Tour de France For Dummies®
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2005923417
ISBN-13: 978-0-7645-8449-7
ISBN-10: 0-7645-8449-9
Manufactured in the United States of America
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Phil Liggett, a former competitive amateur cyclist, has attended every Tour de France since 1973 and is universally known as “the Voice of Cycling.” A television commentator since 1978, Liggett has also covered six Summer Olympics and four Winter Olympics. He has been recognized throughout his career with several international broadcasting awards and was nominated for an Emmy in 2003 as Outstanding Sports Personality.
Trained as a journalist in his native Great Britain, Phil worked for Cycling magazine for four years. He has held freelance positions with The Guardian and The Observer and currently writes for the Daily Telegraph in London. He has reported for BBC World Service radio, and in recent years has covered the Tour de France for the Outdoor Life Network. Phil is author and coauthor of several other books, including The Tour de France 1988 and 1989, The Complete Book of Performance Cycling, and The Fastest Man on Two Wheels: In Pursuit of Chris Boardman.
Phil has been married since 1971 to Pat Tipper, a 1968 Olympic speedskater. A masseuse, Pat has worked on five Tours de France for women and managed British teams at World championships and other major races. She currently works as a university lecturer in dance science. The Liggetts live outside of London.
James Raia has been a journalist since 1978. He has worked as a staff writer and columnist for three daily newspapers and has been a fulltime freelance writer since 1987. While traveling to more than a dozen countries on assignment, James has contributed sports, business, travel, and lifestyle articles to numerous newspapers, magazines, news services, and Web sites, including The New York Times, Associated Press, USA Today, Golf Magazine, and The Miami Herald.
James first reported on cycling in 1980 and has covered many domestic and international races, including four World Champion-ships and every Tour de France since 1997. He also publishes two electronic newsletters, Endurance Sports News and Tour de France Times, and a car review column The Weekly Driver, all available on his Web site: www.ByJamesRaia.com. He has provided Tour de France radio commentary for several networks, including National Public Radio. A long-distance runner who lives in Sacramento, California, James has completed more than 75 marathons and ultramarathons.
Sammarye Lewis has many roles in the cycling world, including photojournalist, cycling fan, and event management consultant. Reporting from the Tour for four years as Velogal, she writes a daily online Tour de France journal for Paceline.com, the Web site for Lance Armstrong and his team. She has contributed to Active.com, Athletic Insight.com, CyclingNews.com, and the Daily Peloton.com as well as several print publications. Sammarye is author of the book The Podium Girl Gone Bad — Twisted Tales from the Tour de France. She also created and markets Podium Girl Gone Bad apparel and works in race management and coordinator capacity for the U.S. Pro Cycling Tour.
Sammarye is Web master for the Unofficial Lance Armstrong Fan Club and Discovery Pro Cycling Team Fans Web sites as well as www.velogal.smugmug.com and www.velogal.blogspot.com.
To Trish, my long-suffering wife, who has never seen me in July since 1972, and to David Saunders, a television commentator and journalist who invited me to be his driver on the Tour de France in 1973 and who died in a car crash in 1978.
— Phil Liggett
To Gretchen Gaither, Marilyn Raia, and Elinore Raia, my wife, sister, and mother, for their encouragement and support, and to my deceased father, Anthony Vincent Raia, who taught me about the sportsmanship of life.
My sincere appreciation to coauthors Phil Liggett and Sammarye Lewis for their enthusiastic collaboration, and to editors Mikal Belicove and Tere Stouffer for their patience and professionalism. Also, many thanks to Jim Mohan, this book’s technical reviewer, for his insights and corrections.
— James Raia
I would like to thank Mikal Belicove, Acquisitions Editor, for his unwavering support and belief in this book and in me. Thanks also to Tere Stouffer, Project Editor, and the staff at Wiley Publishing, Inc., who worked so hard on this first-of-a-kind book. And special thanks to coauthors Phil Liggett and James Raia, who love the Tour as much as I do.
I would also like to thank the people of France and Belgium for their gracious hospitality and generosity every year. Thanks, too, for their unhesitating assistance during the times when I was hopelessly lost along the Tour route. Merci beaucomp por tout. Vive Le Tour!
— Sammarye Lewis
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Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development
Project Editor: Tere Stouffer
Acquisitions Editor: Mikal Belicove
Technical Editor: Jim Mohan
Editorial Supervisor: Carmen Krikorian
Editorial Manager: Michelle Hacker
Editorial Assistant: Melissa Bennett
Cover Photos: © Graham Watson Photography Limited
Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)
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Layout and Graphics: Joyce Haughey, Stephanie D. Jumper, Clint Lahnen, Melanee Prendergast, Heather Ryan, Julie Trippetti
Special Art: Sammarye Lewis (all photos except front cover)
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Since 1993, when I rode and for 12 days in my first attempt at the Tour de France, the annual July event has become my sporting life. Until 1996, I had finished the three-week race to Paris only once, and when I was diagnosed with cancer, the Tour de France became a memory. A much harder battle — that for life itself — began. Life since that black period has taken on a new meaning to me, and the Tour de France has been my target every year since. I returned to racing in 1998, and by 1999, as a fitter and mentally different rider, I returned to the Tour, racing for almost a month in any kind of weather, over any type of terrain. I had around me the best team of riders any Tour leader could wish for (you’ll understand what I mean by that as you read this book).
