C7 C6 tour De france tour De france

100Edition
gulfnews.com | Saturday, June 29, 2013 | Gulf News
C6
Paris
C
hris
Froome
is
the
overwhelming
favourite
for
the
Tour de France but
the return of former
winner Alberto Contador after
a one-year hiatus could trigger
a classic duel to mark the 100th
edition of the great cycling race.
It will also be the first Tour
since American Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven
titles after admitting he cheated his way to glory from 19992005, leaving a huge gap in the
event’s records.
It is a period Briton Froome
will be happy to put in the past
for good. “The fact that I’m
able to finish at the front in
the mountains and in the general classification means that
the sport has changed since 10
years ago,” said Froome, who
was promoted to Team Sky
leader before team mate and
defending champion Bradley
Wiggins withdrew from the
race for health reasons.
“You learn from the past. The
sport is going in the right direction and my results are proof of
that,” Froome has won four of
the five stage races he has entered this season.
“It definitely gives me confidence that I’ve had the right
build-up to the Tour, that I’ve
had the right preparation for
the Tour,” said the Kenya-born
Froome.
Froome is expected to have
the upper hand in the individual time trials and will rely on
a super strong Team Sky with a
stunning capacity to set a high
tempo in the mountains to prevent attacks — a tactic Wiggins
heavily relied on last year.
Contador’s presence, after
missing last year’s Tour because of a doping suspension,
will definitely be felt even if the
Spaniard has made little impression so far this season.
Contador’s challenge
Contador, who won the Tour
in 2007 and 2009, goes into the
race with only one low-key victory under his belt — a stage of
the Tour de San Luis in January.
Since then, the 30-year-old has
been comprehensively beaten
by Froome and others, despite
repeated attacks in the uphill
stages of the Tour of Oman or
the Criterium du Dauphine.
Froome is likely to gain time
in the two individual and one
team time trial of this year’s
race, which starts on June 29,
so Contador will have to make
1903
Garin won the Paris-Roubaix
race twice before winning
the first Tour de France
Two-horse race
between Froome,
Contador expected
1910
After tackling the Ballon d’Alsace
in 1905, the first high mountain
stages were introduced, with the
peloton heading over the summits of the Pyrenees. The riders
faced the Alps for the first time
the following year.
1989
Hinault displays
one of his four
yellow jerseys
won in 1978,
1979, 1981 and
1982, on his way to
his fifth victory.
1937
Popular new Derailleur systems were introduced. This design, which survives to this day,
allows riders to change gears
without removing their wheels. Cyclists during
the 3rd stage of
Until then competitors had to
the 1937 Tour, from
dismount and turn their wheel
Charleville to Metz.
around every time the road
changed from uphill to downhill.
Lucien Van Impe
wearing the Polka
Dot Jersey.
1947
The race returned after seven years lost
to the Second World War, with France in
the throes of reconstruction.
A French victory, helped by a government decision to allow Le Tour to break
rationing rules, boosted national morale.
Frenchman Rene
Vietto tackles the
cobblestones on stage 2
between Lille and Brussels, June 26, 1947.
1952
have been fantastic,” Team Sky
coach Tim Kerrison said.
Video
— Reuters
Coppi rides
up the Col du
Galibier on July 6,
1952.
Le Tour included its first mountain-top
finishes, at Alpe d’Huez, Sestrieres, and
Puy-de-Dôme. Italy’s Fausto Coppi
crossed all three finish lines ahead of
everyone else to claim his second Tour de
France crown, in the same year that the
race was first televised.
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1964
Anquetil
(right), after
winning his record
fifth Tour, with
runner-up Raymond
Poulidor.
French rider Jacques Anquetil became the
first man to win five Tours, breaking the
record of three held jointly by Belgium’s
Philippe Thys and Frenchman Louison
Bobet. In 1962, Le Tour had embraced
commercial reality and welcomed back
sponsored teams.
Attempts
to revive
Simpson after
his collapse on
Mont Ventoux were
unsuccessful.
1967
British rider Tom Simpson
collapsed and died during
the ascent of Mont Ventoux.
A post-mortem revealed he
had taken amphetamines.
Simpson’s death led to the
Tour’s first drug tests and
a ban on the use of any
performance-enhancing
drugs in the sport.
1975
Merckx
raises his
arms in
victory on
July 21, 1974,
after winning Le
Tour for the fifth
time.
The first ever winner of the red
and white Polka Dot Jersey for
the best climber was Belgian
Lucien Van Impe, who also
finished third overall. For the
first time, Le Tour finished on
the famous Champs-Élysées,
where the race has ended
every year since.
1974
Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx
— known as ‘The Cannibal’
for his aggressive attacking
style — matched Anquetil as a
five-time winner of the event.
