The Tour de France – starting out as a sheer business strategy, with a little over 60 entrants and 12,000 francs as its prize money – has now flourished into creating history.
A fierce rivalry between two French newspapers, Le Vélo and L’Auto, in 1903 gave birth to a legendary, men’s, annual, multi-stage bicycle race, covering landscape giants - from the Pyrenees to The Alps and everything in between – the Tour de France.
L’Auto was in severe financial crisis when its chief cycling journalist Géo Lefèvre, pitched the idea of a six-day long-distance, bicycling race, that traces its way all over France and conventionally has major pull – enough to attract multiple readers, that’ll ultimately result in L’Auto taking the upper hand, while their rival falls out of business.
And that’s precisely how the tale unfolded.
![](https://assetsss.thehindu.com/theme/images/ss-online/1x1_spacer.png)
What were the major turning points for Tour de France?
The race particularly hit its peak, when in 1910, the ‘circle of death’ area of The Pyrenees, was included in the route. It attracted the interest of numerous amongst the general public and was closely followed by 1919, when the famous yellow jersey was inaugurated and awarded to the rider finishing the race, at the lowest time frame.
How long is Tour de France?
Tour de France is now a race that goes on for 23 days and has 21 stages in it. It is the oldest of The Three Grand Tours – Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a Espana.
RELATED: Former champion Egan Bernal returns to Tour de France after life-threatening crash
How big is Tour de France?
The bicycling race flaunts a worth of £2.2 million and 12 million spectators, estimated during the pre-COVID era.
What does the race Tour de France consist of?
The Tour de France 2023 has the following stages:
- 4 hilly stages
- 8 flat stages
- 8 mountain stages
- 4 summits
- 1 individual time trial
- 2 rest days
(Time bonuses of 10,6 and 4 seconds are awarded to the 1st 3 finishers, as well)
![](https://assetsss.thehindu.com/theme/images/ss-online/1x1_spacer.png)
Where will 2023 Tour de France start?
Tour de France starts from Bilbao, Spain.
ALSO READ: Faulkner doubt for Tour de France Femmes after road accident
What is the route for Tour de France?
The race starts at Bilbao to Bilbao (182km), while drawing to the ultimate finale from Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to the obvious Paris Champs-Elysees (115km). are listed as follows:
Stages 1 – 21 of Tour de France:
What is the prize money for Tour de France?
176 riders part of 22 teams, including 18 UCI WorldTeams and 4 UCI ProTeams, pedal away to grab the USD 2.5 million along with the prestige that’s unquantifiable. This prize money is further divided into:
- USD 545,257 for the ultimate winner of Tour de France
- USD 219,130 will be the runner-up’s award
- USD 76,695 for the third place
- USD 1,100 for the riders finishing out of the top tier
- USD 12,052 for winners of individual stages
- USD 27,391 for the ‘King of the Mountains’, best climber winners
- USD 2,191 for ‘The Most Aggressive Rider’, at the end of each stage
How many teams are in the Tour de France 2023?
Tour de France will have 22 teams, with 18 (Union Cycliste Internationale) UCI World Teams and four UCI Pro Teams.
Tour de France participating teams:
Who is favoured to win Tour de France 2023?
The electrifying ingredient though, to this all-rounder salad, would be the crowd’s favourite – the Jonas Vingegaard-Tadej Pogacar rivalry.
![Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo–Visma is the defending champion of the Premier cycling race. Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo–Visma is the defending champion of the Premier cycling race.](https://assetsss.thehindu.com/theme/images/ss-online/1x1_spacer.png)
Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo–Visma is the defending champion of the Premier cycling race. | Photo Credit: AP
Vingegaard, the Danish reigning champion along with the winner of the best-known event in the cycling calendar (2020 –21), have been favourites, in the betting arena as well.
Where can I watch Tour de France in India?
Tour de France will be live telecast on EUROSPORT. The channel, with a partnership with The Global Cycling Network, has purchased the streaming rights for the whole of Tour de France in India.
Comments
SHARE