Editing Tour de France (section)

==History==
{{See also|List of Tour de France general classification winners}}
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===Origins===
The Tour de France was created in 1903. The roots of the Tour de France trace back to the emergence of two rival sports newspapers in the country. On one hand was ''[[Le Vélo]]'', the first and the largest daily sports newspaper in France,{{sfn|Boeuf|Léonard|2003|p=23}}{{sfn|Nicholson|1991|p=}} on the other was ''[[L'Auto]]'', which had been set up by journalists and businesspeople including Comte [[Jules-Albert de Dion]], [[Adolphe Clément]], and [[Édouard Michelin (born 1859)|Édouard Michelin]] in 1899. The rival paper emerged following disagreements over the [[Dreyfus Affair]]. De Dion, Clément and Michelin were particularly concerned with ''Le Vélo''—which reported more than cycling—because its financial backer was one of their commercial rivals, the Darracq company. De Dion believed ''Le Vélo'' gave Darracq too much attention and him too little. De Dion was rich and could afford to indulge his whims. The new newspaper appointed [[Henri Desgrange]] as the editor. He was a prominent cyclist and owner with Victor Goddet of the [[velodrome]] at the [[Parc des Princes]].{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=16}}

''L'Auto'' sales were lower than the rival it was intended to surpass, leading to a crisis meeting on 20 November 1902 on the middle floor of ''L'Auto''{{'}}s office at 10 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, Paris. The last to speak was the chief cycling journalist, a 26-year-old named [[Géo Lefèvre]].{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=}} Lefèvre suggested a six-day race of the sort popular on the track but all around France.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=20}} Long-distance cycle races were a popular means to sell more newspapers, but nothing of the length that Lefèvre suggested had been attempted.<ref group="n">Giffard was the first to suggest a race that lasted several days, new to cycling but established practice in car racing. Unlike other cycle races, it would also be run largely without pacers.</ref>

===The first Tour de France (1903)===
{{Main|1903 Tour de France}}
[[File:Wielrennen, Tour de France 1903, SFA001006411.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Maurice Garin]], winner of the first Tour de France standing on the right. The man on the left is possibly [[Leon Georget]] (1903).<ref>[[Spaarnestad Photo]] image number SFA001006411</ref>]]
The first Tour de France was staged in 1903. The plan was a five-stage race from 31 May to 5 July, starting in Paris and stopping in Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, and Nantes before returning to Paris. Toulouse was added later to break the long haul across [[southern France]] from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Stages would go through the night and finish next afternoon, with rest days before riders set off again. But this proved too daunting and the costs too great for most{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=13}} and only 15 competitors had entered. Desgrange had never been wholly convinced and he came close to dropping the idea.{{sfn|Nicholson|1991|p=44}} Instead, he cut the length to 19 days, changed the dates to 1 to 19 July, and offered a daily allowance to those who averaged at least {{convert|20|km/h}} on all the stages,{{sfn|Cazeneuve|Chany|2011|p=21}} equivalent to what a rider would have expected to earn each day had he worked in a factory.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=131}} He also cut the entry fee from 20 to 10 francs and set the first prize at 12,000 francs and the prize for each day's winner at 3,000 francs. The winner would thereby win six times what most workers earned in a year.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=131}} That attracted between 60 and 80 entrants&nbsp;– the higher number may have included serious inquiries and some who dropped out&nbsp;– among them not just professionals but amateurs, some unemployed, and some simply adventurous.{{sfn|Woodland|2007|p=}}

The first Tour de France started almost outside the Café Reveil-Matin at the junction of the Melun and Corbeil roads in the village of [[Montgeron]]. It was waved away by the starter, Georges Abran, at 3:16&nbsp;p.m. on 1 July 1903. ''L'Auto'' hadn't featured the race on its front page that morning.<ref group="n">L'Auto preferred to concentrate on the Coupe Gordon-Bennett car race, even though it wasn't to start for another 48 hours. The choice reflects not only that the Tour de France was an unknown quantity&nbsp;– only after the first race had finished did it establish a reputation&nbsp;– but it hints at Desgrange's uncertainty. His position as editor depended on raising sales. That would happen if the Tour succeeded. But the paper and his employers would lose much money if it didn't. Desgrange preferred to keep a distance. He didn't drop the flag at the start and he didn't follow the riders. Reporting was left to Lefèvre, whose idea it had been, who followed the race by bike and by train. Desgrange showed a personal interest in his race only when it looked a success.</ref>{{sfn|Cazeneuve|Chany|2011|p=26}}{{sfn|Allchin|Bell|2003|p=3}}

