Tour de France – Some Fun Facts for Dummies
Tour de France – Fun Facts For Dummies (like me)
Last evening my year 2 daughter brought home a reading book from school all about the Tour de France. It contained a number of interesting facts which I didn’t know and thought I’d share.
Did you know?
The first Tour de France was held in 1903.
It was started by a French newspaper L’Auto as a means to boost circulation.
1903 Tour de France was run in six stages. Compared to modern stage races, the stages were extraordinarily long, with an average distance of over 400 km (250 mi), compared to the 171 km (106 mi) in 2004.
The race would begin at dawn and often not finish until 9pm.
Originally the route was largely flat, with only one stage featuring a significant mountain.
The course changes every year and goes though many parts of France and other countries too.
The race always finishes in Paris.
It takes more than twenty days to ride the course.
Each day of racing is called a stage. Some stages take only a couple of hours, some stages take most of the day.
Why the yellow jersey?
L’Auto was printed on yellow paper, so the company decided that the cyclist leading the Tour de France should wear a jersey the same colour as the newspaper. Apparently the colour yellow would make spectators think of the newspaper.
Experience the TdF for Yourself
You can experience the ultimate ‘Tour de France‘ cycling 3600 km in 6 weeks with 6 rest days, 600 km per week over 35 stages instead of the original 21! Our 2016 tour departs 13th June 2016. Click for more….