I am often asked why, as the overall winner, I do not win the last stage into Paris. But as you find out in Tour de France For Dummies, it doesn’t always work that way. Instead, those who feel they can win the Tour go in search of gaining time on the specialist stages, like the time trials or the grueling legs through the mountains. These are the stages where the race is won and lost. Winning the final stage would just be the icing on the cake.
When you look at your television screen and see these stages, where a pack of riders all appear to be pedaling along together, you may wonder where the excitement is. But the truth is, the Tour de France is a happening bigger than any other annual sporting event. Millions of roadside spectators derive pleasure from watching us sweat it out in the heat of a French summer. In fact, for more than 100 years, the race has stopped France in its tracks each July. Elections have even been moved to another date, because the public has wanted to hear only about the race’s progress. During the Tour, France is inundated by a media army numbering more than a 1,000 and an entourage of more than 5,000, all of whom follow the daily events as we journey around France and its neighboring countries. Meanwhile, the 198 starters in the race are gradually reduced to perhaps 100 by the finish in Paris.
In this book, you come to understand an event that appears complex, but is, in the end, pretty simple: The rider who gets back to Paris in the fastest overall time is the winner. British cycling expert Phil Liggett and Americans James Raia and Sammarye Lewis have covered 44 Tours as writers, and Phil has not missed a wheel turning since 1973. Together, they take you through every detail of this great event; after you read it, your next step is to turn up in France and catch that most infectious enthusiam known as Tour Fever.
— Lance Armstrong
Title
Introduction
About This Book
Conventions Used in This Book
What You’re Not to Read
Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organized
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go from Here
Part I : A Bicycle Race Unlike Any Other
Chapter 1: Answering All Your Tour Questions
Understanding the Race and the Strategies
Understanding Those Colored Jerseys
Choosing the Right Stuff: From Bikes to Snacks
Spectating During the Tour
Chapter 2: Understanding the Tour de France Race Routes
What’s a Stage, How Many Are There, and How Long Are They?
Choosing the Route and Stage Each Year
Figuring Out Where to Start
Time Trials, Mountains Stages, Prologues, and More
Scouting the New Route: Practice Makes Perfect
Chapter 3: The Races within the Race
Timing: Every Second Counts
Getting to Know Jerseys
Explaining the Overall General Classification
Standing on the Podium (and Kissing the Podium Girls)
The Honor of the Lanterne Rouge
Riding in the Broom Wagon
Part II : How the Race Is Run and Won
Chapter 4: It’s All about the Team
What’s Team Got to Do with It?
Selecting a Team — All Shapes, Sizes, and Skills
Recognizing the Team Behind the Team
Chapter 5: More Tour Rules Than You Ever Want to Know
Knowing Some Important Tour de France Regulations
Who’s Keeping Score and Why?
Chapter 6: Understanding Race Strategies
Here’s the Plan, Man!
Miles to Go Before I Sleep
Heeding Nature’s Call While Riding
Part III : Loving the Ride: A Man and His Bike
Chapter 7: Who Are These Guys and How Do They Do It?
Two Hundred Cyclists: Maintaining Their Bodies
What’s Up, Doc?
Things That Go Bump in the Day
Chapter 8: Spending a Day in the Life of a Rider
Morning, Noon, and Night
Moving On Down the Road
Get Ready, Get Set, Go!
Starting the Race
Lunch for the Bunch
It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over
Traveling to the Next Hotel
No Fun-Filled Evenings for the Riders
No Rest for the Weary on Rest Day
Chapter 9: Having the Best Equipment in the Bunch
Using High-Tech Bikes
Wheels Go Round and Round
Shifting Gears
A Helmet Is a Helmet — Not!