Among the competitors were the eventual winner, [[Maurice Garin]], his well-built rival [[Hippolyte Aucouturier]], the German favourite [[Josef Fischer (cyclist)|Josef Fischer]], and a collection of adventurers, including one competing as "Samson".<ref group="n">The use of false and often colourful names was not unusual. It reflected not only the daring of the enterprise but the slight scandal still associated with riding bicycle races, enough that some preferred to use a false name. The first city-to-city race, from Paris to Rouen, included many made-up names or simply initials. The first woman to finish had entered as "Miss America", despite not being American.</ref>

Many riders dropped out of the race after completing the initial stages, as the physical effort the tour required was just too much. Only a mere 24 entrants remained at the end of the fourth stage.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Tour de France: The Illustrated History|last = Latzell|first = Marguerite|publisher = Firefly Books|year = 2003|isbn = 1552977366|location = Toronto, Buffalo|url-access = registration|url = https://archive.org/details/tourdefranceillu0000laze|via=Archive.org}}</ref> The race finished on the edge of Paris at Ville d'Avray, outside the Restaurant du Père Auto, before a ceremonial ride into Paris and several laps of the Parc des Princes. Garin dominated the race, winning the first and last two stages, at {{convert|25.68|km/h}}. The last rider, [[Arsène Millocheau]], finished 64h 47m 22s behind him.{{fact|date=November 2024}}

''L'Auto''<nowiki/>'s mission was accomplished, as circulation of the publication doubled throughout the race, making the race something much larger than Desgrange had ever hoped for.{{fact|date=November 2024}}

===1904–1939===
Such was the passion that the first Tour created in spectators and riders that Desgrange said the [[1904 Tour de France]] would be the last. Cheating was rife, and riders were beaten up by rival fans as they neared the top of the col de la République, sometimes called the col du Grand Bois, outside St-Étienne.{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2006|p=11}} The leading riders, including the winner Maurice Garin, were disqualified, though it took the Union Vélocipèdique de France until 30 November to make the decision.{{sfn|Seray|2000|p=154}} McGann says the UVF waited so long "...well aware of the passions aroused by the race."{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2006|p=12}} Desgrange's opinion of the fighting and cheating showed in the headline of his reaction in ''L'Auto'': THE END.{{sfn|Seray|2000|p=129}}

By the following spring, Desgrange was planning a longer Tour with 11 stages instead of 6, and this time all the stages would take place during daylight hours to make cheating more noticeable.{{sfn|Seray|2000|p=148}} In 1905, stages started between 3:00 AM and 7:30 AM.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=9}} The race captivated audiences and returned after a hiatus during World War I, continuing to grow in popularity.

Desgrange and his Tour invented [[Race stage|bicycle stage racing]].{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2006|p=}} Desgrange experimented with different ways of judging the winner. Initially he used total accumulated time (as used in the modern Tour de France){{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=7}} but from 1906 to 1912 by points for placings each day.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=9}}<ref group="n">The formula in 1905 was a combination of both time and points. Riders had points deducted for each five minutes lost.</ref> Desgrange saw problems in judging both by time and by points. By time, a rider coping with a mechanical problem—which the rules insisted he repair alone—could lose so much time that it cost him the race. Equally, riders could finish so separated that time gained or lost on one or two days could decide the whole race. Judging the race by points removed over-influential time differences but discouraged competitors from riding hard. It made no difference whether they finished fast or slow or separated by seconds or hours, so they were inclined to ride together at a relaxed pace until close to the line, only then disputing the final placings that would give them points.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=9}}

