The Tour de France is much more than just another sporting competition. The Tour de France is woven into French culture. Personally, as a Parisian boy, I was exposed to the Tour de France even before football. The brothers Louis and Jean Boubou were figures I grew up admiring (from the ages of 5 to 7). Until the age of innocence, thanks to my romantic mother, I was convinced that the winner's prize was kissing the two beauties at the yellow jersey award ceremony, the bouquet and the winner's doll. Thanks to television, the Tour de France has also become a wonderful and understandable scenic spectacle that, in the process, also promotes tourism to France and promotes first-class sales for all kinds of products, which do not miss the popularity of the Tour as sponsors for teams or for advertising their products.
The history of the Tour de France
The Tour de France, in French: (Tour de France) is the most prestigious bicycle race in the world, held since 1903. The competition is held once a year throughout France, on varying routes and always in July. In practice, the decision in the Tour takes place in the mountainous sections (in the Pyrenees and the Alps). Until 1950, the race always started and ended in Paris. Since then, the race always ends on the Avenue des Elysées in Paris, but is started every year from a different city. Sometimes, even outside of France. The start of the race is considered a very prestigious event and many cities throughout Europe try their luck in competing for the honor. For several decades, the French have not managed to win the Tour, and they are not satisfied, but console themselves with a fairly rare win of a section here or there, but mainly with winning other jerseys - sometimes the green one, sometimes the one with red dots, sometimes the white one, and quite often they console themselves with the frustrating red jersey - which, as mentioned, denotes the warrior of the Tour - a fighter, an investor, a runner, but... not a winner.
All the roads in France, which are expected to host the Tour routes, even the smallest and most forgotten ones, at the time of the Tour's arrival, suddenly become flooded with crowds of fans, supporters and hikers from all over the world, who paint the roadsides in the many colors of their country's flags, costumes of all kinds of freaks, looking to stand out, jerseys of the teams and those in which they compete in this amazing competition. Because this competition, admittedly, is for the overall winner of the Tour - the yellow jersey. But there are also smaller winners - for the polka-dot jersey - the best climber. For the green jersey - the best sprinter, for the red jersey - the warrior of the Tour. For the white jersey - for the best youngster (young = up to the age of 25). In addition, the world champion and all kinds of other race winners have the right to wear the jersey they won. In short, a celebration of colors.
Besides all this folklore, there is still the competition itself.
Tour de France – Race of Superman
This competition is a superhuman competition! A competition of real “supermen”. Three weeks of a crazy race of between 160 and 240 km every day. Long kilometers of ups, downs and twists, of fighting against the wind, of unbearable rain and heat. Of pushing hundreds of riders, shoulder to shoulder, on narrow roads and of course of the effort of a race, which does not let up for a moment. It is no wonder that various kinds of drugs were mixed into this inhuman sport. Quite a few scandals exploded and human dramas occurred because of this. In general, the teams' intention in this race is to protect and advance the team's sprinter to the best starting position, at the most appropriate timing, and then all the "soldiers" clear the way and the column "explodes" - the sprinters, who emerge from behind the shoulders of their soldiers, burst out in the last hundreds of meters with an incredible burst of energy, which is impossible to understand where it comes from, after hundreds of kilometers of hard riding.
Sometimes, the final sprint is decided only by a photo finish! Hundreds of kilometers are decided by just a few millimeters. But, almost every day, there are those who try their luck by escaping ahead and thus “steal” a stage victory. It is very difficult for individual escapees to cope with the dyke, which sweeps away like a train all those who are protecting themselves from the wind inside it and are sucked forward with it. Those who lead the dyke take turns, and one takes a turn to defend themselves within its depths, and others under them, in turn, lead the dyke. It is heartbreaking to see, time and again, how the dyke “swallows” the escapees just a few hundred meters, or a few kilometers from the finish line, thus putting to shame the continuous inhuman effort of the lone escape and the illusion of his chance for the glory of victory.
Therefore, I recommend leaving the TV on during the race from 16:00 PM, to take a quick look at the wonderful landscapes that the competitors pass through, but to sit down at about 17:45 PM and focus on the final scene, the real drama that unfolds and takes place in the last 20 kilometers. The tragedy and glory that reoccur, every day for 21 consecutive days. The tour is accompanied entirely by footage from following motorcycles, from helicopters overhead and static cameras. The landscapes are explained by experts and commentators who accompany the events during the tour with explanations.
A little about the author
Nimrod Negev (his original name is Norbert Felstein) was born in Paris. He grew up there, did his military service here… At the beginning of his career, he worked in civil engineering, then studied geography (later he taught the subject in high schools and colleges). He also studied archaeology and worked in the field for about 15 years, 13 of them as a district archaeologist.