The Tour de France is the largest sporting event in the world. It is estimated that about 4.5 billion cycling enthusiasts follow this event. Impressive figures!
In this article, we'll talk about some interesting facts.
1903: the 1st Tour de France will start, there are only 60 participants and 6 stages, but each of 400km.
Maurice Garin: is the 1st winner, he wins with more than 3 hours ahead of the 2nd and wins half of the stages.
Maurice Garin the winner of the 1st Tour de France
25 km/u: is the average speed of the 1st edition, which is of course due to the bad condition of the roads, the long rides and the heavy, bulky steel bikes of that time.
41 km/u: 40.995 km / h is the highest average speed until now, achieved in 2017 with winner Chris Froome.
19 years: is the age of the French rider Henri Cornet, the youngest ever winner in 1904. He is declared the winner when the 1st 5 of the final classification are disqualified for taking the train during one of the longest stages.
36 years: is the age of the Belgian rider Firmin Lambot who wins the Tour in 1922 and is still the oldest winner ever.
5 victories 4 riders managed to win the Tour de France 5 times: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain. Lance Armstrong managed to win the Tour 7 times in a row but his victories were taken from him after a confession of organized doping use.
4 victories: Chris Froome is the only one who sticks just below the mark of the 5 final victories. Will there be a 5th victory?
Ballon d’Alsace: In 1905, the Ballon d'Alsace is climbed, it is the 1st col ever to be included in the Tour. René Pottier emerges 1st and is the only one who manages not to set foot on the ground.
Red rag for last mile: in 1906, the red cloth that marks the last kilometer is introduced. Before someone stood by the road who indicated this.
1909: Cyrille Van Hauwaert is the first foreigner to win a stage, the same goes for the final victory by the Luxembourger Francois Faber.
Odiel Defraeye: is the first Belgian to win the Tour de France in 1922
Jan Janssen: the first Dutchman to win the Tour will have to wait until 1969. Janssen rides the Belgian Herman Van Springel out of the yellow jersey on the last day and wins the Tour with only 38 seconds ahead.
Lance Armstrong: the American won the Tour 7 times in a row but his victories were taken away when Armstrong admitted that he and his team had developed a sophisticated doping program. The years 1999 to 2005 therefore have no overall winner.
The yellow jersey the yellow jersey was not introduced for the first time until 1919, much to the displeasure of the first wearer, because he felt that he could no longer go on the attack unnoticed.
Joop Zoetemelk: the Dutch rider not only won the Tour in 1980 but also holds the record for most 2nd places, namely 6 times better than the eternal second Raymond Poulidor and Jan Ullrich.
Raymond Poulidor: is the rider who has been on the podium the most, namely 8 times, preceding a trio with 7 podium places: Joop Zoetemelk, Bernard Hinault and Jan Ulrich. Poulidor is also the oldest rider to ever take the podium. In 1976 he was 40 years old.
Yellow jersey from start to finish: 4 riders managed to wear the yellow jersey on the 1st day and never give it up again, namely Ottavio Bottecchia in 1924, Nicolas Frantz in 1927, Romain Maes in 1935 and Jacques Anquetil in 1961.
Yellow jersey on the last day: 3 riders only conquered the yellow jersey on the last day: Jean Robic in 1947, Jan Janssen in 1968 and Greg Lemond in 1989
8 seconds is the smallest difference ever between the overall winner and the 2nd in the standings. In the closing time trial of the Tour de France 1989, Greg Lemond conquered the yellow jersey from Laurent Fignon. View the last kilometers of this historic time trial below
28 minutes and 17 seconds is the biggest time difference in the post-war period between winner Fausto Coppi and Stan Ockers in the 1952 Tour.
96: is the most number of jerseys a rider has ever worn. Of course we are speaking about the cannibal Eddy Merckx, second in the stand is Bernard Hinault with 75 yellow jerseys.
36: A French rider won the Tour de France 36 times and is well ahead of Belgium with 18 overall victories.
Richard Virenque: holds the mountain classification record 7 times, mainly due to the points system introduced at the time, but certainly he's not the best climber ever.
Peter Sagan: won the green jersey 7 times to date and is currently doing 1 time better than Erik Zabel.
Wim Vansevenant: is the record holder with 3 times the red lantern, the prize for the last rider in the final classification
Best youngster: Jan Ullrich and Andy Schleck share the most number of white jerseys together, namely 3 times.
Sylvain Chavanel: with 18 participations, Chavanel leads George Hincapie who participated 1 time less.
Eddy Merckx: also the most number of stage victories is reserved for the cannibal. With 34, he precedes sprinter Mark Cavendish who comes to 30.
8 stage wins: is the largest number in the same Tour. This honor is reserved for Eddy Merckx (twice even), Freddy Maertens and Charles Pélissier.
Chris Boardman: drove the fastest prologue ever in 1994 with an average speed of 54.152 km / h
Rohan Dennis: holds the record for fastest time trial ever with an average speed of 55.446 km / h in 2015
