Tour De France Your Way To Success

The Tour de France is the annual bicycling race that has remained popular for over 100 years. What Wimbledon is to Tennis, Tour de France is to cycling; the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana together with Tour de France make up cycling's Grand Tours. The Tour de France is the oldest and considered the most prestigious. The first edition of the race was held in 1903 and except for stoppages during the two World Wars, the race has gone on pretty much uninterrupted. Its popularity and reach have extended globally from those early days, and many riders from all parts of the world now compete in the race. The race is traditionally held in the month of July and is primarily in France, although the race detours through nearby countries that are linked by the Pyrenees and Alps mountain ranges. It finishes at the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Features of the race This prestigious race is a Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) event comprising teams that compete on a professional basis. Twenty-two teams with nine riders each compete in the event. It calls for great amounts of dedication and concentration and the highest levels of stamina and fitness. The modern version of this multi-stage cycling race comprises of 21 day-long stages spread over a 23-day period, covering a distance of 3,200 kilometers which is roughly 2,000 miles. Each of the stages is timed to a finish distance each day with riders being aggregated on points basis; the winner of each stage is given the 'yellow jersey'. Origins of the race The roots of this prestigious race can be traced back to the controversial 'Dreyfus Affair', the conviction, though wrongly, of a French soldier Alfred Dreyfus for selling military secrets to the Germans. Such 'absurd political shindig', as it was called, received widespread attention in the press in France through its daily sports newspaper, Le Velo, that had the largest circulation at that time. Le Velo's editor Pierre Giffard believed that Dreyfus was innocent and the victim of a conspiracy involving Comte Jules-Albert de Deon, a French Count. This resulted in the bitter rivalry between the two and de Dion retaliated by opening a rival sports paper called L'Auto. At an emergency meeting hastily convened to discuss strategies to offset dwindling circulation, Geo Lefevre, the young Chief Cycling Journalist of L'Auto's team suggested a six-day cycling competition at various locations around France. Cycling races were popular in France and newspapers found great circulation among race lovers, but nothing of this type had been attempted earlier. If it succeeded, it would set L'Auto on the road to fame and fortune. The first race was announced on 19th January 1903; the rest, as they say, is history. Tour de France and Doping Doping scandals have rocked the world of sports in the recent past with many disciplines being involved and great sportspersons being blacklisted. The Tour de France has been plagued by allegations involving riders from its very first race, when riders admitted to consuming alcohol and ether to dull aches and pains. Over the years, UCI and many governments around the world have enacted strict rules to deal with doping. Before the advent of modern doping substances, sportsperson enhanced performances using drugs like aspirin, chloroform, cocaine and strychnine. One British cyclist, Tom Simpson died on the climb of Mont Ventoux in 1967 as a result of amphetamine use. In 1992, the Word Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was constituted by the International Olympic Committee. Perhaps, the most famous doping scandal that rocked the Tour de France is that of Lance Armstrong, the professional American road racing cyclist who won the race a record seven times from 1999 to 2005. He was charged by the US Anti-Doping Agency in 2012 of taking illegal performance-enhancing substances; he later admitted to the charges against him. The iconic champion, whose astonishing feat won him millions of fans around the world, was stripped of all his championship titles. However, his fight against cancer and his indomitable spirit has been a source of inspiration for many. To see more please click here http://www.grindtv.com/bike/a-complete-guide-to-understanding-the-tour-de-france/#rMpPZKbI5of0bXof.97