The winner (Maurice-Francois Garin) and the following top three riders of the second Tour de France in 1904 were all disqualified. There were allegations of nails spread on roads and physical attacks ¹⁾

Jacques Anquetil was a French cyclist and the first person to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, and 1964. ²⁾

Tour de France participants drink about 10 liters of water on race day. ³⁾

In the past, Tour de France riders made their rides more pleasant with alcohol or hot chocolate. Beer, wine, or champagne were the order of the day among riders during the Tour de France. ⁴⁾

A Tour de France cyclist secretes about 1.5 liters of sweat per hour and up to 130 liters during a race. ⁵⁾

It is customary to share the prize money among all members of the winning team. Some of the prize money even goes to the team members' entourage. ⁶⁾

Since 1903, the Tour de France has been a stage race. However, only 15 riders registered for the first race. ⁷⁾

In 1903, 5 francs were offered for participation. This amount was equivalent to the average salary of a factory worker. However, riders had to meet one condition, namely to show an average speed of at least 20 km/h on each stage and to rank among the first 50 riders. The winner of the Tour de France at the time received a prize of 20,000 francs. ⁸⁾

The longest Tour de France race in history was held in 1926 and covered as much as 5,745 kilometers. ⁹⁾

In 1904 Maurice Garin lost first place when it was discovered that he had traveled part of the race route by train. ¹⁰⁾

Jean Robic in 1947 loaded his bicycle with bottles of mercury to make it go downhill faster. ¹¹⁾

During a Tour de France race, the average cyclist burns about 120,000 calories. ¹²⁾

The yellow shirt of the winner did not get its color by accident. Behind the organization of the contest is the newspaper L'Auto, which is famous for its distinctive yellow color. ¹³⁾

The first Tour de France, held in 1903, was sponsored by the L'Auto newspaper. The Tour de France was in competition with another cycling race sponsored by the newspaper Le Vélo. ¹⁴⁾

The longest to retain the yellow jersey was legendary Belgian cyclist Edouard Louis Joseph Merckx, who wore it for 96 days. ¹⁵⁾

The youngest winner was the then 19-year-old Frenchman Henri Cornet, who won the Tour de France in 1904. ¹⁶⁾