Top Ten Cyclists in the history of Tour De France - Part 1
Tour De France is a bicycle tournament held every year in France. The first Tour De France was organised in 1903 and it covered about 2,500 kilometres. The tour, now, usually has 21 days of racing, with one day of rest, and riders cover a distance of 3200 kilometres. It is also known as the ‘Rolls of Royce of cycling tournaments.’ It attracts all the teams, cyclists and fans from all around the world.
The overall race leader wears a yellow jersey at the end of each day. The route of the race changes every year, but the race always ends in Paris. One of the leading dailes of America said, "Tour de France is arguably the most physiologically demanding of athletic events."
First Tour De France 1903
As stated earlier, the first Tour De France was staged in 1903 and was held from July 1 to 19 and all the cyclists covered a total distance of 2,428 kilometres. A total of 20-22 teams took a part in the race with nine cyclists in each stage. The race organisers, Amaury Sport Organisation, chose the teams. All team-members helped each other throughout the race and followed the procedure mandated by the organisers.
Maurice Garin from France took the first place in the last stage and also took the overall lead. Lucien Pothier was the runner-up, while Fernand Augereau grabbed the third place.
Below we are going to take a brief look at the top ten cyclists that have marked their name in the history Tour De France.
Alberto Contador
Saxo Bank Sungard team's rider, Alberto Contador, always showed his tremendous performance in Tour de France, ever since he entered this tournament.
Contador started entered this sport at the age of 14 and when he was 15 years old he joined the Real Velo Club Portillo, but he was unable to grab any victories. In 2000, he tried his best and finally he took a prize in the several mountains classification.
Three times Tour De France champion started his professional career in 2003 and took the eighth time trial stage of Tour de Pologne. In 2006, Alberto won the eighth stage of Tour De Suisse and grabbed the third stage and took an overall second place in Tour De Romandie in preparation for the Tour De France.
In the season of 2007, he took an overall classification and young rider classification in Vuelta a Castilla y Leon race and Paris-Nice. Alberto was very excited for the 2001 Tour De France race so he showed his good effort and won his first biggest victory by taking an overall standing and title of best young rider.
In 2009, Contador won the 15th stage of Tour De France and took his overall leader’s yellow jersey. He extended his lead in the 17th stage when he took the time trial race and build advantage of four minutes. Finally he took his second victory on July 26, 2009. He easily defeated Andy Schleck and Lance Armstrong.
In September 2010, Contador faced a problem of doping while Anti-doping doctor, Don Catlin, said that the entire test was clear, but a tiny amount of the banned substance was detected in his blood and food contamination was to charge.
However, the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) proposed a one-year ban, but Contador appeal was accepted and was cleared off from all charges. Contador again won the overall leader’s yellow jersey in Tour De France in 2010.
Recently, he also won the biggest 2011 Giro d’ltalia Race and also took the point’s classification and grabbed the first place in ninth and 16th stages.
In 2011 Tour De France, Contador is currently in the 48th place and is aiming at clinching the championship this year as well. If he does that, then he would become the second cyclist to win Tour De France for the fourth time and perhaps come close to breaking the record of Lance Armstrong, who has 7 victories in Tour De France to his credit.
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