David Beckham

David Beckham's left foot." - From the film Love Actually, said by Hugh Grant, posed as Britain's Prime Minister. [4] IMDB link. David Beckham's right foot. The film is directed by Pepe Danquart who won an Academy Award for Live Action Short Film in 1993 for Black Rider (Schwarzfahrer). The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter. It is a record of the 90th Tour de France in 2003, the centenary year, from the perspective of Team Telekom. "We may be a small country but we're a great one, too. In 2005 a film titled Hell on Wheels was released.

"David Beckham must never go near a penalty kick again! — The Sun. [3]. "Without being too harsh on David Beckham, he cost us the match." - Ian Wright, former England striker. Noted personalities such as Daniel Baal and Lance Armstrong have denounced probable doping. Apart from that he's alright." — George Best. They attribute those speed increases to better performance-enhancing drugs, possibly not detected by current anti-doping investigations. "He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle, and he doesn't score many goals. Many commentators have remarked that the average speed at which the Tour is run has continued to rise, whereas improvements in training methods, bicycles etc., on a fairly mature sport, should only yield marginal improvements.

"David Beckham is Britain's finest striker of a football not because of God-given talent but because he practises with a relentless application that the vast majority of less gifted players wouldn't contemplate" — Sir Alex Ferguson (1999)^[20]. Although they intend to test the samples once the new test is ready, it is not clear what actions will be taken if the tests come back positive. "10 heroic lions, one stupid boy" — Daily Mirror headline after Beckham's sending off against Argentina. However the samples were not tested for EPO, as the test was not ready for use and would not be until after the race completed. Some regarded Beckham as instrumental in the success of the Olympic bid for London 2012. In 2004, the UCI introduced a somewhat more rigorous testing program, taking urine samples a few times during the race. He has bought a multi-million dollar home in The Palm, Jumeirah, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Furthermore, it is claimed that EPO is already passé and that other potent blood replacement products that do not increase the hematocrit rates are already in use in the cycling world.

Beckham is viewed by some as the most famous example of metrosexuality, a type of personality which combines feminine and masculine characteristics. This fear is surfacing in other sports, as Major League Baseball and track and field have been dogged by steroid controversies as well in recent years. It has been speculated that he believed it to be too effeminate. The UCI appears to be too afraid to lose popular Tour riders, and would rather operate under continued controversy than lower participation. Allegedly, in May 2003 Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson ordered Beckham not to wear his hair band during matches. The UCI has done little to address these problems, taking a sort of "don't ask, don't tell" attitude, and running only a small and semi-voluntary drug testing program that is considered trivial to beat. It is about a British Sikh girl who idolises David Beckham and harbours ambitions of being a football player. Some claim that EPO use is almost universal.

He has become more well known in North America since the success of the British film Bend It Like Beckham. In particular there is continued controversy over the use of EPO, a hormone that increases the amount of red blood cells in the blood and thus offers increased cardiovascular endurance. For the first time, the Beckham 'brand' had been tainted. Professional cycling in general has a reputation for being one of the most doped sports. Following his move to Real Madrid and the disappointment of Euro 2004, British media interest in the Beckham's has faded despite an alleged affair with Rebecca Loos, his former personal assistant. However, during the official announcement of the 2006 Tour route in October 2005, an event that typically highlights the previous year's winner, the Tour management scrubbed all mention of Armstrong from the program. Despite the USA's uneven acceptance of soccer, Beckham's recognition in the USA is strong enough to enable him to appear in print and television advertising for various sponsors, including Gillette razors. Armstrong denied using EPO, and because there was no "counter-sample" to test, the UCI would not sanction him.

Early on in his career Beckham secured a number of lucrative sponsorship deals including Brylcreem, Adidas, Vodafone (which ended in July 2005) and Diesel. This claim was based on a newer test on frozen urine samples that had been kept at the French national dope testing laboratory. Beckham is one of only four players to have appeared 100 times in the Champions League.^[19]. In late August 2005, one month after Armstrong's seventh consecutive victory in the Tour, the French sports newspaper L'Equipe claimed to have uncovered evidence that Lance Armstrong used EPO in 1999, before any EPO test had yet been invented. He captained his country for a landmark 50th time in the friendly international against Argentina in November 2005. While Armstrong had been subjected to urine testing after nearly every stage he raced in the Tour, a urine test for EPO was not available until 2002, and even then the test was unable to detect EPO usage after more than a few days. Beckham is also a reasonable candidate to record 100 appearances for his country. Armstrong, wearing the yellow jersey at the time, took umbrage.

If so, he would become only the sixth England player to represent his country at three World Cup competitions (although Sol Campbell and Michael Owen are expected to achieve this feat at the same time), and the fourth (after Billy Wright, Bobby Moore and Bryan Robson) to captain the team at more than one World Cup. While he stopped short of directly accusing Armstrong of doping, Christophe Bassons (who is widely cosidered to be one of the few members of the 1998 Festina team who did not dope, and a known opponent of doping) wrote a newspaper diary during the 1999 Tour in which he implied that it was impossible to win the Tour without doping. Beckham made his 85th appearance for England in 2005 and is expected to captain the team at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Other athletes have suggested that Armstrong's performances are unnatural without doping. In January, Beckham was named a judge for the 2006 British Book Awards, while his wife Victoria Beckham announced plans to write a children's book. Simeoni's defamation suit against Armstrong is currently scheduled to be argued in the Spring of 2006. Currently (as of 30 December), the performance of Real Madrid is even more sluggish than last year with the team is 11 points behind their main rivals FC Barcelona, who are topping the table with 40 points. Although Simeoni has since signed with the Amore e Vita team, the team that also signed Jesus Manzano, it appears unlikely that he will again ride on a major ProTour team.

The turnover of the company equates to David Beckham earning almost £47,500 every day, before expenses. Simeoni and Armstrong then rejoined the peloton. He owns a company called Footwork Productions Ltd. Having the race leader in an early break dooms their chances, so the members of the leading group pleaded with Simeoni to return to the peloton and, by implication, to take Armstrong with him. Beckham established two football academies bearing his name, one in Los Angeles and one in East London. In a highly unusual move for a wearer of the yellow jersey, Armstrong himself chased Simeoni and they rode together to join the break. On December 3, 2005, in the Real Madrid v Getafe match in the Spanish league, Beckham was again sent off in the 58th minute for a rash tackle. Shortly thereafter, during the 18th stage of the 2004 Tour, Simeoni broke free of the peloton in an attempt to join a "break" that was up the road.