[[File:Btv1b8442891c-p21 (2).jpg|thumb|1936 Tour de France]]
The format changed over time. The Tour originally ran around the perimeter of France. Cycling was an endurance sport, and the organisers realised the sales they would achieve by creating supermen of the competitors. Night riding was dropped after the second Tour in 1904, when there had been persistent cheating when judges could not see riders.{{sfn|Seray|2000|p=}} That reduced the daily and overall distance, but the emphasis remained on endurance. The first mountain stages (in the [[Pyrenees]]) appeared in [[1910 Tour de France|1910]]. Early tours had long multi-day stages, with the format settling on 15 stages from [[1910 Tour de France|1910]] until [[1924 Tour de France|1924]]. After this, stages were gradually shortened, such that by 1936 there were as many as three stages in a single day.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=36}}

Desgrange initially preferred to see the Tour as a race of individuals. The first Tours were open to whoever wanted to compete. Most riders were in teams that looked after them. The private entrants were called ''touriste-routiers—''tourists of the road—from 1923{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=23}} and were allowed to take part provided they make no demands on the organisers. Some of the Tour's most colourful characters have been touriste-routiers. One finished each day's race and then performed acrobatic tricks in the street to raise the price of a hotel. Until 1925, Desgrange forbade team members from pacing each other.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=25}} The [[1927 Tour de France|1927]] and [[1928 Tour de France|1928]] Tours, however, consisted mainly of [[team time-trial]]s, an unsuccessful experiment which sought to avoid a proliferation of sprint finishes on flat stages.{{Sfn|Augendre|1996|p=27}}

Until [[1930 Tour de France|1930]], Desgrange demanded that riders mend their bicycles without help and that they use the same bicycle from start to end. Exchanging a damaged bicycle for another was allowed only in [[1923 Tour de France|1923]].{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=23}} Desgrange stood against the use of multiple gears, and for many years insisted riders use wooden rims, fearing the heat of braking while coming down mountains would melt the glue that held the tires on metal rims (however, they were finally allowed in [[1937 Tour de France|1937]]).{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=37}}

By the end of the 1920s, Desgrange believed he could not beat what he believed were the underhand tactics of bike factories.{{sfn|Masso|2003|p=50}}{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2006|p=84}} When in [[1929 Tour de France|1929]] the [[Alcyon]] team contrived to get [[Maurice De Waele]] to win even though he was sick,{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=30}} he said, "My race has been won by a corpse".{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=30}}<ref>"Tour de France, 100 ans, 1903–2003", ''L'Équipe'', France, 2003, p182</ref> In [[1930 Tour de France|1930]], Desgrange again attempted to take control of the Tour from teams, insisting competitors enter in national teams rather than trade teams and that competitors ride plain yellow bicycles that he would provide, without a maker's name.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=30}} There was no place for individuals in the post-1930s teams, and so Desgrange created regional teams, generally from France, to take in riders who would not otherwise have qualified. The original touriste-routiers mostly disappeared, but some were absorbed into regional teams.

Desgrange died at home on the Mediterranean coast on 16 August 1940.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} The race was taken over by his deputy, [[Jacques Goddet]].<ref>''Tour de France, 100 ans, 1903–2003'', L'Équipe, France, 2003, p227</ref> The Tour was again disrupted by War after 1939, and did not return until [[1947 Tour de France|1947]].

===1947–1969===
[[File:Jacques Goddet Memorial.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Jacques Goddet]] memorial at the top of the [[Col du Tourmalet]]]]

