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.

Records

Lance Armstrong (United States) holds the record as the only rider to have won the Tour seven times (consecutively 1999–2005); he retired after the 2005 Tour.

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Four other riders have managed to win the Tour five times:

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• Jacques Anquetil (France) in 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1964;
• Eddy Merckx (Belgium) in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1974;
• Bernard Hinault (France) in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985;
• Miguel Induráin (Spain) in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995 (the first to do so in five consecutive years).

Three other riders have managed to win the Tour three times:

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• Philippe Thys (Belgium) in 1913, 1914, and 1920;
• Louison Bobet (France) in 1953, 1954, and 1955;
• Greg LeMond (USA) in 1986, 1989, and 1990

Gino Bartali holds the record of longest time span between titles, having earned his first and last Tour victories 10 years apart (in 1938 and 1948 respectively).

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In terms of nationality, riders from France have won most Tours (36), followed by Belgium (18), United States (10), Italy (9), Spain (8), Luxembourg (4), Switzerland and the Netherlands (2 each) and Ireland, Denmark and Germany (1 each).

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