Cycling Weekly Tour De France 2007


Tour Home Routes & Stages Teams & Riders News & Results Stage Highlight Videos Tour History Videos Tour De France Masks About the Tour Cycling Weekly Home	ABOUT THE TOUR DE FRANCE Heather Newby It lasts three weeks, attracts around 15 million spectators and is here once again. The Tour de France is back for its 94th edition and this time is starting on our very own doorstep, in London. We take you through a quick run down on where it all began and what we can expect from the Tour in 2007. WHERE IT ALL BEGAN Back in 1903, the idea of the Tour was dreamt up by French sports newspaper L'Auto as a publicity stunt to help increase its circulation. It not only fulfilled its objective, but also managed to destroy the rival paper of the time and become one of the most attractive events for competitive cyclists overnight. Only the gutsy and the tough of the professional cycling world entered the 2,428km, 19-day event and the first champion, Maurice Garin, managed to beat 59 other cyclists to take the title by a margin of two hours and 49 minutes. The Tour very nearly didn't make it through to its second year with the amount of cheating involved. This was cheating of the non-chemical kind and involved riders catching trains, taking cars and dropping spikes to puncture opponent's tyres. Night stops, bike changes and technical help were against the rules of the Tour at this stage, so it's not surprising that the sleep-deprived competitors were tempted to jump on the train every now and then. Rather than cancelling the Tour, the officials only added more rules and more mountains making the challenge almost impossible and earning the organisers the label of 'assassins.' Now the race is very different with trainers, doctors and experts offering technical advice to every rider, not to mention the huge amounts of money wrapped up in team sponsorship. Today, the Tour involves more riders, more kilometres and more controversy with competitors demanding the unimaginable from their bodies in the bid to get their hands on that yellow leader's jersey. 2007 LINE UP Things have changed dramatically since the early Tour days with 21 teams and a total of 189 riders competing this year. There are 20 stages of the race covering 3,452 kilometres in total and reaching a staggering 2,770 metres above sea level on its highest climb, the Col de l'Iseran on stage nine. This year the whole thing kicks off in London with the Prologue (a short individual time trial) starting at Whitehall and then passing Westminster, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park before finishing at The Mall. The Tour will then see riders weave their way through Canterbury, over the channel to Ghent, Marseilles, Montpellier, Angouleme, to name but a few, before finishing at the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Click here to see the whole route. Click here to view the list of Tour teams. WHO WILL WEAR THE YELLOW JERSEY? We've stuck our necks out and here's how Cycling Weekly's top ten favourites shape up. Just don't come back here at the end of July and rub our noses in how wrong we were! 1 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) 2 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) 3 Frank Schleck (Lux) 4 Andreas Kloden (Ger) 5 Cadel Evans (Aus) 6 Levi Leipheimer (USA) 7 Carlos Sastre (Spa) 8 Denis Menchov (Rus) 9 Alberto Contador (Spa) 10 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) TOUR FACTS * The 2007 Tour covers 2,148 miles (3,457 kilometres) of roads over three weeks of racing, including brutal mountain passes in the Alps and Pyrenees. * The race leader wears the yellow jersey, 'king of the mountains' wears a white and red spotted jersey and best sprinter wears the green jersey. * American Lance Armstrong is the only person to have ever won the Tour seven times. Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain have all won five. * The smallest Tour-winning margin was set by American rider Greg LeMond in 1989. He beat Frenchman Laurent Fignon by just eight seconds. * The youngest winner of the Tour was Henri Cornet who was 19 years old and took the title in 1904. * The publicity caravan arrives before the race does. This consists of a parade or around 200 floats and vehicles. * The Tour's podium girls are selected by the race organisers from over 500 applicants every year. Podium girls are forbidden to socialise with riders. * Tour de France bikes weigh around 6.8 kilograms (14.9 pounds). A carbon-fibre team replica will set you back between £5,000 and £7,000. Terms & Conditions \| Privacy Policy \| © Copyright IPC Media Ltd, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE TOUR DE FRANCE

Heather Newby
It lasts three weeks, attracts around 15 million spectators and is here once again. The Tour de France is back for its 94th edition and this time is starting on our very own doorstep, in London. We take you through a quick run down on where it all began and what we can expect from the Tour in 2007.

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
Back in 1903, the idea of the Tour was dreamt up by French sports newspaper L'Auto as a publicity stunt to help increase its circulation. It not only fulfilled its objective, but also managed to destroy the rival paper of the time and become one of the most attractive events for competitive cyclists overnight.

Only the gutsy and the tough of the professional cycling world entered the 2,428km, 19-day event and the first champion, Maurice Garin, managed to beat 59 other cyclists to take the title by a margin of two hours and 49 minutes.

The Tour very nearly didn't make it through to its second year with the amount of cheating involved. This was cheating of the non-chemical kind and involved riders catching trains, taking cars and dropping spikes to puncture opponent's tyres. Night stops, bike changes and technical help were against the rules of the Tour at this stage, so it's not surprising that the sleep-deprived competitors were tempted to jump on the train every now and then.

Rather than cancelling the Tour, the officials only added more rules and more mountains making the challenge almost impossible and earning the organisers the label of 'assassins.' Now the race is very different with trainers, doctors and experts offering technical advice to every rider, not to mention the huge amounts of money wrapped up in team sponsorship. Today, the Tour involves more riders, more kilometres and more controversy with competitors demanding the unimaginable from their bodies in the bid to get their hands on that yellow leader's jersey.

2007 LINE UP
Things have changed dramatically since the early Tour days with 21 teams and a total of 189 riders competing this year. There are 20 stages of the race covering 3,452 kilometres in total and reaching a staggering 2,770 metres above sea level on its highest climb, the Col de l'Iseran on stage nine.

This year the whole thing kicks off in London with the Prologue (a short individual time trial) starting at Whitehall and then passing Westminster, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park before finishing at The Mall. The Tour will then see riders weave their way through Canterbury, over the channel to Ghent, Marseilles, Montpellier, Angouleme, to name but a few, before finishing at the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

Click here to see the whole route.

Click here to view the list of Tour teams.

WHO WILL WEAR THE YELLOW JERSEY?
We've stuck our necks out and here's how Cycling Weekly's top ten favourites shape up. Just don't come back here at the end of July and rub our noses in how wrong we were!
1 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz)
2 Alejandro Valverde (Esp)
3 Frank Schleck (Lux)
4 Andreas Kloden (Ger)
5 Cadel Evans (Aus)
6 Levi Leipheimer (USA)
7 Carlos Sastre (Spa)
8 Denis Menchov (Rus)
9 Alberto Contador (Spa)
10 Vladimir Karpets (Rus)

TOUR FACTS
* The 2007 Tour covers 2,148 miles (3,457 kilometres) of roads over three weeks of racing, including brutal mountain passes in the Alps and Pyrenees.

* The race leader wears the yellow jersey, 'king of the mountains' wears a white and red spotted jersey and best sprinter wears the green jersey.

* American Lance Armstrong is the only person to have ever won the Tour seven times. Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain have all won five.

* The smallest Tour-winning margin was set by American rider Greg LeMond in 1989. He beat Frenchman Laurent Fignon by just eight seconds.

* The youngest winner of the Tour was Henri Cornet who was 19 years old and took the title in 1904.

* The publicity caravan arrives before the race does. This consists of a parade or around 200 floats and vehicles.

* The Tour's podium girls are selected by the race organisers from over 500 applicants every year. Podium girls are forbidden to socialise with riders.

* Tour de France bikes weigh around 6.8 kilograms (14.9 pounds). A carbon-fibre team replica will set you back between £5,000 and £7,000.