Tour de France Goes Back to Its Roots

This year’s Tour de France starts on 5th July, an event that is both a sporting and panoramic spectacle. Around 250 riders and their accompanied 15 kilometre cavalcade will start the marathon 3500 km journey around the country, in a race that grips the whole nation for three weeks at the start of the summer season. It is an event that attracts around 15 million spectators along the route, and those not interested in the race itself simply use the occasion to hold a party or a festival. Battered old photographs of the race in the walls of local bars, shops and houses testify to the enduring legacy the race leaves if you were once lucky enough to be blessed with the race passing through your community. Those not able to see it as a spectator are able to enjoy wall-to-wall coverage on their TV, and millions of viewers around the world are expected to do so. There really is nothing else quite like it on the planet. Even if you have no interest in the race itself, sit back and enjoy some magnificent aerial television shots of this beautiful country that traditionally accompanies the full-coverage TV schedules of the race. This year’s race starts from the traditional heartland of cycling in Brest, Brittany. Indeed, in an effort to take the race back to its roots there have been several changes in format this year, notably with the abolition of the individual time trial at the start of the race. Instead, the riders will go straight into a 195km full stage. "We want the Tour to rediscover its romanticism," said Tour director Christian Prudhomme. "It means the plot will not be obvious." Other changes include the abolition of time bonuses at intermediate stages of the race, which is likely to widen the circle of potential winners and make for a much more open competition between the riders. With drugs scandals of the past having badly tarnished the image of the race, anti-doping measures have been even tougher this year, with blood profiles of the riders being established months before the race begins, and even more intensive testing planned to take place during the race itself. No other sporting event in the world is subject to such rigorous drug testing as occurs in the Tour de France. Details of each stage of the race are set out on the following table. Mouse over or click the table to enlarge.

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