Having received a yellow card, he appeared to sarcastically applaud the referee and was given a second yellow card, causing an automatic dismissal, athough the dismissal was cancelled on appeal two days later. In a 2003 interview with the French paper Le Monde, Armstrong said that Simeoni was a liar ("menteur absolu"), eventually leading to Simeoni suing him for defamation. Shortly afterwards, Beckham was sent off while playing in a league match for Real Madrid against Valencia. Armstrong had admitted to using Ferrari's services just before Simeoni's disclosure, leading to questions about whether Armstrong had used EPO. Four days later they beat Poland 2-1 to top the qualifying group. He also stated that Ferrari had developed a program for EPO use that would remain undetected. Nonetheless, England held on to win the match 1-0 and later qualified for the 2006 tournament due to results elsewhere. Michele Ferrari as his source of EPO.

In October 2005, while playing in the World Cup Qualifying match against Austria, Beckham became the first England captain to be sent off, and the first player to be sent off twice while playing for England. In 2002, Italian cyclist Filippo Simeoni, while under suspension for doping, began to cooperate with prosecutors and implicated Dr. Real Madrid had another disappointing season, finishing second in the league to Barcelona and only reaching the last sixteen in the UEFA Champions League. Controversy continues to surround Lance Armstrong. Beckham became a UNICEF goodwill amabassador in January 2005, having supported the charity for a number of years.^[18]. Other members of Cofidis were also implicated by the testimony of fellow rider Philippe Gaumont, who told investigators and the press that doping with steroids, human growth hormones, EPO, and amphetamines was systematic on the team. The following month, the announcement of plans for the christening of the Beckhams' two children, including the construction of a fake Gothic chapel for £120,000 on the grounds of their Berkshire estate, were received with some ridicule, especially as neither are held to be strongly religious. Millar later admitted to doping with EPO before the 2003 World Championships -- his title was stripped from him, and he was suspended from professional cycling for two years.

In November 2004 it was reported that Real Madrid intended to offer Beckham a two-year extension to his contract, which would effectively keep him in Madrid for the remainder of his playing career. In 2004, British cylist David Millar of Cofidis, then the reigning time trial World Champion, was taken in for questioning by French police. The Football Association asked Beckham for an explanation of his actions and he admitted that he had "made a mistake" and apologised.^[17]. Kelme had refused to renew Manzano's contract after the 2003 season, citing both lack of results and behavioral problems -- Manzano had been kicked out of the 2003 Vuelta a Espana by Kelme, ostensibly for having a girl in his room during the race. Beckham was due to receive a one-match suspension for his next caution, and picked up an injury which he knew would keep him out of England's next match, so he deliberately fouled Thatcher in order to serve his suspension in a match that he would have had to miss anyway. In the Spring of 2004, Jesus Manzano, a Spanish rider who had ridden for Kelme from 2000 to 2003, told Madrid sports newspaper As that he had been forced by his former team to take banned substances, and went into considerable technical detail about how riders avoid detection. Beckham made more headlines on 9 October when he admitted he had intentionally fouled Ben Thatcher in an England match against Wales in order to get himself booked. Use of prescriptions unmotivated by medical needs, particularly external corticoids which cannot be distinguished from (prohibited) injected ones, has been described by some cycling insiders as a widespread trick.

Victoria and their children were in the house at the time, but security guards apprehended the man before he reached the house.^[16]. However, sports authorities decided not to apply this article and cleared Armstrong. In July 2004, while David was in pre-season training in Spain, an intruder scaled a wall at the Beckhams' home while carrying a can of petrol. Although the amount detected both was well below the "positive" threshold and was consistent with the amount that would be used for a topical skin cream, prescriptions must be shown to sports authorities in advance of use (UCI Rules Title XIV Chapter 4 Article 43). England lost the shootout and went out of the competition. Armstrong explained he had used an external "cortisone" ointment in order to treat a saddle sore, and produced a prescription for it. He had a penalty saved in England's 2-1 defeat to France and missed another in a penalty shootout in the quarter final against Portugal. An accusation was made against Lance Armstrong during the 1999 Tour, when a glucocorticosteroid was detected in his urine.

Beckham played in all of England's matches at Euro 2004, but the tournament was a disappointment for him. While Virenque was not sentenced (but had penalties imposed on him by sports authority), the management of Festina, the aides, the doctors, and some pharmacists were found guilty and handed down fines and suspended jail sentences. Real Madrid finished the season in a diasppointing fourth place, and were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League at the quarter-final stage. During the trial, he confessed to doping himself. Real Madrid denied rumours that they were interested in selling Beckham, and banned British reporters from access to the team. In 2000, he and the management of the Festina team were tried. Sources within the family told the Telegraph that Beckham would almost certainly be back in London. This denial sounds as convoluted in French as it does in English, and the mock news show Les Guignols de l'Info quickly catapulted the phrase into French popular culture.

Near the end of the 2003-04 season, The Daily Telegraph reported that Beckham's major sponsors were trying to arrange for him to return to England for the 2004-05 season. Richard Virenque denied doping himself and said that if he had been doped, it was not willfully (literally, "à l'insu de mon plein gré"). Beckham dismissed both accusations as "ludicrous".^[15]. (Daniel Baal, Droit dans le mur). A week later, the Malaysian-born Australian model Sarah Marbeck claimed that she had slept with Beckham on two occasions. Polemics ensued, especially alleging the weakness of UCI's measures compared to the measures decided by the French cycling federation. Beckham had further problems in April 2004, when the British tabloid News of the World carried claims by his former personal assistant Rebecca Loos that he and Loos had had an extramarital affair. In the end the "Tour of Shame" continued after the UCI backed down and promised to limit the heavy-handed actions, although several teams were forced to withdraw from the race.

Beckham immediately became a favourite with the Real Madrid supporters, scoring five times in his first 16 matches, but the team, whose club president expected them to win either the Spanish league or the Champions League each season, were not performing well. UCI, the international sport body for cycling, promised tough measures. He chose to wear 23 instead, in tribute to Michael Jordan who had worn that number for the Chicago Bulls. The Spanish teams quit the Tour in a show of solidarity led by the ONCE team. Although Beckham had worn the number seven shirt for Manchester United and England, he was unable to wear it at Madrid as Raúl had the right to wear it written into his contract. In response the riders started a "sit-down strike" and refused to ride, thereby putting millions of dollars of endorsements and advertising revenue in jeopardy. It was reported that this tour would earn more money for the Beckhams than the first year of David's Real Madrid contract. On July 23, 1998, French police forces acting on search warrants raided several teams in their hotels and found significant quantities of doping products in the hotel and cars of the TVM (cycling team) team.

