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CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the number of competing teams in the Tour de France. The correct number is 22.
The 110th edition of the Tour de France, the most challenging and best-known bicycle race in the world, starts July 1 in Bilbao, Spain, and ends 2,115 grueling and painful miles later on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris on July 23.
In France, the tour is more than a three-week race – it’s a cultural phenomenon. Ten million to 12 million racing fans will line the roads of the course to cheer on 176 riders among 22 teams.
Around the world, millions will watch on broadcast TV or streaming services. 41.5 million viewed the 2022 race on the French public service broadcaster France Télévisions alone.
And while nearly 200 riders compete, only one will win.
The race: More than 2,100 miles in 21 days
The Tour de France is actually a collection of 21 single-day races, called stages, over 23 days. (Two rest days are built in.) The stages range from:
- Flat (8 stages): While the route is not always flat, racers usually ride together in a large group called a peloton. Flat stages end with riders breaking away by themselves or a large group sprinting together.
- Hilly (4 stages): Considered more arduous than a flat stage but less difficult than a mountain stage.
- Mountain (8 stages): First introduced in 1910, mountain stages are the most challenging. This year, riders will climb the 6,939-foot Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees.
- Time trial (1 stage): Individual riders race against the clock. The 2023 time trial is 13.7 miles. The other stages average to 105 miles, and the longest stage is 130 miles.
Tour route is different every year
The Tour de France has been held annually – except for war years – since 1903. While the format stays the same, the route changes every year, alternating between a clockwise and counterclockwise circuit of France.
It’s designed by two men, Christian Prudhomme, a former TV journalist who is general director of the tour, and Thierry Gouvenou, a former pro racer who is the tour’s race director. Prudhomme decides the general route and Gouvenou maps out details, linking towns and cities together.
The tour was confined to France in the early years but has expanded beyond French borders. The Grand Départ, the start of the race, was held outside France for the first time in 1954, in the Netherlands.
Other nations have hosted the Grand Départ, including the U.K. in 2007 and 2014.
Since 1975, the final stage has ended in Paris. In 2024, however, the race will finish in Nice.
Do women compete in the Tour de France?
Women have competed, but not directly with men and not over the same distances. Women have raced on smaller editions of the tour over the years, once in 1955 and again from 1984 to 1989. That series was canceled over financial problems.
Other equivalent events such as la Grande Boucle Féminin were held, but these did not last.
The women’s tour was revived in 2022 with 144 women competing in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, a smaller version of the men’s event with 640 miles over eight days.
Femmes avec Zwift returns this year, with women riders racing eight days over a 594-mile course.
Which riders are favored to win this year?
The top three contenders according to Cycling News are:
How does a rider win the Tour de France?
The overall winner is the rider with lowest accrued time over the 21 stages of the race. It’s possible to win the tour without winning a single stage – American rider Greg LeMond won in 1990 without a stage win. Roger Walkowiak of France won in 1956 without winning a stage.
Overall leaders wear a distinctive yellow jersey as long as they’re in the lead. The jersey can be worn by a number of riders throughout the race. Its use was introduced in 1919.
There are also secondary honors, such as the award given to the rider who scores the most points, earned by finishing among the top 15 in a specific stage.
There’s also the King of the Mountains award for the rider who gets the most points in categorized mountain climbs.
Domestiques are the tour’s unsung heroes
Winning riders don’t win by themselves. They get crucial support from teammates, called “domestiques,” the French word for servants, who support the lead rider and the team overall.
Domestiques assist by:
- Bringing food and water to teammates.
- Helping leaders with flat tires and mechanical breakdowns, including giving top riders their own wheels or even bikes to continue the race.
- Riding in front of top riders to provide a windbreak.
- If a top rider falls behind, domestiques will lead him back to the pack.
The windbreak technique is called drafting, in which domestiques cut the wind ahead of the top rider. Cycling sources say the top rider conserves 15% to 40% of his energy in drafting.
Riding in front of the pack is exhausting. Domestiques often trade off places in front of the top rider.
How physically demanding is it?
The race is considered one of the most difficult athletic events in the world. Participants are:
Riders can be injured in collisions or crashes. Broken bones, concussions and dislocated shoulders are common.
What do the jersey colors signify?
Tour riders wear the distinctive uniforms of their teams, but you’ll see four jerseys with special colors and significance.
Tour de France terms you should know
- Peloton: A French term meaning “group.” It refers to the main pack of riders.
- Breakaway: One rider or a group of riders who have outdistanced the peloton.
- Attack: When a rider or riders race away from the group.
- Team leader: The best rider on the team.
- Time trial: A race against the clock.
- Rouleur: A steady rider with a consistent pace.
- Slipstream: The relatively still air behind a rider, used by followers to overcome air resistance.
- Drafting: Taking shelter in the slipstream of the rider ahead.
- Sag wagon: A vehicle that picks up riders who are no longer able to continue.
What do the riders win?
The tour says, “A total of 2.3 million euros (about $24.5 million) will be awarded to the teams and riders including €500,000 (about $531,820) to the final winner of the overall individual classification.”
Who are the legends of the Tour de France?
Past multiple winners include:
- Fausto Coppi | Italy, 1949, 1952
- Jacques Anquetil | France, 1957, 1961-64
- Eddy Merckx | Belgium, 1969-74
- Bernard Hinault | France, 1978-79, 1981-82, 1985
- Greg LeMond | U.S., 1986, 1989-90
- Miguel Indurain | Spain, 1991-95
American Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France a record seven times from 1999 to 2005, but he was stripped of his victories by the International Cycling Union in 2012 over allegations of using illegal drugs. He admitted to years of performance-enhancing drug use to Oprah Winfrey in a televised interview.
How to watch the Tour de France
Coverage of the 2023 Tour de France will be carried on:
- NBC Sports: Will broadcast select parts of race.
- Peacock: Will stream all race stages.
- USA Network: Will show condensed live coverage.
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SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Associated Press; VeloNews; letour.com; bicycling.com; cyclingnews.com
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