In 1944, ''L'Auto'' was closed—its doors nailed shut—and its belongings, including the Tour, sequestrated by the state for publishing articles too close to the Germans.<ref name="Liberation1">Libération, France, 4 July 2003.</ref> Rights to the Tour were therefore owned by the government. Jacques Goddet was allowed to publish another daily sports paper, ''L'Équipe'', but there was a rival candidate to run the Tour: a consortium of ''Sports'' and ''Miroir Sprint''. Each organised a candidate race. ''L'Équipe'' and ''Le Parisien Libéré'' had La Course du Tour de France,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cyclingrevealed.com/timeline/Race%20Snippets/TdF/TdF1940_46.htm |title=Cycling Revealed&nbsp;– Tour de France Timeline |publisher=Cyclingrevealed.com |access-date=18 July 2009}}</ref> while ''Sports'' and ''Miroir Sprint'' had La Ronde de France. Both were five stages, the longest the government would allow because of shortages.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=}} ''L'Équipe''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s race was better organised and appealed more to the public because it featured national teams that had been successful before the war, when French cycling was at a high. ''L'Équipe'' was given the right to organise the [[1947 Tour de France]].{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} However, ''L'Équipe''{{'}}s finances were never sound, and Goddet accepted an advance by Émilion Amaury, who had supported his bid to run the postwar Tour.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} Amaury was a newspaper magnate whose sole condition was that his sports editor, [[Félix Lévitan]], should join Goddet for the Tour.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} The two worked together—with Goddet running the sporting side, and Lévitan the financial.

On the Tour's return, the format of the race settled on between 20 and 25 stages. Most stages would last one day, but the scheduling of 'split' stages continued well into the 1980s. [[1953 Tour de France|1953]] saw the introduction of the [[Points classification in the Tour de France|Green Jersey]] 'Points' competition. National teams contested the Tour until [[1961 Tour de France|1961]].{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=55}} The teams were of different sizes. Some nations had more than one team, and some were mixed in with others to make up the number. National teams caught the public imagination but had a snag: that riders might normally have been in rival trade teams the rest of the season. The loyalty of riders was sometimes questionable, within and between teams. Sponsors were always unhappy about releasing their riders into anonymity for the biggest race of the year, as riders in national teams wore the colours of their country and a small cloth panel on their chest that named the team for which they normally rode. The situation became critical at the start of the 1960s. Sales of bicycles had fallen, and bicycle factories were closing.{{sfn|Masso|2003|p=122}} There was a risk, the trade said, that the industry would die if factories were not allowed the publicity of the Tour de France. The Tour returned to trade teams in 1962.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=55}} In the same year, Émilion Amaury, owner of ''le Parisien Libéré'', became financially involved in the Tour. He made [[Félix Lévitan]] co-organizer of the Tour, and it was decided that Levitan would focus on the financial issues, while [[Jacques Goddet]] was put in charge of sporting issues.{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2006|pp=253–259}} The Tour de France was meant for professional cyclists, but in 1961 the organisation started the [[Tour de l'Avenir]], the amateur version.{{sfn|Dauncey|Hare|2013|p=115}}

Twice, in [[1949 Tour de France|1949]] and [[1952 Tour de France|1952]], Italian rider [[Fausto Coppi]] won the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the same year, the first rider to do so.

[[Louison Bobet]] was the first great French rider of the post-war period and the first rider to win the Tour in three successive years, [[1953 Tour de France|1953]], [[1954 Tour de France|1954]] and [[1955 Tour de France|1955]].

[[File:Raymond Poulidor, Jacques Anquetil and Federico Bahamontes podium, Tour de France 1964 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|[[Jacques Anquetil]] (centre), [[Raymond Poulidor]] (left) and [[Federico Bahamontes]] (right), podium of the [[1964 Tour de France]]]]
[[Jacques Anquetil]] became the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in [[1957 Tour de France|1957]] and from [[1961 Tour de France|1961]] to [[1964 Tour de France|1964]].<ref name="sports-reference">{{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/an/jacques-anquetil-1.html |title=Jacques Anquetil Olympic Results |access-date=28 December 2012 |work=sports-reference.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121214112523/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/an/jacques-anquetil-1.html |archive-date=14 December 2012 }}</ref> He stated before the 1961 Tour that he would gain the yellow jersey on day one and wear it all through the tour, a tall order with two previous winners in the field—[[Charly Gaul]] and [[Federico Bahamontes]]—but he did it.{{efn|Anquetil took the yellow jersey after the second half-stage (time trial) of the first day, Darrigade having won the first half-stage.}} His victories in stage races such as the Tour were built on an exceptional ability to ride alone against the clock in [[individual time trial]] stages, which lent him the name ''"Monsieur Chrono"''. Anquetil enjoyed a rivalry with [[Raymond Poulidor]], who was known as "''The Eternal Second''", because he never won the Tour, despite finishing in second place three times, and in third place five times (including his final Tour at the age of 40).

