Team Sky dominated the event for several years, with wins for Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome (four times) and Geraint Thomas before Egan Bernal became the first Colombian winner in 2019. The streak was interrupted only by Vincenzo Nibali's 2014 win. The combination of unprecedented rigorous doping controls and almost no positive tests helped restore fans' confidence in the 2009 Tour de France. This led directly to an increase in global popularity of the event. The most watched stage of 2009 was stage 20, from Montélimar to Mont Ventoux in Provence, with a global total audience of 44million, making it the 12th most watched sporting event in the world in 2009. [151] Culture [ edit ] Part of the crowd during most days of the Tour is Didi Senft who, in a red devil costume, has been the Tour devil since 1993. The same day, leader Michael Rasmussen was removed for "violating internal team rules" by missing random tests on 9 May and 28 June. Rasmussen claimed to have been in Mexico. The Italian journalist Davide Cassani told Danish television he had seen Rasmussen in Italy. The alleged lying prompted Rasmussen's firing by Rabobank. [188]

The first television pictures were shown a day after a stage. The national TV channel used two 16mm cameras, a Jeep, and a motorbike. Film was flown or taken by train to Paris, where it was edited and then shown the following day.From 2011 to 2015, Lead Graffiti, an American letterpress studio, experimented with handset wood and metal type to print same-day posters documenting events of each stage of the Tour de France. The designers called the project "endurance letterpress." A 2013 article on the poster series appeared in Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sports in Media" issue. [161] In 2014 the British Library celebrated the Tour's fourth Grand Départ from the U.K. with an exhibition of Tour de Lead Graffiti posters. [162] Grand Départ: First time's a charm for Italy". www.letour.fr. 21 December 2022 . Retrieved 4 October 2023. The mountains classification is the second-oldest jersey awarding classification in the Tour de France. The mountains classification was added to the Tour de France in the 1933 edition and was first won by Vicente Trueba. [90] [92] Prizes for the classification were first awarded in 1934. [92] During stages of the race containing climbs, points are awarded to the first riders to reach the top of each categorized climb, with points available for up to the first 10 riders, depending on the classification of the climb. Climbs are classified according to the steepness and length of that particular hill, with more points available for harder climbs. The classification was preceded by the meilleur grimpeur (English: best climber) which was awarded by the organising newspaper l'Auto to a cyclist who completed each race. The Tour and its first Italian winner, Ottavio Bottecchia, are mentioned at the end of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. [160]

a b "Tour de France 2022: women's race reborn as eight-stage route unveiled". the Guardian. 14 October 2021 . Retrieved 15 February 2022. Months before the start of the 1988 Tour, director Jean-François Naquet-Radiguet was replaced by Xavier Louy. [72] In 1988, the Tour was organised by Jean-Pierre Courcol, the director of L'Équipe, then in 1989 by Jean-Pierre Carenso and then by Jean-Marie Leblanc, who in 1989 had been race director. The former television presenter Christian Prudhomme—he commentated on the Tour among other events—replaced Leblanc in 2007, having been assistant director for three years. In 1993 ownership of L'Équipe moved to the Amaury Group, which formed Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) to oversee its sports operations, although the Tour itself is operated by its subsidiary the Société du Tour de France. [73] Miguel Induráin at the 1993 Tour de France Main article: Mountains classification in the Tour de France Richard Virenque pictured at the 2003 Tour de France wearing the polka dot jersey. He won the mountains classification a record seven times. Murray, Scott (28 October 2011). "The Joy of Six: sporting theme tunes". The Guardian . Retrieved 6 December 2018. The Souvenir Henri Desgrange, in memory of the founder of the Tour, is awarded to the first rider over the Col du Galibier where his monument stands, [109] or to the first rider over the highest col in the Tour. A similar award, the Souvenir Jacques Goddet, is made at the summit of the Col du Tourmalet, at the memorial to Jacques Goddet, Desgrange's successor.

On 1 February 2011, Canada's TSN announced that they had acquired the rights to the Tour de France in a "multi-year" deal, [150] which ultimately lasted for three years; the rights were acquired by Sportsnet in 2014.

Vive Le Tour by Louis Malle is an 18-minute short of 1962. The 1965 Tour was filmed by Claude Lelouch in Pour un Maillot Jaune. This 30-minute documentary has no narration and relies on sights and sounds of the Tour. Félix Levitan, race organizer in the 1980s, was keen to host stages in the United States, but these proposals have never been developed. [136] Starts abroad [ edit ] Start of the 2015 Tour de France in Utrecht Riis, Tour de France Champ, Says He Took Banned Drugs". Bloomberg. 25 May 2007 . Retrieved 26 May 2007.Time trials [ edit ] Bradley Wiggins riding the stage 9 individual time trial of the 2012 Tour de France The formula in 1905 was a combination of both time and points. Riders had points deducted for each five minutes lost. Yesterday, I just tried to save as much energy as possible because I knew it would be really hard today, the first sprint stage. Everybody still has the legs so it's difficult to make a difference. In the end I think we did a perfect lead-out today."

A podium camera is not one focused on the winner's podium but a full-scale camera on a mount, or podium. A seven-year-old boy, Melvin Pompele, died near Retjons after running in front of a car in the publicity caravan. [209]See also: Festina affair, Doping at the 1998 Tour de France, Doping at the 1999 Tour de France, Floyd Landis doping case, Doping at the 2007 Tour de France, and Lance Armstrong doping case Spectators' banner during the 2006 Tour de France