The Tour de France, also known as "the tour," is held in Europe every July. This cycling event is one of the most mentally and physically demanding events in the world. Each rider has to be ready to endure twenty days of competition. With persistent exhaustion, more than two hundred athletes compete head to head from the rolling hills and valleys, to mountain peaks, to city streets of Europe. Lance Armstrong, who suffered from testicular cancer had but overcame the odds of a fifty- fifty chance of living, amazingly won two back to back victories in the tour. The first win was unexpected of him and definitely surprised everybody. The second tour, Lance Armstrong was clearly going to win race. He once said, "If you ever get a second chance in life, you've got to go all the way." The tour is the survival of the fittest, which Lance has shown. There are many cycling competition, but none of them that are as demanding as the tour. The course lies mainly in France, but passes through many other countries such as Belgium, Spain, England, Germany, and Switzerland. The race starts in Futuroscope, Belgium and ends in Paris, France, with two thousand two hundred-fifty six miles to travel within twenty-eight days. The Tour de France is a stage race, which means that the course isdivided into sections (stages). Throughout the grueling competition, there isa stage everyday that offers several challenges such as endurance, performing in time-trial races, climbing, and sprinting. Upon winning a stage, the winner receives money and prizes that is usually split amongst the team due to their excellent teamwork. Each stage is timed and the cyclist with the lowest cumulative time wears the maillot jaune (yellow jersey), also known as the current leader. The cyclist with the lowest time total at the end of the race receives the yellow jersey, as a symbol of a trophy, in the ceremony that is held in Paris, France at the end of the tour. ...