At the time the transfer was announced, Beckham and his wife were on a week-long tour of Asia promoting beauty products, chocolate, motor oil, and mobile phones. The team's lawyer was Thibault de Montbrial. For example, Real Madrid shirts bearing his name and number sold out in Madrid on the day his transfer was completed and the club were expected to receive €624,000 for the sale of the shirts. Well-known riders on the 1998 Festina team included Laurent Brochard, Christophe Moreau, Didier Rous, Richard Virenque, and Alex Zülle. It was speculated that Real's desire to sign him came from the merchandising opportunities he would bring as well as from his football ability. It was argued that doping was generalized inside the cycling world, at least for racers who wanted to achieve major results. The transfer was completed on 1 July and made him the third Englishman to ever play for the club after Laurie Cunningham in the 1980s and Steve McManaman in the late 1990s to early 2000s. In the 2000 criminal trial that ensued, it became apparent that the management of the Festina team had deliberately organized doping inside the team, including the hiring of a physician (Doctor Eric Rijkaert) because, the director sportif of the team Bruno Roussel later said, it was thought safer for the athletes than if they were left to their own individual doping schemes without competent medical advice.

On June 17, 2003, Beckham signed a four-year contract with Real Madrid of Spain, potentially worth up to €35 million (£25 million, USD 41 million). He later revealed many common practices of the cycling world in his book, Massacre à la Chaîne. He was still a first-choice player for England, however, and he was awarded an OBE for services to football on 13 June.^[14]. On July 8, 1998, a major scandal erupted when French Customs arrested Willy Voet, one of the soigneurs for the Festina cycling team, for the possession of illegal quantities of prescription drugs and narcotics, including erythropoietin (EPO), growth hormones, testosterone and amphetamines. Beckham scored the winning goal in their final match of the season. The 1998 Tour de France was perhaps the most scandal-ridden Tour in recent memory. The incident led to a great deal of transfer speculation involving Beckham, with bookmakers offering odds on whether he or Ferguson would be first to leave the club.^[13] Although the team had started the season badly, their results improved greatly from December onwards and they won the league. On July 13, 1967, British cyclist Tom Simpson died climbing Mont Ventoux following excessive usage of amphetamines, probably complicated by the now defunct practice of limiting daily water intake to only four bidons, circa 2 litres.

His relationship with his manager deteriorated further on 15 February 2003 when, in the changing room following a defeat to Arsenal, Alex Ferguson kicked a football boot which struck Beckham over the eye, causing a cut which required stitches. As time went by, riders began using substances as a means of increasing performance rather than dulling the senses, and organizing bodies such as the Tour and the International Cycling Union (UCI), as well as government bodies, enacted policies to combat this practice. Following an injury early in the 2002-03 season, Beckham was unable to regain his place in the team, with Ole Gunnar Solskjær having replaced him on the right side of midfield. Early tour riders have been said to have consumed alcohol and used ether among other substances as a means of dulling the agonizing pain of competing in endurance cycling. England were eventually knocked out of the tournament by Brazil in the Quarter-Finals. Analysis of the 2005 competitors shows that:. Beckham scored the only goal of the match against Argentina, with a penalty. That said, even a rider who is chosen to ride but does not finish the race will have had to have been very fit to be selected.

He was partially fit by the time of the 2002 World Cup and played in the first match against Sweden. To finish the Tour de France, a cyclist must be in a very good physical state. ^[12]. In terms of nationality, riders from France have won most Tours (36), followed by Belgium (18), United States (10), Italy (9), Spain (8), Luxembourg (4), Switzerland and the Netherlands (2 each) and Ireland, Denmark and Germany (1 each). The income from his new contract and the many endorsement deals he had made him the highest-paid player in the world at the time. Gino Bartali holds the record of longest time span between titles, having earned his first and last Tour victories 10 years apart (in 1938 and 1948 respectively). The injury prevented Beckham from playing for United for the rest of the season, but he signed a three-year contract in May, following months of negotiations with the club, mostly concerning extra payments for his image rights. Three other riders have managed to win the Tour three times:.

Those speculations were unfounded, though, and the accusations were never proved. Four other riders have managed to win the Tour five times:. There was speculation that the injury might have been caused deliberately, as the player who had injured Beckham was Argentinian Aldo Duscher and England and Argentina were due to meet in that year's World Cup ^[11]. Lance Armstrong (United States) holds the record as the only rider to have won the Tour seven times (consecutively 1999–2005); he retired after the 2005 Tour. On April 10, 2002, Beckham was injured during a Champions League match against Deportivo La Coruña, breaking the metatarsal bones of his left foot.
. Shortly afterwards, he was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2001. .

With Teddy Sheringham being fouled some eight yards outside the Greek penalty area, England was awarded a free-kick and Beckham ensured England's qualification by with a curling strike of the kind which had become his trademark. For the upcoming tour, a route description is given. England needed to win or draw the match in order to qualify for the World Cup, but were losing 2–1 with little time remaining. For previous tours this includes detailed results. The final step in Beckham's conversion from villain to hero happened in England's 2–2 draw against Greece on 6 October 2001. Note: Hyperlinked tour numbers point to more information on that particular tour. He helped England to qualify for the 2002 World Cup Finals, with their performances including an impressive 5–1 victory over Germany in Munich. Terms specific to the Tour de France include:.

Following Kevin Keegan's resignation as England manager in October 2000, Beckham was promoted to team captain by the caretaker manager Peter Taylor, and then kept the role under new manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. Much of the terminology used to describe the Tour de France is frequently used in bicycle racing across the world. The abuse that Beckham was receiving from English supporters peaked during England's 3–2 defeat by Portugal in Euro 2000, when a group of England supporters taunted him throughout the match with chants including "we hope your kid dies of cancer".^[9] Beckham responded with a one-fingered gesture and, while the gesture attracted some criticism, many of the newspapers that had previously encouraged his vilification asked their readers to stop abusing him.^[10]. As the Tour becomes ever more international and commercial, it remains to be seen whether the customs of the past will continue to be observed. He later criticised Beckham in an updated edition of his 1999 autobiography, claiming he hadn't been "fair to his team mates".^[8] Beckham had a good season for his club, though, and helped United to win the Premier League by a record margin. Other riders may just be ill or slightly injured and unwillingly end up as the lanterne rouge. He responded by fining Beckham the maximum amount that was permitted (two weeks' wages – then £50,000) and dropping him for a crucial match against United's rivals Leeds United. Thus, in the past many riders have attempted to engineer themselves into last place by artificial means.

