Tour de France

The Tour de France (French for Tour of France), often referred to as La Grande Boucle, Le Tour or The Tour, is an epic long distance road bicycle racing competition for professionals held over three weeks in July in and around France. It has been held annually since 1903, interrupted only by World War I and World War II. The most recent Tour was the 2005 Tour de France.

Culture and customs

The Tour is immensely popular and important in France, not only as a sporting event but also as a matter of national identity and pride. Any Frenchman who has won the Tour becomes an object of public adoration in his native land. It is said that any rider who has worn the yellow jersey, even for a day, will never go hungry or thirsty again in France.

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Millions of spectators line the route every year to see the Tour first-hand, some of them having encamped a week in advance to get the best views. In the hours before the riders pass, a carnival atmosphere prevails. Any amateur rider or, in fact, just about anyone, is free to attempt the course on his bicycle in the morning, and after that there begins a garish cavalcade of advertising vehicles blaring music and tossing hats, souvenirs, sweets and free samples of all sorts. As word passes that the riders are approaching, the fans begin to encroach on the road until they are often just an arm’s length from the riders.

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The riders, unlike some of their fans, have traditionally tempered their competitiveness and enthusiasm with an elaborate but unwritten code of honor. Whenever reasonably possible, one allows a rider to lead the peloton when the race passes through his home village or on his birthday, and it often happens that the winner of the stage held on Bastille Day is French. One does not attack a leading rider who has suffered a mechanical breakdown or other misfortune, one who is eating in the feed zone or one who is enjoying un besoin naturel (roughly translated to a natural need, the practice of answering nature's call). Unless the final stage is a time trial--or in the case of Pedro Delgado attacking the yellow jersey of Stephen Roche in 1987 on the Champs-Elysées--riders generally do not launch attacks on the leader of the tour on the final stage, giving the leader one final day to bask in the glory of winning the yellow jersey.

Related Topics:
Bastille Day - Attack

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The lanterne rouge is the rider ranked last in the general classification, who may wind up in Paris with an overall time five or more hours longer than that of the winner. The rider may just be a lowly domestique, but such is the sympathy of the French public that finishing last is actually very prestigious. The money a rider can generate through publicity is much greater if he finishes last than second from last. Thus, in the past many riders have attempted to engineer themselves into last place by artificial means. Other riders may just be ill or slightly injured and unwillingly end up as the lanterne rouge.

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As the Tour becomes ever more international and commercial, it remains to be seen whether the customs of the past will continue to be observed.

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