When you’re looking for Tour de France info, a good place to start is with the dictionary. There you’ll find two explanations for this world renowned event. The first definition is simple. It says it’s “A French bicycle race for professional cyclists that lasts three weeks and covers about 3,000 miles.” The second definition is more involved. It says, “The (Le) Tour de France (French for Tour of France), also simply known as Le 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, only interrupted by World War I and World War II, and is now one of the largest sporting events.” Although this explanation certainly sounds better, it still doesn’t give you as much Tour de France info as it could.
For a more in-depth look at Tour de France info, you need to research further. The race is actually broken down into stages including the ordinary stage, individual trials, and team trials. The ordinary stage is when all riders in the race start together and ride on the same road. This stage of the race can be further broken down into sub-stages including a flat terrain stage and a mountain stage. Obviously, the flat terrain stage is the part of the race that takes place on flat terrain. This is sometimes called the “sprinter’s stage” since this is the main part of the race during which sprinting takes place. Without hills or other obstacles to slow down the racers, they usually finish this stage of the race in a group.
The mountain stages are a different story. When you research Tour de France info, you will find that it’s usually the mountain stages of the race that determine who will stand a chance of ultimately winning. Some cyclists are better at riding in the mountains. Their endurance is higher and they weigh less, causing less resistance. This is particularly true if the race ends at the top of a mountain rather than the bottom.
The next stage is the team time trial. For those of you who want as much Tour de France info as you can get, we’ll cover the ins and outs of this stage. At the beginning, each team starts at equal intervals. These intervals vary in length but are usually around two to four minutes apart. Since you are riding as a team, the team’s individual riders will take turns in the lead allowing each rider to take a break. The teams usually ride in a formation of single pace line or double pace line. These types of formations allow for easier lead switching with less chance of a crash. When the entire team crosses the finish line, the time they receive as a team will be based on the time the fifth rider on that team crosses the line.
The final stage of the race is the individual time trial. Tour de France info dictates that this is the stage of the race where the individual riders race alone against the clock. Again, the starting times are at intervals and the line up of who goes when is determined from previous times on other stages of the race. Tour de France info also tells us that the riders who are good at these time trials are usually the better overall finishers. Once you begin your research into the race you‘ll find that the Tour de France is a bit more complex than just getting on your bike and racing.
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