The most prestigious multi-day cycling race in the world, the Tour de France, held annually in July, has been held since 1903 and was established as an advertising project for the newspaper L ‘Auto. Originally conceived and conducted as a singles tournament. In the 20s of the last century, it was transformed into a team race. In 2012, the Tour has been held for the 99th time.
The Tour de France is divided into 21 one-day stages. Each rider's time is added up. Thus, an athlete can become the winner of the race as a whole according to the results of the General Classification, i.e. in the least total time without even winning a single stage, as, for example, it happened in 1990, when Greg Lemond became the winner and in 2010, Alberto Contador won.
Winning a stage is considered a significant achievement for an athlete, even regardless of his position in the Classification as a whole. In addition to the overall standings, there are several other nominations - the best sprinter, the best mountain racer, the best young athlete. The three weeks of competition include 2 days of rest, which are often used to transfer athletes to the starting site of the next stage.
The 2012 Grand Tour, the length of which will be 3479 km, starts on July 30 in the Belgian city of Liege and will pass through the territory of three states. It includes 20 stages and a prologue - an individual time trial with a time trial. It will run through the center of Liege. Its length is 6.1 km, the terrain is flat and has many straight sections. In total Tour 2012 includes 4 mid-mountain, 5 mountain stages and 9 flat terrain. There are 2 individual time trial races, the total length of which will be 96.1 km.
The first two stages will take place in Belgium. Part of the eighth, which starts in Belfort - in the Swiss Jura mountains. All other stages - in 39 departments of France. The last 130-kilometer stage from Rambouillet to Paris will end on July 22 in the French capital on the Champs Elysees.
22 teams are taking part in the 2012 race, including the Russian professional road cycling team Katyusha, created in 2008. It includes 28 cyclists. 17 of them represent Russia.
