There is a saying in France that states, "The government could fall, the Louvre £¨Â¬¸¡¹¬£©could be broken into or creatures from other planets could land on earth, but if any of these things happened during the Tour de France, no one would notice." The Tour de France is the most famous cycling race in the world£®It begins in July and runs for three weeks£®Cyclists who race in the Tour de France ride in six legs or stages of the race, and they have between one to four days of rest between each leg of the race£®The rider who completes all six legs of the race in the shortest overall time wins£®

The Tour de France began as a publicity stunt for the French sports newspaper, L’Auto£®Hcnri Desgranges, who worked for L’Auto, came up with the idea for "the greatest bike race in the world, "and on July 1,1903, the first Tour de France began£®Sixty cyclists began that first leg of the race which started in front of the Alarm Clock Cafe just outside of Paris£®This first leg look them 467 kilometers to Lyon£®The first Tour de France received an astonishing 2,000 francs£®Maurice Garin, the most popular cyclist in France at that time, won the first Tour de France£®It took him 94 hours and 33 minutes to ride all 2,428 kilometers of the race£®This time was three hours faster than the second -place rider£®Over the weeds during which the race was run, the idea of the Tour de France slowly caught the imagination of the people of France£®The race has been run every year since that time, except during the years of World War I and World War ¢ò£®