Tour de France Facts

Lance Armstrong will be riding a custom made Trek bike unveiled at the Tour de France. It's a new bike called the Madone.

France has the most Tour de France wins with 36, Belgium takes second with 18 wins, Spain third with 11 and the United States is fourth with 10.

The Tour de France does run through the entire country of France. It covers 3,500 km, or 2,200 miles for us Yanks, throughout France but doesn't circumnavigate the borders of the country.

There are 21 stages in the 2009 Tour de France, starting in Monaco and finishing in Paris on the Champs Élysées.

The Tour de France does not only run through France. It often has stages in other bordering countries. This year's tour visits the Principality of Monaco, Spain, the Principality of Andorra and Switzerland. In 2010, the Tour will start in Rotterdam, a Dutch province of South Holland in the west of the Netherlands.

The Tour de France was the brainchild of journalist, Géo Lefèvre, who thought up the Tour as a way to promote the newly launched L'Auto Magazine. L'Auto Magazine was launched as a rival to Le Velo, the first daily sports newspaper in France. At the time of the L'Auto's launch, The Dreyfus Affair was splitting the country into two divided fractions. Alfred Dreyfus, a french soldier, was found guilty of selling secrets to the Germans in 1895, and the debate over his innocence was taking place in papers across the country. Le Velo was advocating Dreyfus's innocence, and many regular advertisers for Le Velo, outraged at Le Velo's support for Dreyfus, started a rival paper L'Auto and the Tour was born as a way to promote the new rag.

The Tour de France is not the first racing competitions. The first Tour de France was held in 1903, and the first ever bicycle race is thought to have been a 1,200-meter race held on the May 31 1868 at the Parc de Saint-Cloud, Paris. It was won by Englishman James Moore who rode a wooden bicycle with iron tires.

Prior to 2009, Armstrong has participated in 11 Tours and won 7.

Lance Armstrong will ride four different Trek road bikes during the Tour de France: A regular bike, a spare bike, and a time-trial bike and a spare time-trial bike.

Alberto Contador of Team Astana is said by Velo News to be a favorite for the 2009 Tour de France, after having won in 2007 and his 2008 wins at the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana.

There are overall four different types of Jersey's that are awarded for different accomplishments:

• Yellow Jersey: General Classificaton Leader - which means that although each stage has a winner, the yellow jersey goes to the rider who has the fastest combined times in all of the stages.
• Green Jersey: Points Standings - awarded for sprint points at the end of each stage to the rider who is the leader of the points standings. Points are awarded to the fastest riders in each stage, and points vary depending on the terrain of the stage. More points are awarded for flat road racing stages and less for mountain stages.
• Red-Polka Dotted Jersey: Is called the King of the Mountains, and is awarded to the best climber.
• White Jersey: Young Rider Standings - awarded to the best rider under 25 years of age on January 1st of that year.

In addition to the Jersey's are two other distinctions made by attire:

• Yellow Cap: Leaders of the Teams - is given to the riders of the team who is leading the team standings.
• Red Number: Fighting Spirit Standings or Combativity Award - is awarded to the rider who displays the most effort and sportsmanship or is considered the most aggressive and "attacking" rider.

According to Pat McQuaid, the head of the International Cycling Union, the Tour de France will be the most rigorously tested sports event in history. There will be about 520 doping tests, and several of the 180 riders are already in the cross-hairs even before the three-week showcase even begins.

This year, Lance Armstrong has received a new road bike for every race, due to the art bike program with Trek. Each race bike is designed by a different artist then replicas are made and sold to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Lance Armstrong is the only person to win the Tour de France seven times. The previous record was five wins, shared by Miguel Indurain, Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx and Jacques Anquetil.

France's Henri Cornet is the youngest Tour de France winner. He won in 1904 at age 19.

The oldest winner of the Tour de France is Firmin Lambot (Belgium), who won in 1922 at age 36.

Multi-day bicycle races, known as Tours from the French word for a "circuit", are decided by totaling the time riders take on the daily stages. It's a simple manner of adding up cumulative time from stage to stage. The rider with the lowest amount of time wins. There are no time bonuses in this year's Tour de France, and while rare, it is entirely possible to win the General Classification and not take an individual stage victory.

After a race, Lance Armstrong and teammates eat lots of carbohydrates and proteins. They all eat the same thing: pasta, rice, omelets, toast.

Certain limits are imposed by the international regulations when choosing the routes for the Tour de France. The total mileage of the Tour cannot exceed 3,500 km, spread over 21 days of racing (2 days of rest compulsory), during which the distance of 225 km cannot be exceeded more than twice.

Started in 1930, a parade, known as the publicity caravan, precedes the Tour de France. It includes 180 decorated vehicles, 600 caravanists and 40 brands represented.

More than 16 million gifts are given away during the 45-minute publicity caravan.

More than 130,000 calories will be burned by a rider in the Tour de France.

There are 20 different teams competing in the 2009 Tour de France.

The Tour de France staff chooses the routes for the Tour de France. For this year's Tour, 252 towns applied to host a stage of the Tour de France. Each town's geographic location and its road conditions, road widths and ability to optimally host entertainment and riders safely is heavily scrutinized.

The 2009 Tour de France total distance is 3,500 kilometers.

The 2010 Tour de France will begin in Rotterdam in South Holland.

Greg Lamond had the fastest individual time trial at 54.545 kph over 24.5km in 1989.

In 1999, Lance Armstrong posted the fastest average time over the entire Tour at 40.276 kph.

In 1995, Italian cyclist Fabio Casartelli died in a crash, becoming the third fatality in the Tour de France history. The other accidents occurred in 1935 and 1967.

Since 1903, the Tour de France has been held every year except from 1915 to 1918 during WWI and from 1940 through 1946 during and after WWII.

Lance is the only person to win seven times. The previous record was five wins, shared by Miguel Indurain and Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx and Jacques Anquetil.

There are 180 cyclists competing in the Tour de France. Each competitor in the Tour belongs to a nine-member team. Each team has a leader, who is its best all-around cyclist. Other team members, called domestiques, help the leader by shielding the leader from wind, provide food or drink or offer support to the leader while climbing hills.