In 2000, the club gave Beckham permission to miss training to look after his son Brooklyn, who had gastroenteritis, but Ferguson was furious when Victoria Beckham was photographed at a London Fashion Week event on the same night, and he realised that Beckham would have been able to train if Victoria had looked after Brooklyn that day. The money a rider can generate through publicity is much greater if he finishes last than second from last. The relationship between Ferguson and Beckham began to deteriorate, possibly as a result of Beckham's fame and commitments away from football. The rider may just be a lowly domestique, but such is the sympathy of the French public that finishing last is actually very prestigious. It was suggested in the press that his wife was a bad influence on him, and that it might be in United's interests to sell him,^[7] but his manager publicly backed him and he stayed at the club. The lanterne rouge is the rider ranked last in the general classification, who may wind up in Paris with an overall time five or more hours longer than that of the winner. Despite Beckham's achievements in the 1998-99 season, he was still unpopular among opposition fans and many journalists, and he was heavily criticised after being sent off for a deliberate foul in Manchester United's World Club Championship match against Necaxa. Unless the final stage is a time trial--or in the case of Pedro Delgado attacking the yellow jersey of Stephen Roche in 1987 on the Champs-Elysées--riders generally do not launch attacks on the leader of the tour on the final stage, giving the leader one final day to bask in the glory of winning the yellow jersey.

437 staff were employed for the wedding reception, which was estimated to have cost UK£500,000.^[6]. One does not attack a leading rider who has suffered a mechanical breakdown or other misfortune, one who is eating in the feed zone or one who is enjoying un besoin naturel (roughly translated to a natural need, the practice of answering nature's call). They were later accused of bad taste after photographs showed that they had sat on thrones for the ceremony. Whenever reasonably possible, one allows a rider to lead the peloton when the race passes through his home village or on his birthday, and it often happens that the winner of the stage held on Bastille Day is French. The media were kept away from the ceremony as the Beckhams had a deal with OK! Magazine giving them exclusive rights for photographs. The riders, unlike some of their fans, have traditionally tempered their competitiveness and enthusiasm with an elaborate but unwritten code of honor. Beckham's teammate Gary Neville was the best man, and Brooklyn was the ring bearer. As word passes that the riders are approaching, the fans begin to encroach on the road until they are often just an arm’s length from the riders.

The wedding attracted enormous media coverage. Any amateur rider or, in fact, just about anyone, is free to attempt the course on his bicycle in the morning, and after that there begins a garish cavalcade of advertising vehicles blaring music and tossing hats, souvenirs, sweets and free samples of all sorts. He married Victoria at Luttrellstown Castle, Ireland on 4 July 1999. In the hours before the riders pass, a carnival atmosphere prevails. Both of the goals came from corners taken by Beckham, and this, combined with his performances over the rest of the season, led to him finishing runner up for 1999's European Footballer of the Year award. Millions of spectators line the route every year to see the Tour first-hand, some of them having encamped a week in advance to get the best views. United were losing the Champions League final 1–0 at the end of normal time, but won the trophy by scoring two goals in stoppage time. It is said that any rider who has worn the yellow jersey, even for a day, will never go hungry or thirsty again in France.

Beckham played in United's FA Cup final win over Newcastle and played in centre-midfield for the UEFA Champions League final as United's first choice centre-midfielders were suspended for the match. Any Frenchman who has won the Tour becomes an object of public adoration in his native land. Beckham scored their equaliser and United went on to win the match and the league. The Tour is immensely popular and important in France, not only as a sporting event but also as a matter of national identity and pride. United needed to win their final league match of the season at home to Tottenham Hotspur to ensure they would win the league championship, but Tottenham took an early lead in the match. The Tour alternates between starting inside and outside France; traditionally, the first few stages are in a neighbouring country. On a more positive note for Beckham, Victoria gave birth to their first child Brooklyn on 4 March 1999. In some years, like 2005, there is no prologue.

United's supporters had mostly forgiven him for the problems he'd had with England, and were frequently heard to chant "Argentina" in response to the other supporters' taunts. Usually one town will host the prologue (which is too short to go between towns) and also the start of stage 1. Throughout the season, Beckham was jeered by opposition supporters whenever he touched the ball, but he consistently played well and his crossing provided a significant number of goals for United's forwards Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole. The prologue and first stage of the Tour are particularly prestigious to host. There had been speculation that the criticism that he had received after being sent off in the World Cup would lead to him leaving England, but he decided to stay at Manchester United. Sometimes the Tour will jump very long distances between stages, requiring a rest day to allow riders to be transported. In the 1998–99 season, he was part of the United team that won the "treble" — Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, a unique feat in English football. Whereas formerly each stage would start at the preceding stage's finish line, making a continuous course for the race, nowadays each stage can often start some distance from the previous day's finish, to allow more towns to share in the glory.

Many supporters and journalists blamed Beckham for England's elimination and he became the target of severe criticism and abuse, including the hanging of an effigy outside a London pub, and the Daily Mirror newspaper printing a dartboard with a picture of him in the middle.^[5]. To host a stage start or finish brings prestige, and a lot of business, to a town. Simeone later admitted to trying to get Beckham sent off by over-reacting to the kick and then, along with other members of his team, waving imaginary red cards at the referee, urging him to send Beckham off.^[4] The match finished in a draw and England were eliminated in a penalty shootout. The Tour usually features only one of these two climbs in a year. As Beckham lay on the pitch he held out his right leg as Simeone backed into it and fell over. Another famous mountain stage is the climb of the Mont Ventoux, often claimed to be the hardest climb in the Tour due to the harsh conditions there. In the second round of that competition, he received a red card in England's match against Argentina, for kicking out at Diego Simeone following a foul challenge by the Argentine. This seems less likely to be repeated, following complaints from the riders.

He was picked for their third match against Colombia, which England needed to win to ensure their progress in the tournament, and played well, scoring one of his trademark free kicks in a 2–0 victory. In 2004, in another experiment, the mountain time trial ended at Alpe d'Huez. Beckham had played in all of England's qualifying matches for the 1998 World Cup and travelled with the England squad to the finals in France, but the team's manager Glenn Hoddle publicly accused him of not concentrating on the tournament,^[3] and he didn't start in either of England's first two matches. The particularly tough climb of Alpe d'Huez is a favourite, providing a stage finish in most Tours. United started the season well, but their results deteriorated when several players became injured and they finished the season in second place. It is unlikely that this would be repeated in the future. Their relationship attracted a great deal of media interest. Most famously, the final stage of the 1989 Tour saw Greg LeMond overtake Laurent Fignon's overall lead by just 8 seconds, the closest winning margin in the Tour's history.

In 1998, Beckham started dating the Spice Girl Victoria Adams and was pictured wearing a sarong while they were on holiday together. In recent years the Tour organisers have experimented with holding the final time trial as the final, rather than as the penultimate, stage. He was voted PFA Young Player of the Year by his peers. (In fact he was caught, he and Roche both finished in the peloton, and Roche thereby won the Tour.). He became an automatic first-choice player at United that season, scoring a series of blistering goals and sublime free kicks, thus helping them to retain their league championship. In 1987, with Stephen Roche leading Pedro Delgado by only 40 seconds after the final time trial, Delgado broke away from the peloton on the Champs-Elysées, threatening to snatch victory at the last minute. Beckham's name was frequently mentioned in the press, and he made his first appearance for the England national football team on 1 September 1996 in a world cup qualifying a match against Moldova. There have been exceptions, however.

