For experienced followers of the Tour De France, the colours, speeds and craziness of it all is exciting, inspiring and totally addictive.
For those watching for the first time, however, like being dropped in the middle of a city without a map, it's daunting and confusing.
The Tour De France in every sense is vast...
Comprising twenty two teams, one hundred and ninety eight riders, four different competitions, two and a half thousand kilometres, two of the world's biggest mountain ranges and a supporting cast of hundreds of team cars, coaches, motorcyclists and helicopters, its numbers dwarf all other sporting events.
Taking three weeks to complete, the Tour draws the world's biggest live and televisual audience.
No event, not even The Olympics or World Cup inspires more people to forget about their everyday life and involve themselves with the drama of sport.
In 2004 nearly a million people gathered on one 17km stretch of the Alpe D'huez climb alone.
It's audience figures are even more remarkable when remembered that unlike the World Cup or Olympics, the Tour is an annual event, and far from waning, interest in the Tour grows every year.
HIstory The Tour was born in 1902 when Geo Lefevre put forward the idea of a cycle race that circum-navigated France to his two friends Henri Desgrange and Victor Goddet.
Desgrange and Goddet, editor and accountant of the sporting publication 'L'Auto' were looking for ways to boost circulation, and put the attractive, if crazy idea into motion the following year.
The very first Tour De France left Paris on July 1st 1903.
The uninitiated balk at the distances the modern day Tour riders cover, which can be over 200km a day.
Imagine, then, the strength and determination required to ride the very first stage of that very first Tour, which incredibly started in Paris and finished in Lyon: A staggering 467km.
More remarkable when one considers that roads in turn of the century France are not as they are now, and that bikes in the early 1900s did not have gears! The inaugural Tour was ridden by 73 riders over eighteen days, six stages and 2,428km and proved a huge success.
Boosting sales for L'auto and cycle manufacturers Le Francais, whose team won it, the Tour had also captured the imagination of the French public.
Over a hundred years later it is more popular than ever, drawing a world-wide audience, and whilst the founding ethos remains the same, the race has changed somewhat.
The Modern Tour De France The Tour De France comprises four different competitions, the leaders of which are awarded different coloured jerseys at the end of each day's racing or stage.
The overall leader wears the famed Yellow Jersey or Maillot Jaune, the heroic King of the Mountains is in the equally prestigious Polka Dot Jersey, whilst the points leader and best young rider wear the Green and White Jerseys respectively.
To wear the Yellow Jersey, even if only for a day, represents for many riders the pinnacle of their career.
The Tour is designed to showcase the different types of cycling and thus now has about 20 stages which fall into three categories.
Flat Stages, contested by the Sprinters, Mountain Stages, which are dominated by the climbers and Time Trials for the riders who can push a big gear around a course ranging from 40 to 60km.
Every rider must complete every stage and specialists tend to dislike other disciplines; climbers for example don't traditionally make good time triallists and sprinters don't like climbing.
In recent years the Tour's validity has been questioned in the light of drug enhanced performances.
Some say it's symptomatic of our society, but we should not let the actions of a few tarnish the reputation and honour of the many.
To watch a rider battle an Alpine Col after cycling nearly 200kms in blistering heat is to witness a very human, and thus, very inspiring drama.
To continue when every sinew and muscle is screaming for cessation, to meet one's doubts head on and to triumph is to distil in sport the human condition.
Please see my other articles on the Tour De France for more detailed information on this magical race.
For those watching for the first time, however, like being dropped in the middle of a city without a map, it's daunting and confusing.
The Tour De France in every sense is vast...
Comprising twenty two teams, one hundred and ninety eight riders, four different competitions, two and a half thousand kilometres, two of the world's biggest mountain ranges and a supporting cast of hundreds of team cars, coaches, motorcyclists and helicopters, its numbers dwarf all other sporting events.
Taking three weeks to complete, the Tour draws the world's biggest live and televisual audience.
No event, not even The Olympics or World Cup inspires more people to forget about their everyday life and involve themselves with the drama of sport.
In 2004 nearly a million people gathered on one 17km stretch of the Alpe D'huez climb alone.
It's audience figures are even more remarkable when remembered that unlike the World Cup or Olympics, the Tour is an annual event, and far from waning, interest in the Tour grows every year.
HIstory The Tour was born in 1902 when Geo Lefevre put forward the idea of a cycle race that circum-navigated France to his two friends Henri Desgrange and Victor Goddet.
Desgrange and Goddet, editor and accountant of the sporting publication 'L'Auto' were looking for ways to boost circulation, and put the attractive, if crazy idea into motion the following year.
The very first Tour De France left Paris on July 1st 1903.
The uninitiated balk at the distances the modern day Tour riders cover, which can be over 200km a day.
Imagine, then, the strength and determination required to ride the very first stage of that very first Tour, which incredibly started in Paris and finished in Lyon: A staggering 467km.
More remarkable when one considers that roads in turn of the century France are not as they are now, and that bikes in the early 1900s did not have gears! The inaugural Tour was ridden by 73 riders over eighteen days, six stages and 2,428km and proved a huge success.
Boosting sales for L'auto and cycle manufacturers Le Francais, whose team won it, the Tour had also captured the imagination of the French public.
Over a hundred years later it is more popular than ever, drawing a world-wide audience, and whilst the founding ethos remains the same, the race has changed somewhat.
The Modern Tour De France The Tour De France comprises four different competitions, the leaders of which are awarded different coloured jerseys at the end of each day's racing or stage.
The overall leader wears the famed Yellow Jersey or Maillot Jaune, the heroic King of the Mountains is in the equally prestigious Polka Dot Jersey, whilst the points leader and best young rider wear the Green and White Jerseys respectively.
To wear the Yellow Jersey, even if only for a day, represents for many riders the pinnacle of their career.
The Tour is designed to showcase the different types of cycling and thus now has about 20 stages which fall into three categories.
Flat Stages, contested by the Sprinters, Mountain Stages, which are dominated by the climbers and Time Trials for the riders who can push a big gear around a course ranging from 40 to 60km.
Every rider must complete every stage and specialists tend to dislike other disciplines; climbers for example don't traditionally make good time triallists and sprinters don't like climbing.
In recent years the Tour's validity has been questioned in the light of drug enhanced performances.
Some say it's symptomatic of our society, but we should not let the actions of a few tarnish the reputation and honour of the many.
To watch a rider battle an Alpine Col after cycling nearly 200kms in blistering heat is to witness a very human, and thus, very inspiring drama.
To continue when every sinew and muscle is screaming for cessation, to meet one's doubts head on and to triumph is to distil in sport the human condition.
Please see my other articles on the Tour De France for more detailed information on this magical race.