Le Tour en Chiffres

Introduction

After Paris, which city has hosted the Tour the highest number of times? The answer is Bordeaux. Who won the largest number of stage victories? The answer is Eddy Merckx. Which was the longest Tour? The 1926 Tour with 5,745 km. The number of questions is endless... all the answers are in the following pages.

Here are a few figures, technical details and stats. The 93 editions of the Tour de France raced between 1903 and 2006 represent over 350,000 km, i.e. the distance between the Earth and the Moon. All the Departments of Metropolitan France have been visited as well as all the bordering countries.

Over 500 towns and villages have hosted the Tour (about 2,000 stages and prologues). More than 10,000 riders have taken their chance on the Tour and over 6,000 have completed the race. Finally, some 250 different riders have worn the Yellow Jersey.

Raymond Poulidor may not have won the Yellow Jersey, but he is the rider who stepped the highest number of times on the podium of the Tour (he finished 8 times in the Top 3!), more than Hinault, Zoetemelk, Ullrich and Armstrong (7), Garrigou, Anquetil and Merckx (6), LeMond and Indurain (5), Van Impe and L. Bobet (4).

Peloton & Caravan

Race

  • 22 teams
  • 198 riders;
  • 350 accompanying staff
  • 15 Race stewards
    • .

Media

  • 1,200 accredited journalists
  • 1,000 technicians or drivers
  • 370 newspapers or news services
  • 70 local or national radio stations
  • 15 million spectators alongside the roads
  • 2 billion viewers
  • 75 TV channels (21 broadcasting live)
  • 170 countries broadcasting
  • 2,400 hours of broadcast

Internet (www.letour.fr)

  • 5 language versions
  • 300 millions pages viewed
  • 7 million visitors

Organisation

  • 100 permanent employees
  • 200 employees under temporary contracts
  • 180 services providers
  • 1,200 hotel rooms per day
  • 12,000 gendarmes
  • 9,000 police officers and CRS (state security police)
  • 45 Republican Guards on motorbikes

Publicity caravan

  • 20 kilometres long
  • 200 vehicles
  • 45-minute show
  • 42 brands represented
  • 11 million gifts distributed

Total

  • 4,000 official followers
  • 1,600 vehicles

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