Sky Sports' commentator Martin Tyler's words "You'll see that over and over again" proved prophetic as the goal was voted Premier League 'Goal of the Decade' in 2003. This stage is not usually competitive in terms of the overall lead since it is a flat sprinters' stage, and the leader is likely to have a sufficiently large margin to be unchallengeable. With United 2–0 ahead, Beckham noticed that Wimbledon's goalkeeper Neil Sullivan was standing a long way out of his goal, and hit a shot from the halfway line that floated over the goalkeeper and into the net. The race takes multiple turns over the avenue, which is lined with enormous spectator crowds. In August 1996, Beckham became something of a household name when he scored a spectacular goal in a match against Wimbledon. Since 1975, the final stage always finishes on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, which, being cobbled, is an unpleasant surface to cycle on, though not as much as the famous Paris-Roubaix. Beckham became a regular player in the team and helped them to win the Premiership and FA Cup double that season, scoring the winner in the semi-final against Chelsea and also supplying the corner kick cross that Eric Cantona scored with a volley from in the FA Cup Final. Jan Ullrich on Team Bianchi in the 2003).

The criticism of Ferguson increased when United started the season with a 3–1 defeat at Aston Villa F.C.^[2], with Beckham scoring United's only goal of the game, but many of the doubters were won over when the team won their next five matches. There is, however, no evidence that indicates this is true, and it is more reasonable to conclude that the new rules are simply designed to limit how much time any legitimate contender for the overall win could lose in the TTT stage due to being on a weak team (e.g. United manager Alex Ferguson had large confidence in the club's young players and when three of his first-team players left the club at the end of the 1994-95 season, he made the decision to let the youth team players replace them instead of buying players from other clubs. Some people speculate that the motivation behind the TTT rule change was an attempt by the race organisers to "Lance-proof" the Tour, limiting how much time Lance Armstrong could gain in this stage. He went to Preston North End on loan in the 1994-95 season to get some first team experience, then made his first Premier League appearance for Manchester United on 2 April 1995, in a goalless draw against Leeds. If they finished in sixth place (still assuming two minutes behind the winning team), they would lose only one minute (per the table). United reached the final of the Youth Cup again the following year, with Beckham playing in their defeat by Leeds United, and he won another medal in 1994 when the club's reserve team won their league. However, if they finished two minutes behind (still assuming 14th place), they would only lose the two minutes.

He had his first appearance for United's first team that year, as a substitute in a League Cup match against Brighton & Hove Albion, and signed his first professional contract shortly afterwards. For example, riders on a team that finished in 14th place, six minutes behind the winning team, would lose only two minutes and 20 seconds in the General Classification relative to the winners of the TTT. These players later helped the club to win the FA Youth Cup in May 1992, with Beckham scoring in the second leg of the final against Crystal Palace. The following table indicates the time penalty added to the winning team's time that a member finishing with his team will receive, according to his team's placing, if their actual time is greater than the winning team's time plus this penalty. He was part of an exceptionally talented group of young players at the club, including the future internationals Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs Phil Neville and Gary Neville. However, since the 2004 Tour, the only riders that necessarily receive actual time are those on the winning team; members on trailing teams (who finish ahead of or with the fifth member of their team) receive either the fifth member's actual time, or a computed time based on the winning team's time plus a penalty based on their team's placing in that stage, whichever is lower. He signed schoolboy forms at United on his fourteenth birthday in 1989, then signed a Youth Training Scheme contract on 8 July 1991. Traditionally, riders received the actual time recorded by the fifth member of their team in that stage.

The young Beckham had trials with Leyton Orient and attended Tottenham Hotspur's school of excellence, but once Manchester United offered him a place there was no doubting which club he would go to. Members who finish clearly behind the fifth member of their team receive their individual actual time for the stage. He was Manchester United's mascot for a match against West Ham United in 1986. Each member of the team who crosses the finish line ahead of or with the fifth (or last, if the team has less than five riders) member of the team is credited with the time of the fifth (last) team member to cross the finish line; this is the middle member of a nine-person team. At the age of eleven, he attended one of Bobby Charlton's soccer schools in Manchester and won the chance to take part in a training session at FC Barcelona in a talent competition. Often in the first week of the Tour there is a team time trial (TTT). David was a strong cross-country runner who regularly finished first in his age group in the Essex cross-country championships, but he had inherited his parents' love of Manchester United and his main passion was football. Although other riders had used aerodynamic aids in previous tours, LeMond's aero handlebars and helmet were considered a major factor in his victory.

Both have also obtained matching tattoos from the Song of Songs that says, in Hebrew: “I am for my beloved, and my beloved is for me, who grazes sheep in rose-like pastures.”) The Beckhams were fanatical Manchester United supporters, who would regularly travel to Old Trafford by coach and frequently went to away games. Fignon wore the yellow jersey for the final stage, with a narrow lead of 50 seconds, and was beaten by LeMond's superior time trial performance. (Presently, Beckham and his wife have embraced the mystic Jewish offshoot of Kabbalah. The most recent occasion on which this was done, in 1989, yielded the closest ever finish in Tour history, when Greg LeMond beat Laurent Fignon by eight seconds overall. In his first autobiography My World, which was serialised in OK! Magazine, David was quoted as saying; "I've probably had more contact with Judaism than with any other religion." Beckham is Jewish on his maternal grandfather's side. On a few occasions, the race organisers made the final stage into Paris a time trial. Beckham was born in Leytonstone, east London, the son of Ted Beckham (a kitchen fitter) and Sandra West (a hairdresser). Traditionally the final time trial has been the penultimate stage, and effectively determines the winner before the final ordinary stage which is not ridden competitively.

. One of these may be a team time trial (see below). Beckham's relationship with and marriage to the former Spice Girl Victoria (née Adams) has contributed towards him becoming a major celebrity away from football, and his name was searched for on Google more than that of any other sporting personality in 2003 and 2004.^[1] The Beckhams have three sons, Brooklyn, born March 4, 1999, Romeo, born September 1, 2002, and Cruz, born February 20, 2005. There are usually three or four time trials during the Tour. As of November 2005, Beckham has had 5 different coaches in Real Madrid and failed to win any major trophies with his struggling new team. The purpose of the prologue is to decide who gets to wear yellow on the opening day, and provide a large and prestigious spectacle for one lucky city. While his performances for Real Madrid have attracted praise, the team itself has been in turmoil. Here, riders start in reverse order of race number, meaning the weakest rider on the lowest ranked team will be first off, with the final rider being the defending champion, wearing Number 1.

