Tour de France

by © Paul Dodson 2008

Festival Location: All Areas, France

Festival Type(s): Cycling Events , Endurance Sports Events

Festival Video: Tour de France

For a little over a hundred years bicycle mad Frenchmen and their peddling mad contemporaries in Europe and – in more recent times – from around the world, have tackled the Tour de France or Le Tour as it's known in circles where I can't understand the lingo.

Some interesting Tour tidbits:

In 1926 Le Tour meandered about France for a record length of 5,745 kilometres.
Since the first Tour de France in 1903, competitors have peddled over 350,000 kilometres which is roughly equidistance from the earth to the moon.
All the Departments of Metropolitan France have been visited as well as all the bordering countries.
Over 500 towns and villages have hosted the Tour – that's about 2,000 stages and prologues.
More than 10,000 riders have taken their chance on the Tour, while over 6,000 have completed the race.
Finally, some 250 different riders have worn the Yellow Jersey.

So if you want to see France at it's best, grab a bottle and a loaf and join the throng on the side of the road as the tour whizzes past a French city near you.

Tour de France - When, Where and More Info Please

When: Annually in January

Where: All over France

More Info Please: Check out the fantastically informative Le Tour web site.

Tour de France Video

Some painful and inspirational moments from the world's best known and most loved road race, the Tour de France held annually across France during July each year.