride together in a group called the peloton.
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| A rider breaking away from the peloton close to the finish |
Winning
Riders and teams are provided to win stages in various classifications. Specialists such as sprinters and mountain climbers are usually expected to when stages but not the final race when it ends in Paris. Indeed, is possible to win the yellow jersey in Paris, without winning a single stage, even the final stage that ends in Paris! That is because, the greatest of all the prizes - the yellow jersey that is worn by a winner of the general classification - is won by having the lowest accumulated time of all the daily races or stages. Greg LeMond won the 1990 Tour without winning a single stage.
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| The winner! |
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| The overall leader after each stage gets to wear a yellow jersey and the winner after the final stage in Paris receives a trophy. |
