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Mike's TDF HISTORY LESSON
- The Tour de France is a bicycle stage race across France each year in the month of July. It was first held in 1903. The race format has been changed many times, but basically it goes like this: Each rider completes the day's course and is given a finishing time at the end. The riders then clean up, eat dinner, and sleep! They start the next day and continue like this for three whole weeks! The different stages take the riders all around France, and even into some other countries. Wow! Some days are kind of short, some really long. After three weeks of racing, the riders' total time is added up, and the rider who has completed the entire course in the shortest amount of time wins. So, the overall winner doesn't win each day's stage; in fact, some riders have won the Tour without even winning an individual stage! 5 riders have won the race 5 times, but Lance Armstrong is the only one to win it 7 times. The Tour has been run every year since 1903 except for 1915-1918 and 1940-1946 because of thee two World Wars. Let's hope that doesn't happen again!
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