How well do you know the Tour de France? Try this quiz ahead of cycling’s biggest races, which starts on Saturday:
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1. From which city does the 2024 Tour de France start?
a. London
b. Florence, Italy
c. Duesseldorf, Germany
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2. Where does the race finish?
a. Paris
b. Nice, France
c. Brussels, Belgium
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3. What is the record for the most Tour de France wins?
a. Seven
b. Four
c. Five
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4. Who wears the yellow jersey at the Tour de France?
a. The race leader
b. The rider with the most stage wins
c. The best young rider in the race
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5. What is the name of the team associated with the Tour’s biggest doping scandal?
a. U.S. Postal
b. Festina
c. Team Sky
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6. Which rider was nicknamed the Cannibal?
b. Miguel Indurain
c. Eddy Merckx
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7. What is the Red Lantern?
a. A red lantern signaling the final kilometer of each stage
b. The name given to the last-place rider in the general classification
c. The starting hut in time trial stages
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8. What is the broom wagon?
a. A vehicle used to clean the road ahead of every stage
b. A vehicle following the race and picking up riders unable to make it to the finish
c. The lowest gear ratio possible used on steep climbs
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9. When is the last time a Frenchman won the Tour de France?
a. 2022
b. 1985
c. 1978
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10. What is the smallest winning margin at the Tour de France?
a. 58 seconds
b. 8 seconds
c. 13 seconds
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11. Which rider holds the record for the most stage wins at the Tour de France?
a. Mark Cavendish
b. Chris Froome
c. Eddy Merckx
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12. How many riders have died in the Tour?
a. 2
b. 12
c. 4
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13. During which climb did Jonas Vingegaard take the lead from Tadej Pogacar during the 2022 Tour?
a. Col du Granon
b. Alpe d’Huez
c. Col du Galibier
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14. Vingegaard and Pogacar have won the last four editions of the Tour. How many stages have the two rivals won combined?
a. 9
b. 17
c. 14
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15. Who was the last rider to win the Giro d’Italia and the Tour in the same year?
a. Vincenzo Nibali
b. Lance Armstrong
c. Marco Pantani
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16. How much money does the Tour de France winner earn?
a. 500,000 euros ($534.000).
b. 1 million euros ($1.07 million).
c. 1.2 million euros ($1.3 million).
ANSWERS:
1. b. The race starts in Italy for the first time.
2. b. The final stage will be held outside Paris for the first time since 1905 because of a clash with the Olympics, moving instead to the French Riviera. Because of security and logistical reasons, the French capital won’t have its traditional Tour finish on the Champs-Elysees.
3. c. Only four riders have achieved this feat: Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain. Lance Armstrong won the race seven times in a row from 1999-2005 but was later stripped of his titles for doping.
4. a. The yellow jersey is called “le maillot jaune” in French. It was created in 1919, well after the Tour started in 1903. The newspaper that sponsored the race, L’Auto, was printed on yellow paper, hence the jersey’s color.
5. b. The 1998 Tour de France was notable for the major scandal that emerged with the discovery of widespread doping on the Festina team. The subsequent police crackdown led to seven of the original 21 teams either withdrawing or being ejected from the Tour.
6. c. Eddy Merckx reportedly earned the nickname following his first Tour win in 1969, after a teammate told his daughter Merckx would not let anyone else win anything. “Daddy, he is the Cannibal,” the girl said.
7. b. “Lanterne Rouge” applies to the last-place rider in the general classification.
8. b. The broom wagon picks up riders unable to make it to the finish.
9. b. France has lacked a Tour winner since Bernard Hinault posted the last of his five victories back in 1985.
10. b. Greg LeMond’s margin of victory over French rider Laurent Fignon in the 1989 Tour. Fignon started the final day with a 50-second lead over his American rival but the Frenchman suffered from saddle sores and dropped 58 seconds in the final time trial to lose the yellow jersey.
11. a and c. Both Mark Cavendish and Eddy Merckx have won a record 34 Tour stages. Cavendish is trying to break the record this year.
12. c. The first rider to die during the race was Adolphe Heliere, who passed away during a rest day in 1910. Francisco Cepeda died after a crash in the downhill of the Col du Galibier in 1935. One of the most successful British riders, Tom Simpson, died of heart failure during the 13th stage in 1967 which was later determined to be from an overdose of drugs and alcohol. The last rider to die on the Tour was Fabio Casartelli, who died after crashing in the descent of the 1,069-meter (3,507-foot) Col de Portet d’Aspet during the 1995 edition of the race.
13. a. En route to his first Tour de France win, Vingegaard moved away from Pogacar in the brutal climb to the top of the Col du Granon to enjoy a winning finish to an epic day in the Alps. The stage featured two other monster ascents, the daunting Col du Telegraphe and Col du Galibier.
14. c. Pogacar has won 11 stages, Vingegaard just 3.
15. c. Pantani did the Giro-Tour double in 1998. Nibali made an attempt in 2016 after claiming the Giro but the 2014 Tour champion finished 30th that year. Armstrong rode the Giro only once, in 2009, and his 12th-place finish was later wiped out for doping. Pogacar is making an attempt this year after dominating the Giro in May.
16. a. 500,000 euros.
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