| The Tour de France is the BIG one; it’s | | | | of life; he beat the cancer and went on to |
| the World cup and the Olympics all in one. It | | | | beat all comers in the Tour de France.The |
| has it all, the high mountains, the wind | | | | course.The race starts in a different town |
| swept northern planes and the heat of the | | | | every year and every other year it starts |
| south. It also has the world’s media, | | | | outside France, the choice of stage towns is |
| all the top teams and riders and millions of | | | | a combination of money and sporting |
| cycling mad fans watching. The other | | | | considerations, the towns will pay for a |
| “Grand Tours” of Italy and Spain | | | | start or a finish, but they need to be near a |
| are as exciting, sometimes more so, but they | | | | mountain or a cobbled road or be near other |
| don’t have the thing the Tour has, that | | | | town who want to host the Tour. The Towns pay |
| unique Tour ness, that unique French ness.How | | | | to be the centre of interest for a day, the |
| it started.It all started in 1903, when the | | | | Tour also brings in a lot of money in tourism |
| French daily paper, L’Auto wanted to | | | | and the Towns collect much more than they pay |
| sell more than its competitor, Le | | | | and the world will remember the name of the |
| Vélo, who at that time was the only | | | | Town, for at least a day.The riders.All the |
| paper reporting on cycle racing. It was | | | | best riders want to win the Tour de France, |
| suggested to the papers director, Henri | | | | but they cant, from the 200 or so starters |
| Desgrange that they should organise a road | | | | there is a possible five or six riders who |
| bike race all round France. The first race | | | | can win, the rest are either helping their |
| was 2,428 kilometres split into six stages | | | | team leaders or sprint or mountain |
| and was run off at 25.29 kilometres per hour | | | | specialists who want to win stages or points |
| and out of the 60 starters 21 finished and | | | | or mountain jerseys, this keeps the race |
| the race was lead from start to finish by | | | | active and interesting from beginning to |
| Maurice Garin.The Heroes.Over the years there | | | | end.The BIG Tour.The Tour is the biggest, but |
| has been a lot of heroes in the Tour de | | | | that has its problems, some Towns are not big |
| France, you could say all the riders are | | | | enough, hotels etc., the television needs |
| heroes, to win the race once is hard, but to | | | | more space, the journalists need more phone |
| win it five times is phenomenal. Only five | | | | lines and computers, more and more people are |
| men have done this, and one of these has won | | | | following the race and the riders can be |
| it seven times. French rider Jacques Anquetil | | | | forgotten about in all the razzmatazz, but |
| was the first to win the race five times, | | | | its still the biggest sporting event in the |
| Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and then | | | | world, long may in run!Alastair Hamilton is a |
| Spaniard Miguel Indurain all equalled him. | | | | successful writer who offers a truly unique |
| Then the American, Lance Armstrong started to | | | | depth of experience in competitive cycling, |
| win in 1999 and didn’t stop until he | | | | he also contributes adding technical articles |
| had won it a record seven times in a row. | | | | on road bikes to some cycling online |
| This is all the more amazing as he is a | | | | magazines. Please, visit to reach further |
| cancer survivor and was given a 50/50 chance | | | | information on bike and cycling news. |