For these first eTwilympics, the French team from Croissy is organizing a Tour d' Ile de France !
But first, we will evoke a few famous French cycling races and of course we will focus on Tour de France !
We will also deal with the rules of Tour de France, without forgetting a few French champions.
FAMOUS FRENCH RACES
Maybe everybody knows famous cycling races such as Vuelta a Espana, Giro d'Italia and perhaps Tour de Suisse. But today we will concentrate on famous French races.
Paris–Rouen – Organized in November 1869, this was the first ever bicycle race that covered the distance between two cities. The winner was the famous English cyclist James Moore who covered a distance of 123km in 10 hours and 45 minutes.
Paris–Nice – This race (also known as “Race to the sun”) started its long history in 1933, and is today part of the UCI World Ranking. First victory on it was achieved by the Belgian cyclist Alphonse Schepers, while the record holder is Irish cyclist Sean Kelly who triumphed seven times.
Of course, finally, we will talk about Tour de France which is probably one of the most famous races in the world. It has been existing since 1903 and it has been held over 100 times. Covering 3,500 kilometres over 23 days, only four cyclists have managed to legally win 5 times: Jacques Anquetil, Bernrd Hinault, Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain.
Famous french cyclists who won the Tour de France
Bernard Hinault is the French cyclist who has the highest number of victories with Jacques Anquetil in the Tour de France. They won at 5 times.
Bernard Hinault was second twice.
Bernard Hinault Jacques Anquetil
Rules during the tour de France
This year, the tour de France will start in Belgium and more precisely in its capital city, Brussels and will finish on the Champs Elysées, as usual. The whole tour lasts around three weeks.
When you’re a cyclist on the tour de France, you aren’t allowed to be helped by cars or other cyclists.
Sorry etwinners if you want to participate… you can’t, you have to be part of a sponsored team that wants you, so except if you have a friend in one of those teams and if you’re a professional, you
won’t be able to participate in the best cycling tour of the world.
Of course, one of the most important rules is that you cannot take drugs so I am gonna tell you the famous Armstrong’s story. The American cyclist, Lance Armstrong was named “The Boss” because he won the Tour de France, seven times, more than Eddy Merckx and our French champions. However, as he had taken some EPO, a drug that slows breath to upgrade your physical competences, he has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and all the money he used for his foundation had to be refunded. Today he is still trying to give all the money he won back. We also recommend you a movie about his life called "The Program".