Читать книгу Tour Climbs: The complete guide to every mountain stage on the Tour de France - Chris Sidwells - Страница 13

Today the Tour de France is huge. London paid £1.5 million to host the start of the race in 2007, but got far more than that back from the visitors who came to watch. The prize list for the race totals €3 million, with €400,000 euros going to the winner. Not that he sees any of it. Traditionally he splits it among his team, because the winner of the Tour de France automatically becomes the highest earner in the sport. Lance Armstrong is reputed to have earned $17 million in product endorsements alone during 2005.

The Tour de France has its own motorcycle police force and a travelling bank, the only one allowed by law to open on the nation’s Bastille Day holiday. Each year there are 2300 accredited journalists on the race, 1100 technicians and chauffeurs, many of them ex-competitors who drive race officials and guests on the race. On top of that 1500 vehicles accompany the riders on the road in the form of a publicity cavalcade that companies pay dearly to be part of. Another 4500 support staff work on the Tour, either in race routing, hospitality or assembling and taking down the temporary Tour village that goes from town to town between the stages.

At the heart of all this activity are the riders. As many as 200 of the world’s best pro road racers start the Tour, although every year there are a good few that don’t make it through to the finish. Like the race, the riders’ personal statistics are prodigious. For example, it’s reckoned that a competitor will burn around 123,000 calories if he gets through to the end of the race. He will make getting on for 500,000 pedal revolutions, wear out three bicycle chains, and every year the whole field gets through 700 ultra-light racing tyres.