Wearing a Kaleidoscope of Kits
Part IV : Watching the Race
Chapter 10: Perfecting the Art of Spectating from Home
Watching in Your Pajamas
Cybering the Tour
Sounding Like an Expert
Chapter 11: Going to the Tour: A Brief Guide
On Your Own or with a Tour Group
Details, Details, Details
Where to Watch
The Thrill of Finishing on the Champs Élysées
Part V : The Part of Tens
Chapter 12: Ten Greatest Riders in Tour History
Jacques Anquetil
Lance Armstrong
Gino Bartali
Fausto Coppi
Bernard Hinault
Miguel Indurain
Greg LeMond
Eddy Merckx
Jan Ullrich
Joop Zoetemelk
Chapter 13: The Ten Most Important Tours in History
1903: Publishing Wars and Garin Make History
1913: Time Changes, Tour Reverses
1919: The Yellow Jersey Debuts
1938: Le Tour: A Team Sport
1969: Eddy Merckx Arrives and Dominates
1986: Greg LeMond and Other Americans in Paris
1989: LeMond Dramatically Wins Again
1999: Armstrong Shocks the World
2003: Armstrong and Ullrich Pedal in Fast Company
2004: Armstrong Rides Into History
Chapter 14: Ten Unique Tour de France Statistics
Young, Restless, and Champion
Old and Leading the Pack
Will You Still Need Me When I’m 32?
Winning, French Style
Taking the Long Way Home
Pedaling Short, But Not So Sweet
Humbling Experience: 300 Miles of Torture
Speeding Over Hill and Dale
Knowing Your Neighbors: An American in Paris
Climbing Into the Clouds: The Great Peaks of the Tour
Chapter 15: Ten Dramatic Tour de France Moments
Assassins Among Us (1910)
A Tour First: Death in the Peloton (1935)
Poulidor Versus Anquetil (1964)
Merckx Attacked in the Mountains (1975)
Hampsten Conquers L’Alpe d’Huez (1992)
LeMond Rides into History (1989)
Armstrong Salutes Fallen Fabio (1995)
Sitting Down on the Job (1998)
Hamilton Shows His Mettle in the Mountains (2003)
Riding through Hay Fields (2003)
Chapter 16: Ten Great Tour Climbs and Mountaintops
Aspin
Aubisque
Courchevel
Galibier
Glandon
Izoard
L’Alpe d’Huez
La Mongie
Luz-Ardiden
Madeleine
Mont Ventoux
Puy de Dome
Sestrieres
Chapter 17: Ten Other Important Races
Amstel Gold Race
Clasica San Sebastian (San Sebastian Classic)
Giro d’Italia (Tour of Italy)
Liege-Bastogne-Liege
Milan–San Remo
Olympic Road Race
Paris Roubaix
Tour of Flanders
Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain)
World Championship (Road Race)
Glossary
: Color insert
M aybe Lance Armstrong’s recovery from cancer and his subsequent Tour de France titles piqued your curiosity. Perhaps a television video clip of a massive group of cyclists sprinting furiously on the cobblestone streets of Paris caught your attention.
That’s the way the Tour de France works. A fleeting glimpse of the race triggers an interest. All of a sudden, you want to know more. You’re a fan. Then you’re hooked on everything about the race. You can’t get enough and want to find out all you can. Tour de France For Dummies can help. It provides race strategies, details riders’ skills, examines rules and regulations, and explains nuances of the three-week race and its more than 100-year history.
Many available Tour de France books highlight its history and champions. From early years, when the race almost ended two years into its tenure, to the legacies of great riders, volumes detail the Tour’s more than 100 years. This book covers that same information, but it’s not only about specific race information. In this book, you also find out about the people and places around the event. Here, you find all the information you need to watch the race in person, view it on television, or surf the Internet for results and rider profiles.
In this book, we also examine the intricacies of bikes and how race equipment has evolved through the years. There’s a century of personalities, technology, history, and legend sprinkled throughout this book — the Tour’s famous icons, infamous characters, and fleeting moments that stand as epic testaments to the great race.
The Tour de France resonates with the lexicon of France. As such, French words and phrases used throughout this book are printed in italics. We also help you pronounce them, in case you want to sound like a cycling guru to your friends.
The most critical term to know is peloton (pell-oh-tawn), a French term that means the main pack of riders. This term appears many times throughout this book.
In gray boxes throughout the book, you also find sidebars — short clips of information about interesting cyclists or other Tour information. Skip these if you’re short on time, or head right for them if you want a colorful lowdown on the Tour.
As a global sport, the Tour is followed by millions of fans via the Internet. So, all Web sites listed in Tour de France For Dummies are printed in a special font, like this. In some instances, Internet addresses listed may have needed to break across two lines of text. If that happened, rest assured we haven’t put in any extra characters (such as hyphens) to indicate the break. So, when using one of these Web addresses, just type it exactly the way you see it in this book, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist.
Technically speaking, the Tour de France is not easy to follow. So, throughout this book, text preceded by a Technical Stuff icon designates specific areas of technical overload. You don’t have to examine technical sections to understand the subject it represents, so feel free to skip these, if you want.