His relationship with the club's manager Sir Alex Ferguson began to deteriorate, though, and although he won further league championships with United in 2000 and 2001, he left the club to join Real Madrid in 2003. The first stage of the tour is often a time trial, known as a prologue. Beckham became a figure of public hatred among many English football supporters, but he continued to play well and helped United win the league, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League the following year. In an individual time trial each rider rides individually. He was soon selected to play for England, but after winning another league medal in 1997, he was sent off in a World Cup match against Argentina for kicking Diego Simeone. With the exception of the now traditional finish at the Champs-Elysées all famous stages, like Alpe d'Huez and Mont Ventoux, are mountain stages, and these often bring out the most spectators who line up the roads by the thousands to cheer and encourage the cyclists and support their favorites. By 1995, he had established himself as a first-team player at United and won Premier League and FA Cup winners' medals with the club in 1996. The so called mountain stages are often the deciding factor in determining the winner of the Tour de France.

He signed schoolboy forms for Manchester United in 1989, became a trainee in 1991 and signed a professional contract with them soon after making his first first-team appearance in 1992. On ordinary stages that do not have extended mountain climbs, most riders can manage to stay together in the peloton all the way to the finish; during mountain stages, however, it is not uncommon for some riders to lose 40 minutes to the winner of the stage. He is also famed for his celebrity lifestyle trappings, media attention and marketing potential. Some ordinary stages take place in the mountains, almost always causing major shifts in the General Classification. He currently plays for Real Madrid and as captain of the English national team, especially noted for the quality of his crossing and ability to hit free-kicks and corners, particularly from long-range. The final kilometre is indicated in the race course by a red triangular pennant - known as the flamme rouge - raised above the road^[2]. David Robert Joseph Beckham OBE (born May 2, 1975 in Leytonstone, London) is an English footballer, widely regarded as the most famous player in the sport. A crashed sprinter inside the final kilometre will not win the sprint, but avoids being penalised in the overall classification.

^  Managing My Life 137. This prevents riders from being penalised for accidents that do not accurately reflect their performance on the stage as a whole given that crashes in the final kilometre can be huge pileups that are hard to avoid for a rider farther back in the peloton. The others are Paolo Maldini, Gary Neville and Raúl. Riders who crash within the last kilometer of the stage are credited with the finishing time of the group that they were with when they crashed. ^  As of December 2005. These bonuses generally are a maximum of 20 seconds, and can allow a good sprinter to qualify for the Yellow Jersey early in the Tour. URL accessed on October 9, 2005.. Time bonuses are awarded at some intermediate sprints and stage finishes to the first three riders who reach the specified point.

UNICEF official website. It is not unusual for the entire field to finish in a single group, taking some time to cross the line, but being credited with the same time as the stage winner. ^  David Beckham, Goodwill Ambassador. This avoids what would otherwise be dangerous mass sprints. URL accessed on October 6, 2005.. While only finishers are awarded sprint points, all riders finishing in an identifiable group (with no significant gap to the rider in front, as determined by race officials) are deemed to have finished the stage in the same time as the lead rider of that group for overall classification purposes. BBC News, 14 October 2004. In the first week of the Tour, this usually leads to spectacular mass sprints.

^  FA wants explanation from Beckham. The one who crosses the finish line first wins. URL accessed on October 9, 2005.. The latter is called drafting and is an essential technique. Manchester Online, 20 July 2004. Riders are permitted to touch (but not push or nudge) and to shelter behind each other, in slipstream ^[1]. ^  Intruder alert for Victoria Beckham. The real start (départ réel) usually is some 2 to 5 km away from the starting point, and is announced by the Tour director in the officials' car waving a white flag.

URL accessed on October 7, 2005.. In an ordinary stage, all riders start simultaneously and share the road. BBC News, 20 May 2004. Its King of the Mountains wears a green jersey. ^  Beckham to stay in Spain. The Giro d'Italia notably differs in awarding the overall leader a pink jersey, having been organized and sponsored by La Gazzetta dello Sport, an Italian sports daily newspaper with pink pages. URL accessed on October 6, 2005.. For example, the Tour of Britain has yellow, green, and polka-dot jerseys with the same meaning as in the Tour de France.

BBC News, 13 June 2003. The Tour's jersey colours have been adopted by other cycling stage races, and have thus come to have meaning within cycling generally, rather than solely in the context of the Tour. ^  Beckham's pride at OBE. No jerseys are exchanged in this situation. URL accessed on October 6, 2005.. Sometimes a rider takes the overall lead during a stage and gets sufficiently far ahead of the yellow jersey wearer such that his current time lead is greater than his time deficit to the yellow jersey in the general classification; when this happens, this rider may be referred to as being "the yellow jersey on the road". BBC News, 18 February 2003. They also get a high-quality jersey to keep as a souvenir: the ones that are worn get dirty and are sometimes damaged by the day's cycling.

^  Will Becks give Man Utd the boot?. Overnight, a high-quality jersey is printed to be worn the next day. URL accessed on October 7, 2005.. The jersey bears their team logo, and the copy that they are awarded immediately after the stage end must have the logo attached in a matter of minutes, so this is done by a rapid process that can be done in the field but which yields an inferior jersey. BBC News, May 2002. A rider who leads a classification for a stage of the Tour gets three copies of the coloured jersey. ^  Beckham signs new contract. At the end of the tour an award is given to the rider who was thought to be the most aggressive bike racer throughout the entire three week tour.

URL accessed on October 7, 2005.. While this is usually is given to the winner of the previous stage, it is not always, especially during a mass sprint. ESPN Socernet, 2 April 2002. Not an actual jersey, a red number is given to and worn by the rider who a panelist of judges deemed the most aggressive bike racer the day before. ^  Did 'hatchet man' target Beckham?. In this case the leading rider will wear the yellow jersey and the rider placed second in the points competition will wear the green jersey. URL accessed on October 4, 2005.. For example, in the first week it is common for the overall classification (yellow jersey) and points (sprint) competition (green jersey) to be led by the same rider.

BBC News, 14 June 2000. Where a single rider leads in the competition for more than one jersey, they wear the most prestigious jersey to which they are entitled, and the second-placed rider in each of the other classifications becomes entitled to wear the corresponding jersey. ^  Media sympathy for Beckham's gesture. Jerseys are awarded in a ceremony immediately following the stage, sometimes before trailing riders have finished the stage. URL accessed on October 4, 2005.. The rider leading a classification at the end of a stage is required to wear the corresponding jersey during the next stage. New Statesman, 26 June 2000. Often, therefore, national championship titles are held by domestiques or young, "up-and-coming" riders.

