Many of you might have heard about Tour De France and it is one of the best, biggest and amazing contests held anywhere in the world. A lot of theories, facts, stats, and amazing things are associated with the tour. In this post, we will include some amazing and sensational facts regarding the tour.
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- The tour was started a century ago in 1903 and it will be the 105th event going to happen this year in 2018.
- Originally there were six stages in the early years of the contest but now it has 24 stages with 24 days of time.
- A 19 years old person was the youngest participant to win the tour.
- The race is also nicknamed ‘La Grande Boucle’ which means ‘the big loop’ and it refers to the route taken by cyclist during the race in France.
- As per the reports, a cyclist burns on average 4000 to 5000 calories at every stage of the race and that makes 123,900 calories for the entire race.
- In the 1920s, the riders used to share cigarettes because they were meant to open up their lungs before the race started.
- Until 1960s alcohol was also allowed to the participants because it helped them reduce the pain of aching limbs. But later on, it was banned because it was a kind of stimulant and boosted energy.
- It is the largest sporting event in the world and around 12 million spectators gather along the routing line to view the contests.
- According to the official reports, over 3-5 billion people watch the race on TV and media every year.
- Maurice Garin was the first winner of Tour De France. He also won in 1904 but was disqualified because he cheated. He was found taking a train for the last stage.
- The total number of wins is in the hands of French and that’s 36, more than any other nation.
- Unfortunately, four riders have died during the race.
- American Greg Lemond and Frenchman Laurent Fignon in 1989 had the closest race and there was a gap of just 8 seconds before the winner and the runner-up.
- Each team participating in the race comes with 3,900 nutrition bars, 3,000 water bottles, 80 kg of nuts, raisins, apricots and figs and…20 jars of jam!
- On the rest day, cyclists don’t take a rest. Rather they practice in order to prevent lactic acid building up in their muscles and to stay more focused.
- There will be 42000 water bottles used by the team in 2018 contest.
- Over the course of Tour De France route, the cyclists will sweat enough to flush a toilet 39 times.
- There were just ten finishers in 1919, that is the least of all time.
- The total prize money awarded to the winnest is $4.3 million.
- The 1947 Tour De France winner Jean Robic was said to take water bottles filled with lead at the top of the climbs in order to descend faster.
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