Quiz of the Day
Tour de France & Cycling Endurance
Saturday, 25 July 2026
23 days, 21 stages, and roughly 3,500 kilometres — the greatest endurance race in sport
1. The Tour de France was first held in which year?
- 1903
- 1896
- 1910
- 1921
The inaugural Tour de France was organised by newspaper L'Auto to boost circulation and was won by Maurice Garin, a chimney sweep from Italy. Just 60 riders started; 21 finished. The total distance was 2,428 km covered in six stages over 19 days — far shorter than today's race, yet still an extraordinary feat on the bikes of the era.
2. What colour is the jersey worn by the overall race leader in the Tour de France?
- White
- Red
- Yellow
- Green
The yellow jersey (maillot jaune) was introduced in 1919. The colour matched L'Auto newspaper's yellow newsprint — a clever piece of branding. The jersey is awarded each day to the rider with the lowest cumulative time. Wearing it for even one stage is considered a career highlight for most riders.
3. Which cyclist has won the most Tour de France titles, with 7 official victories?
- Lance Armstrong
- Bernard Hinault
- Eddy Merckx
- Chris Froome
Lance Armstrong won 7 consecutive Tours (1999-2005), but all were stripped following his admission in 2013 of systematic doping. The record is officially held by American USADA but no alternative winner was named for those years. Eddy Merckx's legitimate record of 5 wins (1969-1974) is the most by any rider who has never been stripped.
4. What is the name for the mountain-climbing specialist jersey at the Tour de France?
- Polka dot jersey
- Red jersey
- Striped jersey
- Blue jersey
The polka dot jersey (maillot à pois) is awarded to the 'King of the Mountains' — the rider who accumulates the most points by finishing first at designated mountain summits. It's been worn since 1975 and was inspired by a chocolate brand (Chocolat Poulain) that sponsored the prize with red-polka-dotted sweets.
5. The Tour de France always finishes on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, typically on a Sunday. When did this tradition begin?
- 1903
- 1989
- 1944
- 1975
The Champs-Élysées finale became tradition in 1975. Before that, the race finished in various locations including the Parc des Princes velodrome. The final stage to Paris is traditionally considered ceremonial — the overall leader is not attacked, and riders toast with champagne while cycling. Racing resumes only on the Champs-Élysées itself.
6. Cyclists in the Tour de France burn approximately how many calories per day during mountain stages?
- 7,000-9,000
- 10,000-12,000
- 5,000-6,000
- 3,000-4,000
Professional Tour cyclists can burn 7,000-9,000 calories on brutal mountain stages — three to four times an average person's daily intake. Eating enough to fuel this output is a challenge in itself. Riders consume gels, bars, rice cakes, and liquid nutrition on the bike, often totalling over 100 grams of carbohydrate per hour on the hardest stages.
7. What is the 'peloton' in cycling race terminology?
- The main group of riders riding together
- The team car following riders
- The mountain summit
- The finish line sprint
Riding in the peloton offers massive aerodynamic advantages — a rider in the middle of the group can save up to 40% of energy compared to riding alone at the front. This physics makes cycling a uniquely team-oriented individual sport — riders sacrifice themselves ('domestiques') to protect team leaders from wind, crashes, and mechanical problems.
8. Which race, along with the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia, completes cycling's prestigious 'Grand Tour' trilogy?
- Liège-Bastogne-Liège
- La Vuelta (Vuelta a España)
- Milan-San Remo
- Paris-Roubaix
Winning all three Grand Tours in a calendar year (the 'Triple Crown') has only been achieved twice: by Eddy Merckx in 1972 and Stephen Roche in 1987. The Vuelta runs in September, after the other two. Some riders prioritise it as a recovery race; others use it to target a late-season title when fresher opponents are resting.
9. Eddy Merckx, often considered cycling's greatest ever rider, had which nickname?
- The Cannibal
- The Lion
- The Belgian King
- The Bullet
Merckx was called 'The Cannibal' because he devoured every race he entered, refusing to allow opponents even token victories. He won 525 professional races — a record unlikely ever to be broken. In 1972 he set the Hour Record (greatest distance cycled alone in 60 minutes on a velodrome), covering 49.431 km — a record that stood for 12 years.
10. The Col du Tourmalet, the most-climbed mountain in Tour history, is in which French mountain range?
- Vosges
- Alps
- Pyrenees
- Massif Central
The Tourmalet was first included in the Tour in 1910 when the race organisers wanted to make the route more dramatic. The riders were furious — they had no support vehicles, sparse food, and roads that barely existed. One rider famously screamed at the organiser 'Vous êtes des assassins!' (You are murderers!). It became the Tour's most iconic climb.
11. Which drug scandal, centred on the 1998 Tour de France, led to mass disqualifications and transformed anti-doping in cycling?
- The Festina Affair
- Operation Puerto
- The Blood Bag Scandal
- The EPO Affair
In July 1998, a Festina team soigneur was caught crossing the French-Belgian border with a car full of performance-enhancing drugs. The ensuing police investigation caused several teams to withdraw from the Tour mid-race. The scandal forced cycling to confront systematic doping that had been an open secret for decades, eventually leading to the biological passport system.
12. What is the approximate total distance ridden in a modern Tour de France?
- 2,000 km
- 4,200 km
- 3,500 km
- 2,800 km
The Tour covers roughly 3,200-3,500 km over 21 stages in 23 days, with two rest days. The exact route changes every year, though always ending in Paris. The fastest riders complete it at an average speed of around 40-42 km/h — a pace most recreational cyclists can barely sustain for 10 minutes, let alone three weeks.
13. Which British rider became the first from his country to win the Tour de France in 2012?
- Geraint Thomas
- Bradley Wiggins
- Mark Cavendish
- Chris Froome
Bradley Wiggins won in 2012, becoming the first British Tour champion in the race's 109-year history. He won with dominant climbing by his Team Sky teammates. Wiggins had an eclectic career — Olympic track cycling gold medals, Paris-Roubaix, and the Tour de France all on his palmares, wearing the same Mod-style sideburns throughout.
14. The Tour de France traditionally includes individual time trials, where riders race alone against the clock. What is the fastest time trial speed ever recorded in Tour history (approximately)?
- 45 km/h
- 52 km/h
- 63 km/h
- 58 km/h
Tony Martin set a stage record in a 2016 time trial averaging over 57 km/h on a flat course. These speeds are achieved with aerodynamic equipment worth tens of thousands of dollars — specially shaped helmets, skinsuits, aerobars, disk wheels, and frames designed in wind tunnels. Modern Tour time trial equipment has almost nothing in common with road racing bikes.
15. Tadej Pogačar won back-to-back Tours in 2020 and 2021. He is from which country?
- Slovakia
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Slovenia
Slovenia, a country of just 2 million people, produced two of the world's top cyclists simultaneously — Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard's fierce rival Primož Roglič. Slovenia's cycling success has been attributed to a strong sports culture, high-altitude training grounds, and a small network of coaches who developed multiple elite talents at the same time.