Leader — Play games behind closed doors. National championships are held the weekend before the tour starts, and many of the tour favourites and team leaders do not compete in them. ^  A reference to Brooklyn. National time-trial champions are allowed to wear their national jerseys in time-trial stages only. ^  Quoted in The Boss 468. As in all road races, current national road race champions can wear their national jerseys in "ordinary stages"; the current world champion can wear the rainbow jersey. URL accessed on October 6, 2005.. This was abolished in the same year as the red jersey.

BBC News, 7 January 2000. The jersey design was a patchwork, with areas resembling each individual jersey design. ^  Man Utd's flawed genius?. There also used to be a combination jersey, scored on a points system based on standings for the yellow, green, red, and polka-dot jerseys. URL accessed on December 2, 2005.. The red jersey was abolished in 1989. BBC News, 5 July 1999. The sprints remain, with all these additional effects, the most significant now being the points for the green jersey.

^  Wedded spice. These sprints also scored points towards the green jersey and bonus seconds towards the overall classification, as well as cash prizes offered by the residents of the area where the sprint took place. URL accessed on October 6, 2005.. Historically, there was a red jersey for the standings in non-stage-finish sprints: points were awarded to the first three riders to pass two or three intermediate points during the stage. Article on official UEFA website. The team classification is not associated with a particular jersey design. ^  Beckham's Darkest Hour. The Tour currently has 21 teams of 9 riders each (when starting), each sponsored by one or more companies - although at some stages of its history, the teams have been divided instead by nationality.

URL accessed on October 26, 2005.. For this classification, the time of the first three riders from each team is added after each stage. Rediff Sports, 19 May 2002. Finally, there is a team classification. ^  Simeone admits trying to get Beckham sent off. The rider with most points in total gets a white-on-red (instead of a black-on-white) identification number. URL accessed on October 5, 2005.. Each day, a group of judges awards points to riders who made particularly attacking moves that day.

Dispatch Online, 29 June 1998. Two lesser classifications are that for the maillot blanc (white jersey), which is like the yellow jersey, but only open for young riders (those who are less than 25 years old on January 1 of the year the Tour is ridden), and that for the "fighting spirit" award which goes to the most combative rider. ^  Beckham Blasts Hoddle. See also: Climbing specialist (cycling)
. Beckham scored United's goal from a distance of around 30 metres. Two riders have won the "King of the Mountains" six times: Federico Bahamontes (Spain) in 1954, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964; and Lucien Van Impe (Belgium) in 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1983; while Richard Virenque (France) won his record-breaking seventh title in 2004 (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2004). ^  The most famous comment was Alan Hansen's "You can't win anything with kids.", quoted in The Boss 405. The colours were decided by the then sponsor, Poulain Chocolate, to match a popular product.

URL accessed on October 9, 2005.. Although the best climber was first recognized in 1933, the distinctive jersey was not introduced until 1975. Google.com. Additionally beginning in 2004, points scored on the final climb of the day were doubled if said climb was at least a second category climb. URL accessed on October 9, 2005., 2004 Year-End Google Zeitgeist. Further points over a fourth category climb are only for the top three places while on a hors category climb the top ten riders are rewarded. Google.com. In 2004, the scoring system was changed such that the first rider over a fourth category climb was awarded 3 points while the first to complete a hors category climb would win 20 points.

^  2003 Year-End Google Zeitgeist. A fifth category, called Hors categorie (outside category) is formed by mountains even more difficult than those of the first category. New Statesman. The climbs are divided into categories from 1 (most difficult) to 4 (least difficult) based on their difficulty, measured as a function of their steepness and length. Manchester Online. At the top of each climb in the Tour, there are points for the riders who are first over the top. ESPN Soccernet. The "King of the Mountains" wears a white jersey with red dots (maillot à pois rouges), referred to as the "polka dot jersey".

Dispatch Online. See also: Cycling sprinter
. BBC News. The German rider Erik Zabel has won the most green jerseys with six consecutive wins from 1996 through 2001. URL accessed on October 3, 2005.. Additional points are available at intermediate sprint contests, usually occurring 2 or 3 times in each stage at pre-determined locations; currently 6, 4 and 2 points are available to the first 3 riders at each sprint. Biography on fifa.com. Points are also awarded for individual time trial stages: 15 for the winner down to 1 for the 10th rider.

URL accessed on October 3, 2005.. This is because, generally speaking, the more mountainous a stage is, the less likely the chance of a sprint finish between many riders. Biography on manutd.com. The number of points for each place and the number of riders rewarded varies depending on the type of stage - flat stages give the winner 35 points down to 1 point for the 25th rider; medium mountain stages give the winner 25 points down to 1 point for the 20th rider; high mountain stages give the winner 20 points down to 1 point for the 15th rider. ISBN 0-340-72855-8.. At the end of each stage, points for this jersey are gained by the riders who finish first, second, etc. Managing My Life — My Autobiography, Hodder & Stoughton. The maillot vert (green jersey) is awarded for sprint points.

Ferguson, Alex; McIlvanney, Hugh (1999). The colour of the leader's jersey was originally a reference to the newspaper which sponsored the race, which had yellow pages.
. ISBN 0-7434-2991-5.. However, these bonuses are rarely significant enough to cause major upset in the classement géneral (general classification). The Boss — The Many Sides of Alex Ferguson, Pocket Books. As of 2005, the first 3 places to finish are awarded bonuses of 20, 12 and 8 seconds respectively, while the first 3 places at intermediate sprints are awarded 6, 4 and 2 seconds. Crick, Michael (2003). Additional time bonuses, in the form of a number of seconds to be deducted from the rider's overall time, are available to the first 3 riders to finish the stage or cross an intermediate sprint (see below).

ISBN 0060570938.. Desgrange added the yellow jersey in 1919 because he wanted the race leader to wear something distinctive and because the pages of his magazine, L'Auto, were yellow. Beckham: Both Feet on the Ground, HarperCollins. The rider with the lowest total time is the leader, and at the end of the event is declared the overall winner of the Tour. Beckham, David; Watt, Tom (2003). It is awarded by calculating the total combined race time up to that point for each rider. ISBN 0340792701.. The maillot jaune (yellow jersey), worn by the overall time leader, is most prized.

Beckham: My World, Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. If a single rider is entitled to wear more than one jersey (for example, both overall leader and King of the Mountains), he wears the most prestigious one with the second place holder in the category wearing the other. Beckham, David; Freeman, Dean (2001). The current holder of the prize is required to wear the jersey when racing. ISBN 0007157320.. Generally a colored jersey is associated with each prize. David Beckham: My Side, HarperCollinsWillow. Since 1984 there has been a Tour de France for women, La Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale or simply Le Tour Féminin.