Merckx still holds the records
for most stage wins (34) and
number of days in the Yellow
Jersey (96).
He is also the only rider to have
won each separate classification of Le Tour.
1985
Bernard Hinault joined the
exclusive club of five-time
winners of Le Tour. Hinault,
an exciting all-rounder with
an infamously short-temper,
remains the last Frenchman
to win the event.
Saint-Gildasdes-Bois
1969
Photo gallery
START
Rest day
50 miles
50 km
Rudi Altig
Dietrich Thurau
Called ‘the pedalling
pharmacy’ — tested positive three times and was
disqualified.
Write us
Twitter
10
19
Bourg-d’Oisans
Alpe-d’Huez
18
Gap
Aix-enProvence
4
6
7 Montpellier
Marseille 5
Saint-Girons
Serriera
Armstrong finally admitted his guilt.
14
Col de Val Louron-Azet
1,580m
Lyon
Mont Ventoux
Givors
1,912m
15
Albi
Levroux
Castres
july 2
stage 5
july 3
Beaucaire
stage 6
july 4
stage 7
july 5
stage 8
july 6
stage 9
july 7
stage 10
july 9
stage 11
july 10
stage 12
july 11
stage 13
Bagneres-de-Bigorre
july 12
16 From Vaison-laRomaine
To Gap
Corsica
Cagnessur-Mer
Calvi
3
Ax 3 Domaines
Ajaccio
2006
stage 14
9
Mont Ventoux
6
july 13 stageAx
july 14
153 Domaines
Saint-Girons
19
18
Gap
Aix-enProvence
Nice
Marseille 5
16 From Vaison-laRomaine
To Gap
4
3 17
stage
Ajaccio
2
Source: Amaury Sport Organisation
*Stages may not add up exactly due to rounding
Champs-Élysées (Paris)
Corsica
Cagnessur-Mer
july 16
Col de la Madeleine
2,000m
17 From Embrun
To Chorges
Calvi
stage 16
In 2010, Spain’s Alberto Contador
tested positive for a small amount
of the stimulant clembuterol. As a
result, the race winner had his title
stripped.
Col de Sarenne
1,999m
Bourg-d’Oisans
Alpe-d’Huez
1
PortoVecchio
Alberto Contador
Le Grand-Bornand
20
7 Montpellier
8
Divajeu
2010
Floyd Landis won. He later tested
positive and had his victory taken
away. One day before the race
Annecy began, many big names were
kicked out for failing doping tests.
AnnecySemnoz
Bastia
START
*Stages may not add up exactly due to rounding
Floyd Landis
des-Bois
Saint-AmandWas stripped of all seven titles and
for
13banned
Montrond
life last year after US authorities revealed
he had
orchestrated the most sophisticated doping Saint-Pourcainprogramme ever seen. After years of denial, sur-Sioule
50 km
Entrecasteaux
17 From Embrun
To Chorges
Nice
9
Bagneres-de-Bigorre
Source: Amaury Sport Organisation
12
50 miles
Solaro
stage 4
20
Source: Reuters, Graphic News/Illustration by Hugo Sanchez
Champs-Elysees
Lance Armstrong Tours
Saint-Gildas-
The entire Festina team from Spain was
kicked off the Tour when a team
masseuse was arrested at the French
border and found to have 400 vials of a
blood-boosting drug .
Col de Pailhères
2,001m
21 FINISH
Paris
Versailles
Avranches
11
Fougeres
2005
Saint-Malo
The Festina Affair
German cyclist
also tested
positive three
times
Côte de la Quintaine
739m
july 1
Annecy
Le Grand-Bornand
2
Cournanel
stage 3
8
Time trial stage
1998
Porto-Vecchio (Corsica)
june 30
Mont Ventoux
Castres
Total: 3,404 km*
Col de San Martino Nice (France)
429 m
stage 2
Albi
2
3 4 5 6
7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Stage 1
Km 213 156 146 25 229 177 206 195 169 197 33 218 173 191 243 168 32 173 205 125 134
Jun. 29 30 Jul. 1 2
3 4 5 6
7
9 10 11 12 13 14 16 17 18 19 20 21
Stage
Durtal
stage 1 june 29
15
FINISH
Rest day
Mountain stage
1980
Col de Vizzavona
1,163m
INDIVIDUAL
TIME TRIAL
Lyon
AnnecySemnoz
Transfer
BLOG
TEAM TRIAL
Saint-AmandMontrond
Saint-Pourcainsur-Sioule
13
Givors
Mont-SaintMichel
An autopsy
revealed
that he had
taken amphetamines
and alcohol.
