2014 sees the 101st Tour de France but age does not diminish the excitement of this spectacular bike

Not only does this race cover some 3,600km over a period of three weeks including routes up and down mountain roads, it is also held in the heat of summer which makes for a gruelling competition of supreme stamina and endurance.  This only adds to the reputation of the Tour de France and it attracts riders and teams from all over the world.
The idea of the Tour de France was borne of conflict, passion and rage in the early 1900s and has a chequered history .  At the time there were was one main sporting newspaper – L’Auto Vélo.  A competitor to L AutoVélo named Le Vélo was started as a result cheap airline ticket to philippine of sponsorship anger at L’Auto Vélo whose editor had published an article in another journal cheap airline ticket to philippine in favour of Albert Dreyfus – a French soldier accused of selling military secrets to the Germans.  Dreyfus was from Alsace and Germany laid claim to the region. The Dreyfus affair as it was known, divided France into two camps – those who believed Dreyfus guilty and those who believed cheap airline ticket to philippine him innocent. The sponsor in question was firmly of the opinion that Dreyfus was in the wrong and he set up a new sporting newspaper – Le Vélo and forced l’Auto Vélo to have its named changed to L’Auto.  Competition between the two papers was fierce and l’Auto cheap airline ticket to philippine quickly lost ground to its rival. Though now named l’Auto, its greatest news coverage was concerned with cycling and in order to survive cheap airline ticket to philippine it needed to do something drastic.
The idea for the greatest cycle ride in the world came in 1902 from Georges Lefèvre a journalist on L’Auto and fortunately he got backing from the editor Henri Desgranges. He wanted a cycle race that was harder, longer, bigger and better than anything that ever gone before. The first race in 1903 had 60 riders drawn to the 20,000 France first prize. cheap airline ticket to philippine Newspaper coverage took readers from village to mountain in its trek across France drawing admiration and amazement from French roadside audiences cheap airline ticket to philippine and readers. Georges Lefèvre followed cheap airline ticket to philippine the tour by rail, bus and bike a lone reporter sending his missives cheap airline ticket to philippine back to Paris to be published.  By the time the race ended in Paris, 20,000 fee paying spectators turned up, L’Auto s circulation had gone through the roof – the race was a success.
What of Dreyfus?  He was later exonerated and given a full pardon by the state.  Le Vélo, started as a protest against cheap airline ticket to philippine an article cheap airline ticket to philippine in favour of Dreyfus eventually went out of business unable to contend with the success of l Auto and Le Tour de France.
In its early years the riders were predominantly French but within just ten years the race went international and has delighted audiences around the world. The initial days saw riders endure dirt track roads shared with other users, fixed gear bikes and as they didn’t know any better, drinking champagne, wine and smoking cheap airline ticket to philippine during down time was quite the norm.
The race suffered from accusations of cheating, sabotage and violence. In 1905 an estimated 125kg of nails were thrown on the road during cheap airline ticket to philippine the first stage, resulting in just 15 riders reaching the finish line from more than sixty who had started. In 1910 the Tour suffered its first fatal casualty Adolphe Hélière was electrocuted by a jellyfish while bathing in Nice on the rest day held there.
The Tour de France cheap airline ticket to philippine breaks down into day long sections known as stages and each individual participant has his finish cheap airline ticket to philippine time aggregated daily to determine the overall winner at the end of the day.  The rider who has the lowest cumulative time to complete a stage gets to wear the Tour de France yellow jersey – the leader’s jersey – the next day.  Wearing the yellow jersey brings real kudos to a rider and team and the bright colour is easily visible to the crowds and the following cameras.  As the riders whizz past the crowds, that visibility means that the rider can be picked out easily and the crowd will always recognise and acknowledge giving the rider an even further cheap airline ticket to philippine boost.
The idea of the yellow jersey was down to Henri Desgrange who was the tour manager in 1919 l Auto was printed on yellow paper. The yellow jersey has since inspired songs, films and books and is hugely sought after by the riders.