Beckham, David (2002). The Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and World Cycling Championship constitute the Triple Crown of Cycling. Other major stage races include the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) and the Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain). (A notable exception in recent years being the late Marco Pantani, the winner in 1998, who was a mountain climbing specialist.). Although the tour is often won in the mountain stages, the length and variety of terrain ensures that only an all-round rider can win the race.

The most famous mountains are those in the hors-categorie (peaks where the difficulty in climbing is beyond categorization), including the Col du Tourmalet, Mont Ventoux, Col du Galibier, the Hautacam and Alpe d'Huez. Next year's race can be expected to visit those two mountain ranges in the reverse order.) Some of the visited places, especially mountains and passes, recur almost annually and are famous on their own. (For example, the most recent Tour (2005) was a clockwise direction Tour - visiting the Alpes first and then the Pyrenees. The itinerary the race changes each year and alternates between clockwise and anti-clockwise direction around France.

With the variety of stages, sprinters may win stages, but the overall winner is almost always a master of the mountain stages and time trials. The remaining stages are held over relatively flat terrain. During the Tour, various stages occur, including a number of mountain stages, individual time trials and a team time trial. The traditional finish is in Paris on the Champs-Élysées.

This was scrapped in 2005, with the presumption that future editions will see the prologue reinstated. In recent years, the first stage had been preceded by a short individual time trial (1 to 15 km), called the prologue. The three weeks usually includes two rest days, which are sometimes used to transport the riders long distances between stages. Most stages take place in France though it is very common to have a few stages in nearby countries, such as Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany as well as non-neighbouring countries such as the Republic of Ireland, United Kingdom (visited in 1974 and 1994) and the Netherlands.

Even when commercial cycling teams had become commonplace in other events, the Tour was contested by national teams for several years during the 1950s and early 1960s. The Tour is nowadays contested by professional teams backed by commercial sponsors, but the event began as a race for individuals; slipstreaming and other team tactics were initially savagely condemned by Desgrange, and he only accepted their inevitability during the 1920s. The leaders of these competitions are represented by certain coloured jerseys; see below for more information. In addition to the race for the overall win, there are several additional competitions.

Although the number of stages has varied in the past, recently the Tour has consisted of about 20 stages, with a total length of between 3,000 and 4,000 km (1800 to 2500 mi). Winning a Tour de France stage is considered a great pro cycling achievement, more prestigious than winning most single day races, regardless of one's overall standing in the GC. It is possible to win the overall race without winning any individual stages (which Greg LeMond did in 1990). The overall winner is the one who is ranked first on GC at the end of the final stage.

The ranking of the riders according to accumulated time is known as the General Classification, or GC. The amount of time it takes each rider to complete each stage is noted, recorded and accumulated. The Tour is a "stage race", divided into a number of stages, each being a race held over one day. Today, the Tour is organised by the Société du Tour de France, a subsidiary of Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), which is part of the media group that owns l'Équipe.

The record circulation claimed by Desgrange was 854,000, achieved during the 1933 Tour. Promotion of the Tour de France certainly proved a great success for the newspaper; circulation leapt from 25,000 before the 1903 Tour to 65,000 after it; in 1908 the race boosted circulation past a quarter of a million, and during the 1923 Tour it was selling 500,000 copies a day. L'Auto announced the race on January 19, 1903. The idea for a round-France stage race is also credited to one of his journalists, Géorges Lefèvre, with whom Desgrange had lunch at the Café de Madrid in Paris on 20 November 1902.

The Tour was founded as a publicity event for the newspaper L'Auto (ancestor of the present l'Équipe) by its editor and co-founder, Henri Desgrange, to rival the Paris-Brest et retour ride (sponsored by Le Petit Journal), and Bordeaux-Paris. .
. It is also the world's largest annual pro sporting event, measured in the number of viewers.

Only the best cycling teams in the world are chosen to compete and competitors must have an invitation to enter the race. The Tour de France, in contrast, has long been a household name around the globe, even amongst people who are not generally interested in pro cycling, and is for cycling what the FIFA World Cup is to football (soccer) in terms of global popularity. While the other two European Grand Tours are well-known in Europe and attract many professional cyclists, they are relatively unknown outside the continent, and even the UCI World Cycling Championship is only familiar to cycling enthusiasts. The Tour de France is by far the most prestigious of all cycling competitions in the world.

The most recent Tour was the 2005 Tour de France. It has been held annually since 1903, interrupted only by World War I and World War II. The Tour de France (French for "Tour of France"), often referred to as La Grande Boucle, Le Tour or The Tour, is a long-distance road bicycle racing competition for professionals held over three weeks in July in and around France. The "average" rider in 2005 was 1.79 metres (5 ft 10 in) tall, weighed 71 kg (157 lb, 11 stone 3 lb), and had a resting heart rate of 50 beats per minute.

Chris Horner and Laurent Lefevre shared the lowest resting heart rate, 35 beats per minute. The lightest was Leonardo Piepoli at 57 kg (126 lb or 8 stone 14 lb). The heaviest rider was Magnus Backstedt at 95 kg (209 lb or 14 stone 13 lb). The shortest was Samuel Dumoulin at 1.58 metres (5 ft 2 in).

The tallest rider was Johan van Summeren at 1.98 metres (6 ft 5.5 in). French racer Adolphe Helière drowned at the Côte d'Azur during a rest day. 1910: Hors Categorie. 1935: Spanish racer Francesco Cepeda died after plunging down a ravine on the Col du Galibier.

His death prompted tour officials to begin a programme of drug testing. Amphetamines and alcohol were found in Simpson's jersey and bloodstream. 1967: Friday July 13, Stage 13: English rider Tom Simpson died of heart failure on the ascent of Mont Ventoux. Casartelli, not wearing a helmet, received massive trauma to the top of his head from a concrete block and died on the scene.

1995: July 18, stage 15: Italian racer Fabio Casartelli crashed at approximately 88 km/h descending the Col de Portet d'Aspet. Greg LeMond (USA) in 1986, 1989, and 1990. Louison Bobet (France) in 1953, 1954, and 1955;. Philippe Thys (Belgium) in 1913, 1914, and 1920;.

Miguel Induráin (Spain) in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995 (the first to do so in five consecutive years). Bernard Hinault (France) in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985;. Eddy Merckx (Belgium) in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1974;. Jacques Anquetil (France) in 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1964;.

lanterne rouge - meaning "red lantern" (as found at the end of a rail train), the name for the overall last-place rider.

Further information: Tour de France#Culture and Customs

2005 to present Christian Prudhomme. 1989 to 2005 Jean-Marie Leblanc. 1988 to 1989 Jean-Pierre Courcol. 1987 to 1988 Jean-François Naquet-Radiguet.

1962 to 1986 Jacques Goddet and Felix Levitan. 1947 to 1961 Jacques Goddet. 1903 to 1939 Henri Desgrange.