Saturday, June 30, 2012

The Tour De France is Starting on June 30: Some Factoids that Might Interest You

By Tom Kando

When my knees became too creaky to run marathons, I switched to road biking. As a child growing up in France, I was  an avid road biker. The Tour de France was the greatest annual sport event, and I not only followed it fervently every year, but I saw it live many times, as the racers approached Paris on their last stage and rode through the small suburban town where we lived.
In the early 21st century, I picked up biking again both as a participant and as a spectator.  I spent some time researching the Tour de France on some websites. http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2012/us/history/
“La Grande Boucle” may be the most grueling sport  event in the world. Amazingly, some men  manage to repeat a dozen or more  times. They must be genetically different from the rest of us (or do a lot of doping, haha).

 In the table below, I list 24 of the most prominent riders, ranked by how many times they did the race. Actually, there are about hundred men  who have done 7 or more Tours, since its inception in 1903. But I selected the 28  whose names meant the most to me.

This ranking does not indicate the racers’ greatness, only their durability. For example, the Belgian Edy Merckx is seen by  many  as the greatest bicycler of all times. He is 79th  because he “only” participated in seven tours, whereas  many other racers did more than that (some without ever winning). Unlike Lance Armstrong, who concentrated on winning the Tour, Merckx has raced in (and won) nearly every single race there is.

A sad question is whether the continuing allegations of doping against Armstrong, recently again revived by the US Anti-Doping Agency, will succeed in destroying the most fantastic cycling career in history. It is  safe to bet that Armstrong’s 7 victories will never be surpassed. However, the record  may be invalidated, if the allegations stand.


My feelings? You are innocent until proven guilty. I have always been a great admirer of Armstrong, and I will only stop being that if he is proven guilty.

                
All-time Most Frequent Tour the France Participants, with first, second and third finishes

Name of Athlete
Country
No.
raced
When
No. won
No.
2nd
No.
3rd
1. Joop  Zoetemelk
Netherlands
16
‘70-86
1
2
0
2. Lucien Van Impe
Belgium
15
‘69-85
1
1
3
3. Raymond. Poulidor
France
14
‘62-76

2
5
4. Andre Darrigade
France
14
‘53-66



5. Erik Zabel
Germany
14
‘94-‘07



6. Lance Armstrong
US
13
‘93-‘10
7

1
7. Joaquim Agostinho
Portugal
13
‘69-83


2
8. Hennie.Kuiper       
Netherlands
12
‘75-88

2

9. Raphael Geminiani
France
12
‘47-59

1
1
10. Richard Virenque
France
12
‘92-04

1
1
11. Bernard Thevenet
France
11
‘70-81
1
1

12. Pedro. Delgado
Spain
11
‘83-93
1
1
1
13. Jean Alavoine
France
11
‘09-25

2
2
14. Laurent Jalabert
France
11
‘91-02



15. Louison Bobet
France
10
‘47-59
3

1
16. Philippe Thys
Belgium
10
‘12-25
3


18. Laurent Fignon
France
10
‘83-93
2
1

20. Fred Bahamontes
Spain
10
‘54-62
1
1
1
21. Charly Gaul
Luxembourg
10
‘53-63
1

2
22. Stephen.Roche
Ireland
10
‘83-93
1

1
24. Jean Robic
France
10
‘47-59
1


25. Didier Rous
France
10
‘94-03



31. Miguel.Indurain
Spain
9
‘88-96
5


37. Bjarne Riis
Denmark
9
‘88-98
1

1
49. Bernard Hinault
France
8
‘78-86
5
2

50. Jacques.Anquetil
France
8
‘57-66
5

1
51. Greg.Lemond
US
8
‘84-94
3
1
1
79. Eddy Merckx
Belgium
7
‘69-77
5
1

           
leave comment here