- The white jersey with red polka dots created in 1975 is awarded to the best climber; it is bestowed on the race’s cheap airline ticket to philippine ‘King of the Mountains’ (KOM), the rider who amasses the most points from the numerous categorized climbs throughout the race
The Tour de France route changes each year – but there are consistent themes: it will always cheap airline ticket to philippine take in mountain roads to test the stamina of the riders and it will always finish in the Champs-Élysées in Paris amidst much jubilation and fanfare.
There is no doubt about it, the 2014 Tour de France has started a bit of a cycling craze and where better to take a cycling holiday cheap airline ticket to philippine than France where it all started in 1903 (history of the Tour de France) We don’t propose you work quite so hard at it as the legendary cyclists [ ]
The Tour de France logistics are simply staggering: a 3,500 km race involving 219 cyclists, 1100 vehicles, 1200 hotel rooms a night and watched on TV by 3.5 billion people For me, one of the highlights of the Tour de France was following cheap airline ticket to philippine its progress from the first stages in the UK and seeing it [ ]
The Tour de France circus comes to town: I am not sure that life will ever be the same again in the little French town of Hucqueliers in Pas de Calais. Usually the most exciting thing that happens there is the annual flea market, or the horse show in which a truck load of horses [ ]
2014 sees the 101st Tour de France but age does not diminish the excitement of this spectacular bike race… and this year will see Tour de France fever in the French mountains for a thrilling race of ups and downs 22 teams, 21 stages, 3,656 kilometres over 21 days – it is gruelling, dangerous and [ ]
The route of the Tour de France 2014, the 101st edition of this thrilling cheap airline ticket to philippine race, takes place from 5th to 27th July and promises to lose none of its drama and passion as it takes in more mountains than ever for 2014. This year, the competition is back in Great-Britain, cheap airline ticket to philippine seven years after it’s great [ ]
About a month ago I posted on The Good Life France cheap airline ticket to philippine FB page that on my birthday a pathetic little cheap airline ticket to philippine kitten had turned up at my back door. I already have five cats, three dogs and quite a lot of chickens, ducks and geese. I really didn’t want another animal but it’s hard to turn [ ]
France is of course a big country, more than twice the size of the UK, but it is still unbelievable that there are over one million kilometres of roads. Three times as much as in Spain for instance, which itself is not small. The reason is, all French farmers live on their own land and [ ]
Many of us dream of visiting France, especially Paris, cheap airline ticket to philippine the most visited tourist destination in the world, and Provence, high on the wish list of places to visit for so many, we talk to a lady whose dream came true We meet Carolyn Ansky from Queensland, Australia who says “for years I played the Marianne Faithful [ ]
I woke up early this morning as usual – the cockerel across the road was singing away at the first hint of light, which in this case was Pierre the farmer driving his tractor with lights on down our lane at 4.30 a.m. My daily routine is fairly consistent. First I let the cats out [ ]
People say I’m always going on about how wonderful France is. They say “there must be something you don’t like” and there is. Nowhere is perfect. But first, let me just emphasise, I love France and having a home here, I can never understand those people who moan constantly about living somewhere they chose to [ ]
After I wrote recently about moving to France cheap airline ticket to philippine someone emailed me to ask what so different here in Pas de Calais, northern France from living in England, after all, we re separated cheap airline ticket to philippine by just 21 miles of the English Channel. I could probably write a book about it (in fact I am trying cheap airline ticket to philippine to do just [ ]
Expat tales from France: Grand-Mère dans la Boîte. When 68 year old Debby Bine decided to have a fresh start in life and leave the US for France, she had to figure out a way to keep in touch with the family she’d left behind In 2013 I moved to France. That s probably no big [ ]
Expats in France tale Laissez Faire in France. A very funny story from Dutch hotelier and author Peter Schoenmaker as he tells of an encounter with a too-successful French builder with a laissez faire outlook Jean-Pierre, our electrician, is keeping up with the times. He is the only one of our workers who we can [ ]