We make only one assumption about you, dear reader: You have an interest in one of the world’s most enduring and popular sporting events: the Tour de France. You may have watched the race on the Outdoor Life Network or on one of the Tour’s many international television network outlets. Or, you may have seen riders swiftly cruise past an avenue of a French city you were visiting. However you caught the Tour de France bug, this book explains event basics to you (if you’re a newcomer) and also provides additional details about the people, places, and equipment associated with this race (if you already have some familiarity with the event).
Like all For Dummies books, information in Tour de France For Dummies is divided into five parts. Each part of the book contains several chapters, as follows.
The Tour de France is the world’s most popular and prestigious bicycle race. In this part, you find out the event’s history, traditions, and basic elements as a team sport.
In Chapter 1, we discuss how the Tour began and how the race is conducted as a team event — that is, individual riders competing within teams. All details necessary to follow the event, whether you’re watching from the sidelines in France or sitting comfortably on your living room couch, are also featured in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2, specifics are highlighted: from how the race route is chosen each year to the varied unique subcategories of competitions within the overall race.
The Tour is replete with tradition, and in Chapter 3, you get the scoop on race jerseys and find out why certain riders wear jerseys like no one else in the race. You also discover the meaning and nuances of the podium and its awards and honors. Finally, you get a look at other race specialties, like the honor of being in last place and how racers manage to please their sponsors.
It’s not always apparent on a day-to-day basis, but the Tour is won by an individual who’s part of a team. In this part, all individual riders’ responsibilities are detailed, as are the race’s varied rules and protocol. You’re also introduced to teams’ non-riding personnel — from managers to massage therapists. They orchestrate teams’ daily operations.
Interpersonal relationships are integral to a team’s success in the Tour. In Chapter 4, riders’ individual roles are described as well as the characteristics that make cyclists successful as climbers, sprinters, and team riders. How the race progresses each day — its rules, time limits, drug tests, and race fines — are explained in Chapter 5.
Astute racing strategy helps teams get their star riders to the podium. How it all works is explained in Chapter 6.
It has changed throughout the years, but now nearly 200 riders begin each Tour on the first weekend in July. This part introduces riders and tells you how they do what they do. You find out how the sport’s best athletes prepare and maintain their bodies. You find out how riders train for months — even years — and then persevere while pedaling for more than 2,000 miles around France and other nearby countries.
Chapter 7 explains how riders take care of their bodies before, during, and after every Tour stage. From proper hydration to withstanding sickness and mechanical failures, it’s all part of a Tour rider’s typical day. So, a special chapter (Chapter 8) takes you through a day in the life of a Tour cyclist, including eating teams meals, finding a little relaxation time, getting daily massages, and dealing with fans.
Technology is critical to success at the Tour, so Chapter 9 provides all sorts of information about cyclists’ different bikes and the mechanics who make sure the riders pedal their machines in top mechanical condition. What the riders wear in all kinds of weather conditions is also detailed in Chapter 9.
When you’re a Tour fan, more is better. The race is followed passionately around the globe, and millions of fans attend the race each year and follow it in newspapers, on television, on the radio and TV, and on the Internet.
Whether you’re watching race action from a French roadside or a reclining chair in the family room, Chapter 10 gives you a multitude of information resources. You find out where to watch Tour action at home and where to cybersurf to get instant race updates. If you’re planning to watch the Tour in person, Chapter 11 gives options and suggestions for planning a perfect Tour de France experience.
Every For Dummies book concludes with signature lists of ten items called The Part of Tens. In this book, the Part of Tens includes honorees as best riders in Tour history, ten important editions of the Tour de France, unique Tour statistics, dramatic tour moments, famous race climbs, and a list of other cycling races around the world.
Small pictures placed in the margins of this book are used to alert you to specific kinds of information. Icons point to cycling terminology, racing nuances, information suited for memorizing, and complicated regulations. Here’s what they mean.
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If you want to know how and why cities host Tour de France stages, turn to Chapter 2. Ever wonder how much money Tour cyclists win for claiming a stage or winning a jersey competition? Check out Chapter 4. And if you’re thinking about attending the Tour or want to watch it on television, details to both possibilities are in Chapter 10.
You can turn to any chapter in Tour de France For Dummies and get specific Tour information. If you’re watching a stage and there’s a quick, significant development, look for the topic in the Table of Contents or index, find your subject and flip to the appropriate chapter. That’s the format trademark of For Dummies books. You can read chapters as self-contained minibooks. Of course, you can also start with Chapter 1, if you wish, and read straight through to the end.
In this part . . .
I n this part, you discover Tour de France basics — its history, race rules, strategy, and how the three-week event operates. From watching the race at home to traveling to witness it in person, this part provides specifics on how to spectate and understand the different kinds of cycling that make up the Tour.
This part also details cyclists’ different jerseys and why some cyclists wear identical outfits, while a handful of other riders wear vastly different jerseys. You’re also introduced to finish-line customs and to various nuances and race traditions.