Tours
14
Call us
tour de france
stages 2013
HILL CLIMB
A systematic doping
network was unveiled
after a large haul of
perfomance-enhancing
drugs was found in a
Festina team car before
the race. Police and
LeMond (right)
cycling officials
and Fignon on
conducted night-time
the podium
raids on other teams,
two days
sparking mass protests
before LeMond
Spaniard Miguel Indurain’s by riders who complained
snatched his
unique physique — with
they were being treated
dramatic victory.
a resting heartbeat of 29
teams
STARTbeats per minute and lungs like criminals. Six
Rest
day
Rest day
FINISH
withdrew from the race.
able to scoop in eight litres
of air — enabled him to be2 the3 first 4man to
5 win6
7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Stage 1 come
Le Tour five times in a row
A new aerodynamic bike
Km 213 156 146 25 229 177 206 195 169 197 33 218 173 191 243 168 32 173 205 125 134
allowed the AmericanJun. 29 30 Jul. 1 2
3 4 5 6
7
9 10 11 12 13 14 16 17 18 19 20 21
Greg LeMond — Le Tour’s
Total: 3,404 km*
first non-European winner
in 1986 — to overhaul the
50-second lead of French
Stage
cyclist Laurent Fignon on
Time trial stage
the final stage to win by
Mountain stage
eight seconds, the narTransfer
rowest winning margin in
Tour history.
Mont-SaintMichel
21 FINISH
Versailles
Avranches
Paris Champs-Elysees
Saint-Malo
11
Fougeres
10
12
1995
After almost three decades, Tour director
Desgrange announced radical changes —
bicycle manufacturers’ teams were replaced
by national squads, with everyone riding
identical bikes. The publicity
French cyclist
caravan, now an integral part
Rene Faure climbs
of the event, was introduced the mountain pass of
to make up the cash short- Tourmalet, July 1930.
fall caused by the absence
of the cycle-makers.
Britain’s Tom Simpson died
during the mountainous
13th stage of the Tour.
Britain’s Mark Cavendish,
now the most successful sprinter in Tour
history with 23 stage wins,
became the first rider
to win the final stage on
the Champs-Elysees four
years in a row, on his way
to helping teammate
Bradley Wiggins become
the first ever British
winner of the race.
1998
Indurain in
action
during stage
2 of Le Tour
on July 1, 1995.
Le Tour celebrates its 100th
edition with a series of challenges designed to maintain
suspense until the final
weekend.
The combination in the final
week of a gruelling time trial,
followed by a twin climb of
Alpe d’Huez, and a summit
finish at Mont Semnoz on
the penultimate day, makes
a strong claim to be the
hardest finish of any
Tour de France.
2012
Police
apprehended
Festina
officials as
teams arrived
in France after
two stages in
Ireland.
1930
Tom Simpson
2013
Cavendish
(right) rides
alongside
Wiggins in
Paris.
The race returned after a four-year
absence due to the First World War.
The Yellow Jersey was introduced to help
spectators identify the race leader – the
colour was chosen because L’Auto
magazine was printed on yellow paper.
Current Tour director Christian Prudhomme
(left) poses with the yellow jersey for this
year’s 100th edition.
1967
SPRINT
The
peloton
tackling
the Col du
Galibier
between
Embrun and L’Alpe
d’Huez.
1919
up for it in the mountains,
where his rival also shines.
The race should not be decided before the last week with the
14th stage finishing up the Mont
Ventoux and the 18th sending
the peloton twice round the 21
hair-pins of L’Alpe d’Huez.
However, Contador is one of
only five men with titles in all
three grand Tours (Spain, Italy,
France) while Froome has only
two podium finishes — seconds
in the Vuelta in 2011 and the
Tour in 2012.
Should he and Froome falter,
the indefatigable Cadel Evans,
winner of the Tour in 2011, will
be ready to step up, as well as
fellow Australian Richie Porte,
the Team Sky number two.
“Richie’s results this year
C7
TOUR DE FRANCE
The Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees
is one of the most famous climbs
in the Tour de France.
Doping Scandals
In the tour
de france
REFRESHMENT
th
TOUR DE FRANCE
Henri Desgrange, editor of L’Auto magazine, is
credited with organising the first Tour de France,
based on a suggestion by journalist Geo Lefevre to
boost the sports paper’s ailing circulation.
The inaugural race saw 60 riders travelling 2,500km
over 19 days and was won by Maurice Garin, who
collected prize money of 6,075 francs
Gulf News | Saturday, June 29, 2013 | gulfnews.com
Bastia
1
july 17
PortoVecchio
START
Albertville
stage 18
july 18
stage 19
july 19
stage 20
july 20
stage 21
july 21