Doping had become a serious problem, culminating in the [[death of Tom Simpson]] in [[1967 Tour de France|1967]], after which riders went on strike,{{Sfn|Augendre|1996|p=59}}{{sfn|Nicholson|1991|p=50}} although the organisers suspected sponsors provoked them. The [[Union Cycliste Internationale]] introduced limits to daily and overall distances, imposed rest days, and tests were introduced for riders. It was then impossible to follow the frontiers, and the Tour increasingly zig-zagged across the country, sometimes with unconnected days' races linked by train, while still maintaining some sort of loop. The Tour returned to national teams for 1967 and [[1968 Tour de France|1968]]{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=60}} as "an experiment".{{sfn|Masso|2003|p=126}} The Tour returned to trade teams in [[1969 Tour de France|1969]]{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=62}} with a suggestion that national teams could come back every few years, but this has not happened since.

===1969–1987===
In the early 1970s, the race was dominated by [[Eddy Merckx]], who won the [[General classification in the Tour de France|General Classification]] five times, the [[Mountains classification in the Tour de France|Mountains Classification]] twice, the [[Points classification in the Tour de France|Points Classification]] three times and [[Tour de France records and statistics#Stage wins per rider|held the record for the most stage victories (34)]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Eddy Merckx reflects on his career and life on his 70th birthday|date=17 June 2015|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/eddy-merckx-reflects-on-his-career-and-life-on-his-70th-birthday/|work=Cycling News|access-date=28 July 2015}}</ref> until overtaken by [[Mark Cavendish]] in 2024. Merckx's dominating style earned him the nickname "The Cannibal". In [[1969 Tour de France|1969]], he already had a commanding lead when he launched a long-distance solo attack in the mountains which none of the other elite riders could answer, resulting in an eventual winning margin of nearly eighteen minutes. In [[1973 Tour de France|1973]] he did not win because he did not enter the Tour; instead, his great rival [[Luis Ocaña]] won. Merckx's winning streak came to an end when he finished 2nd to [[Bernard Thévenet]] in [[1975 Tour de France|1975]].

During this era, race director Felix Lévitan began to recruit additional sponsors, sometimes accepting prizes in kind if he could not get cash. In [[1975 Tour de France|1975]], the polka-dot jersey was introduced for the winner of the [[Mountains classification in the Tour de France|Mountains Classification]].<ref name="Gard Obit">{{cite news|last1=Fotheringham|first1=William|title=Obituary: Félix Lévitan|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/apr/03/guardianobituaries.cycling|work=The Guardian|access-date=28 July 2015}}</ref>{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=69}} This same year Levitan also introduced the finish of the Tour at the Avenue des [[Champs-Élysées]]. Since then, this stage has been largely ceremonial and is generally only contested as a prestigious sprinters' stage. (See 'Notable Stages' below for examples of non-ceremonial finishes to this stage.) Occasionally, a rider will be given the honor of leading the rest of the [[peloton]] onto the circuit finish in their final Tour, as was the case for [[Jens Voigt]] and [[Sylvain Chavanel]], among others.
[[File:Bernard Hinault 1978.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Bernard Hinault]] at the [[1978 Tour de France]]]]
From the late 1970s and into the early 1980s, the Tour was dominated by Frenchman [[Bernard Hinault]], who would become the third rider to win five times. Hinault was defeated by [[Joop Zoetemelk]] in [[1980 Tour de France|1980]] when he withdrew, and only once in his Tour de France career was he soundly defeated, and this was by [[Laurent Fignon]] in [[1984 Tour de France|1984]]. In [[1986 Tour de France|1986]], Hinault, who had won [[1985 Tour de France|the year before]] with American rider [[Greg LeMond]] [[Domestique|supporting]] him, publicly pledged to ride in support of LeMond. Several attacks during the race cast doubt on the sincerity of his promise, leading to a rift between the two riders and the entire [[La Vie Claire]] team, before LeMond prevailed. It was the first ever victory for a rider from outside of Europe. The 1986 Tour is widely considered to be one of the most memorable in the history of the sport due to the battle between LeMond and Hinault.

