World's most prestigious and difficult bicycle race.
Staged for three weeks each July
usually in some 20 daylong stages
the Tour typically comprises 20 professional teams of nine riders each and covers some 3,600 km (2,235 miles) of flat and mountainous country, mainly in France, with occasional and brief visits to Belgium, Italy, Germany, and Spain. Each stage of the race is timed, and the rider with the lowest aggregate time for all stages is the winner. Established in 1903 by Henri Desgrange (b. 1865
d. 1940), a French cyclist and journalist, the race has been run every year except during the world wars.