Tour de France Information

[Phil C]

For those new to this great race which is popular world wide it is a long bicycle race that covers over 2000 miles and goes around France and ends up in Paris. The interesting thing to note is that it usually even crosses into other countries that border France such as Germany, Luxembourgh, Belguim, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland. In fact this year it even crossed into the Netherlands (also known as Holland) even though it does not share a border with France.

In fact so far this year the Tour has entered into Germany, Luxembourgh, Belgium and the Netherlands.

By watching the tour you not only get the excitement of the race but you can enjoy the beautiful scenery of all of these countries as well as France. There are beautiful cities and country to be seen.

[Phil C]

Most know about Lance Armstrong winning the last 7 Tour de France Races but in 1986 Greg LeMond was the first American to win the race. He had some bad luck during those years he raced but still he did pretty good winning 3 races but to this day he feels that he could have won many more (maybe even 10) and he may be justified in his thinking even though it is debatable. After he won the Tour in 1986 he was the victim of a hunting accident which almost took his life. He didn't recover until 1989 (thus denying him participation in the 1987 and 1988 races) which was the year he won the closest Tour de France ever by 8 seconds. :eek:
He won again 1990 and then afterward the performers outraced him badly and he feels today that he would have won more after 1990 but that racers started to use drugs to enhance their performances. I don't know if that is true but if it is it would be a shame. Still winning three of them is pretty good.

This year the Tour lost several great racers due to drug scandles thus making this year's Tour the most wide open race ever without any clear favorites.

Lance Armstrong was accused (mainly by the French) of using drugs the past 7 years but every time he was tested he came out clean and he was tested very often.

[Phil C]

To win the Tour de France takes much training and preparation. It includes the cooperation of your teammates too. Luck is a factor too. You can be knocked out of the race by an untimely crash and quite often it is something you cannot control. Lance had many close calls during the past 7 years and fortunately he wasn't injured seriously during his crashes. That is why when one has multiple wins involves luck.

[Phil C]

Another interesting note is that Lance is a big UT fan and attended the Rose Bowl and was even interviewed before the game.

[Phil C]

Sometimes the Tour even takes place in Great Britain and Ireland!!
In fact next year it will start off in Great Britain and then move to the mainland of the continent.

Each year the race changes its' rotation around France. This year it is going counter clockwise around the Country. Next year it will go clockwise.