The Tour de France: C’est Magnifique!

by Alan Reese, August 4, 2025

I have long been a fan of the Tour de France, a sporting event that I consider among the most spectacular in the world.  The Tour is a grueling multi-stage bicycle race held over 23 days in July that weaves through picturesque French landscape.  Riders compete in daily stages that include flat sprints, mountainous climbs, and time trials that are designed to test every aspect of a cyclist’s abilities.  There are many attributes of the race that fascinate me, but the most notable are the race terrain and the stunning achievements of the riders themselves.

The Tour is not only a world-class athletic event, it’s also a rolling love letter to French geography, culture and history.  Each year’s route is carefully and uniquely designed to pass through a wide array of regions. No other sporting event can compete with what is clearly the most magnificent venue in the world.  Cyclists pass alpine and Pyrenean peaks, French countryside and vineyards, and historic towns and castles, all leading to the final stage in Paris along the Champs-Elysees.  Fans crowd the routes from end to end to cheer on a global cast of riders and are often in costume and furiously waving flags of the countries for their favorites.    

The Tour demands extreme physical endurance, mental toughness, and strategic acumen.  Riders burn thousands of calories a day and contend with steep climbs in the Alps and Pyrenees, unpredictable weather, and fierce competition.  It’s stages like the 13-mile climb of Mont Ventoux that most amaze me.  At inclines of 10-15%, racers reach altitudes of 7,000 feet, average speeds of 15 mph on the ascent, and top speeds of nearly 50 mph on the descent.  In fact, this year’s Tour was the fastest ever with an average speed of nearly 27 mph.  I can barely hit 20 mph on my bike on a downhill road – with a tailwind - and would get winded walking up a flight of stairs at 7,000 feet!  My favorite rider is Tadej Pogacar from Slovenia who has engaged in epic battles with the Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard over the past 5 years and who just won his fourth Tour at the age of 26. 

Unfortunately, the specter of doping continues to hang over the event.  In the early decades of the Tour, stimulant use was widely accepted until the death of British rider Tom Simpson on Mont Ventoux in 1967 spurred formal regulation.  More famously, Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven consecutive wins in 2012 due to a sophisticated program of blood doping.  The Tour’s governing bodies claim to have made significant strides since then and today’s riders as subject to much greater scrutiny than in the past.  The riders are also much better prepared than in the best, as their training and diet regimens are astounding.

Still, I was surprised to learn that only approximately 350,000 to 400,000 people in the U.S. watch each stage of the Tour de France, viewership that’s comparable to a mid-week afternoon professional baseball game.  I guess that makes me an outlier; I will often watch live broadcasts of full stages or at least extended highlights of each daily stage.  

The scenery, the athletes, the competition - the Tour de France: C’est Magnifique!  What a wonderful event!