The [[1987 Tour de France|1987 edition]] was more uncertain than past editions, as previous winners Hinault and Zoetemelk had retired, LeMond was absent, and Fignon was suffering from a lingering injury. As such, the race was highly competitive, and the lead changed hands eight times before [[Stephen Roche]] won. When Roche won the [[1987 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race|World Championship Road Race]] later in the season, he became only the second rider (after Merckx) to win [[Triple Crown of Cycling|cycling's Triple Crown]], which meant winning the [[Giro d'Italia]], the Tour and the [[UCI Road World Championships|Road World Cycling Championship]] in one calendar year.

Lévitan helped drive an internationalization of the Tour de France, and cycling in general.<ref name="Gard Obit" /> Roche was the first winner from Ireland; however, in the years leading up to his victory, cyclists from numerous other countries began joining the ranks of the peloton. In [[1982 Tour de France|1982]], [[Sean Kelly (cyclist)|Sean Kelly]] of Ireland (points) and [[Phil Anderson (cyclist)|Phil Anderson]] of Australia (young rider) became the first winners of any Tour classifications from outside cycling's [[Continental Europe]] heartlands, while Lévitan was influential in facilitating the participation in the [[1983 Tour de France|1983 Tour]] by amateur riders from the [[Eastern Bloc]] and Colombia.<ref name="Gard Obit" /> In 1984, for the first time, the Société du Tour de France organized the [[Tour de France Féminin]], a version for women.{{refn|group="n"|A race for female cyclists similar to the men's Tour de France had been organized in 1955, but it was not official.}} It was run in the same weeks as the men's version, and it was won by [[Marianne Martin]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/feminines/tdf_feminin.php |title=Tour de France féminin |language=fr |publisher=Memoire du Cyclisme |date=23 November 2008 |access-date=27 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510052454/https://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/feminines/tdf_feminin.php |archive-date=10 May 2012}}</ref>

While the global awareness and popularity of the Tour grew during this time, its finances became stretched.<ref name="CN obit">{{cite web|title=Remembering Félix Lévitan|date=21 February 2007|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/remembering-felix-levitan/|work=Cycling News}}</ref> Goddet and Lévitan continued to clash over the running of the race.<ref name="CN obit" /> Lévitan launched the Tour of America as a precursor to his plans to take the Tour de France to the US.<ref name="CN obit" /> The Tour of America lost much money, and it appeared to have been cross-financed by the Tour de France.{{sfn|Goddet|1991|p=}} In the years before 1987, Lévitan's position had always been protected by [[Émilien Amaury]], the then owner of [[Amaury Sport Organisation|ASO]], but Émilien Amaury would soon retire and leave son [[Philippe Amaury]] responsible. When Lévitan arrived at his office on 17 March 1987, he found that his doors were locked and he was fired. The organisation of the 1987 Tour de France was taken over by Jean-François Naquet-Radiguet.{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2008|pp=171–178}} He was not successful in acquiring more funds, and was fired within one year.<ref name="Cyclismas">{{cite web | title=The Rise of the Amaurys (Part 2 in a series) | work=Cyclismas | url=http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/philippe-amaury/ | access-date=17 September 2020}}</ref>

