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The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race that covers approximately 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi) throughout France and bordering countries. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages. Individual times to finish each stage are totaled to determine the overall winner at the end of the race. The rider with the lowest aggregate time at the end of each day wears a yellow jersey.

Tour 2000, Col de Galibier

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The course changes every year but it has always finished in Paris. Since 1975, the climax of the final stage has been along the Champs-Élysées. The tour is the most well known and prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours". The other two Grand Tours are the Giro d'Italia (Italy) held every May and the Vuelta a España (Spain) held every August–September.

It typically has 21 days, or stages, of racing and covers not more than 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi). The shortest Tour was in 1904 at 2,420 kilometres (1,500 mi), the longest in 1926 at 5,745 kilometres (3,570 mi). The three weeks usually include two rest days, sometimes used to transport riders from a finish in one town to the start in another.

The race alternates between clockwise and counterclockwise circuits of France. The first counterclockwise circuit was in 1913.

The New York Times said the "The tour is arguably the most physiologically demanding of athletic events." The effort was compared to "running a marathon several days a week for nearly three weeks", while the total elevation of the climbs was compared to "climbing three Everests."