Firmin Lambot was the oldest ever, winning in 1922, aged 36.ħ) The heaviest ever rider to get up the tour hills was Magnus Backstedt of Sweden – at 97kg. These days, the other bottle trick is for a rider to coast along with the team car whilst pretending to take a water bottle from the window – this is called a ‘sticky bottle’.Ħ) The youngest ever stage winner was Henri Cornet – in 1904 he completed a stage in first position aged 19. Sprinter Mario Cipollini took an interesting approach when he taped a picture of Pamela Anderson to his handlebars in the hope her image might boost his testosterone.ĥ) We all know about the high profile cheating scandals, but one of the lesser known attempts was when Jean Robic filled his bottle with lead in 1953, in an attempt to get down the hills quicker. He was nicknamed ‘the cannibal’.Ĥ) Everyone needs something to keep themselves pedalling when the going gets tough. The unmissable polkadot jersey inherited its spots from the original King of the Mountains sponsor, Chocolat Poulain, who sold candy in polkadot wrappers.ģ) Eddy Merckx won the most over Tour stages – taking 1 st place in 34. The best climber wears a red and white spotted jersey. That year, only 10 of 69 riders finished.Ģ) The leader’s jersey is yellow, the top sprinter wears green, and the most impressive young rider wears white.

Comparably, in 1919 the speed was 24.1km, that’s about 15mph (hey, we could do that?!). It’s not long until Tour hysteria takes over the country, so we’ve come up with 15 tour facts you can use to amaze and impress (or bore, if they’re not into cycling) your buddies with over the next few weeks:ġ) In 2005, the average speed of the Tour was 41.5km per hour, that’s 25.8mph. If you’re around, then there’s a great guide on the website about where to see the Tour.

After that, the race will move to York, for a 201km loop to Sheffield, before going from Cambridge to London on Monday 7 th July.

The Tour de France is beginning in Leeds on Saturday 5 th July, with stage one travelling over 190k of the Yorkshire Dales.

Tour de france average speed mph