Tour De France Blog

So Saturdays stage was final day to determine the Yellow Jersey and 2nd and 3rd place finishes on podium. As today the riders agree not to race for position.

How was this agreement decided and was it always this way in the history of tour de france?

they do race but only when they get into Paris

a few years ago, we saw Raimondas Rumsas who was 3rtd overall try to attack the 2nd ioverall Joseba Beloki in 2002 or so

it’ll get serious in paris and you’ll see alot of breakaways trying to get away.

but for the first part of stage, they’ve raced for 3 weeks, they are tired so they deserve a preccession

i was watching the tour de france and i really had to pee. and i wondered…. "what do the riders do when they use the bathroom?" because they cant stop or they will loose their place. so does anyone know?

They either stop at the side of the road, or roll the shorts down and pee away from the bike. For obvious reasons, the cameras don’t dwell on such things.

In Ironman triathlons, competitors just let fly IN their shorts because there is a time penalty for public nudity. No its not that gross because after several hours of racing you’re covered with so much sweat and gatorade a little pee makes no difference.

What would be a good site/s to watch the tour de france live this year?

If you speak French, try Eurosport.fr, which has very comprehensive coverage of the Tour de France. I’ve linked to the specific site for the TdF below.

Otherwise, if you’re in the US, I would check out Versus (the US network that broadcasts the Tour de France). They have background information and will provide video coverage of the Tour as well.

If it is the tour de france in France, what is it in Italy?

It’s the Giro d’Italia

How is a hill or mountain given a category in the tour de france. What makes a 1, 2 , 3 category climb?

The categories are assigned subjectively based on:

length of the climb
altitude difference from bottom to top
average (and steepest) grade
summit elevation
climb’s position on the stage (early or late)
width and conditions of the road
After considering all these factors, the Tour’s director sportif makes his recommendations after driving over the stage routes a couple of months before the race. Also, the Tour is supposed to be TOUGH, so what might be a Cat 2 climb in Le Tour might be a Cat 1 in another race.

Typically for the Tour, Category 4 is an easy, short climb.
Category 3 is the easiest "real" climb – ie, 5km at a 5% grade.
Category 2 is about as tough as you could ever see here in the states. (Something like 5km at a grade of 8-8.5%)
Category 1 typically a long climb (15 – 20+ km) at a not too steep grade – 5-6%.
Hors Category is long and steep.

The altitude difference is at least 1000km and an average grade of 7% or more.

If it is the tour de france in France, what is it in Italy?

It’s the Giro d’Italia

How long is the tour de france?

2,110 miles over a period of several weeks. did you know the winner gets $3.5 million?!

How long is the tour de france?

2,110 miles over a period of several weeks. did you know the winner gets $3.5 million?!

The commentaters say Evans will most likely win or lose the race in that time trial.

Any insight would be great as I have enjoyed watching the tour de france!

Most of the riders in the Tour have a speciality and many of them are very weak in some disciplines.
Sastre is a pure climber not good in the time trial that is why although he has a 1:34 lead it is probably not enough to beat Evans in the TT and win the overall.

Evans’ speciality is the time trial (TT). He is also an excellant climber. Good enough to stay with the leaders in the mountains and capable of wiping most of them out in the TT.

I have been addicted to the tour de france coverage on Versus and I love the instrumental music that they play during the transitional periods in the coverage (at the beginning, end, before/after commercial breaks). Does anyone know where I can download the song or what it is called? Thanks much!

I use http://hot-mp3-downloads.net
Hope can help you!