A Rookie’s Guide to the Tour de France – Introduction

Posted on by Parker Say

With the NBA Finals ending and the College World Series almost in the books, the sports world is about to settle in to one of the least interesting times on the calendar. With only the dog days of the MLB season to sustain them until football season picks back up in the fall, many sports fans are left hungry for something to watch around this time of year. However, most fans are not aware that one of the biggest and most exciting sports events of the year is right around the corner. On July 4th, the 102nd edition of the Tour de France will get underway, and three weeks of the best television sports has to offer will follow.

I am well aware that most people who will read this have never cared or will never care about the Tour de France, but take it from me, it is absolutely worth your time to follow the race this July. In my next few posts I will attempt to create a Rookie’s Guide to Watching the Tour, and I hope you will consider following the race along with me.

First of all, lets cover the basics, the Tour de France is a 2,000 mile race around France and the surrounding countries that will take place in 21 stages over 23 days in July. The winner of the race is the rider who completes the course in the lowest cumulative time, and this rider is awarded the coveted yellow jersey. There are many other prizes and races within the race, but those will be covered in a later post.

Professional cycling is different from most sports because the winner is an individual, but that individual is reliant on a team to help him win. This creates some interesting strategy that makes races exceptionally entertaining to watch. Without getting into too much detail, the race is composed of 198 individuals composing 22 nine-man teams, and each team and individual has their own goals and role to play in order to set up victory.

Now that you know a little about the race, let me take a moment to clear up some misconceptions. The Tour of the early 2000’s is nothing like the Tour today, and cycling as a sport has changed significantly. Lance Armstrong and his domination of the race that featured almost exclusively drug fueled riders are things of the past, and today’s riding is much cleaner and rider safety and regulation have come a long way since Armstrong.

Thanks for reading this post and I hope you’ll read the remainder of my Rookie’s Guide to the Tour de France!