=== 1988–1997 ===
Months before the start of the 1988 Tour, director Jean-François Naquet-Radiguet was replaced by Xavier Louy.{{sfn|McGann|McGann|2008|pp=178–184}} In 1988, the Tour was organised by [[Jean-Pierre Courcol]], the director of ''L'Équipe'', then in 1989 by Jean-Pierre Carenso and then by [[Jean-Marie Leblanc]], who in 1989 had been race director. The former television presenter [[Christian Prudhomme]]—he commentated on the Tour among other events—replaced Leblanc in 2007, having been assistant director for three years. In 1993 ownership of ''L'Équipe'' moved to the [[Amaury Group]], which formed [[Amaury Sport Organisation]] (ASO) to oversee its sports operations, although the Tour itself is operated by its subsidiary the Société du Tour de France.{{sfn|Augendre|1996|p=87}}
[[File:Miguel INDURAIN (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Miguel Induráin]] at the [[1993 Tour de France]]]]
1988 onward was arguably the beginning of what can be referred to as the doping era. A new drug, [[erythropoietin]] (EPO), began to be used; it could not be detected by drug tests of the time. [[Pedro Delgado]] won the [[1988 Tour de France]] by a considerable margin, and in [[1989 Tour de France|1989]] and [[1990 Tour de France|1990]] Lemond returned from injury and won back-to-back Tours, with the 1989 edition still standing as the closest two-way battle in TDF history, with Lemond claiming an 8-second victory on the final time trial to best Laurent Fignon.

The early 1990s was dominated by Spaniard [[Miguel Induráin]], who won five Tours from [[1991 Tour de France|1991]] to [[1995 Tour de France|1995]], the fourth, and last, to win five times, and the only five-time winner to achieve those victories consecutively. He wore the race leader's yellow jersey in the Tour de France for 60 days. He holds the record for the most consecutive Tour de France wins and shares the record for most wins with [[Jacques Anquetil]], [[Bernard Hinault]] and [[Eddy Merckx]].<ref name="SportsRef">{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/in/miguel-indurain-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418050159/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/in/miguel-indurain-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 April 2020 |title=Miguel Induráin Olympic Results |access-date=18 May 2015 |work=Sports Reference}}</ref> Induráin was a strong [[Individual time trial|time trialist]], gaining on rivals and riding defensively in the climbing stages. Induráin won only two Tour stages that were not [[individual time trial]]s: mountain stages to [[Cauterets]] (1989) and [[Luz Ardiden]] (1990) in the [[Pyrenees]]. These superior abilities in the discipline fit perfectly with the time trial heavy Tours of the era, with many featuring between 150 and 200&nbsp;km of time trialling vs the more common 50–80&nbsp;km today.

The influx of more international riders continued through this period, as in [[1996 Tour de France|1996]] the race was won for the first time by a rider from Denmark, [[Bjarne Riis]], who ended Miguel Induráin's reign with an attack on [[Hautacam]]. On 25 May 2007, Bjarne Riis admitted that he placed first in the Tour de France using banned substances, and he was no longer considered the winner by the Tour's organizers.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.espn.com/olympics/cycling/news/story?id=2896276 |title = Tour no longer lists Riis as champ after doping admission| agency=Associated Press/ESPN| date=7 June 2007}}</ref> In July 2008, the Tour reconfirmed his victory but with an asterisk label to indicate his doping offences.<ref name="GuideHistorique">{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/COURSE/docs/histo2009_05.pdf|publisher=[[Amaury Sport Organisation|ASO]]|page=95|title=Guide Historique|author=Augendre, Jacques|language=fr|access-date=18 August 2009|year=2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019082316/http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/COURSE/docs/histo2009_05.pdf|archive-date=19 October 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2013 [[Jan Ullrich]], the first German rider to win the Tour (in [[1997 Tour de France|1997]]), admitted to blood doping.

=== 1998–2011 ===
During the [[1998 Tour de France]], a doping scandal known as the [[Festina Affair]] shook the sport to its core when it became apparent that there was systematic doping going on in the sport. Numerous riders and a handful of teams were either thrown out of the race, or left of their own free will, and in the end [[Marco Pantani]] survived to win his lone Tour in a decimated main field. The [[1999 Tour de France]] was billed as the ‘Tour of Renewal’ as the sport tried to clean up its image following the doping fiasco of the previous year. Initially it seemed to be a [[Cinderella (sports)|Cinderella]] story when [[cancer]] survivor [[Lance Armstrong]] stole the show on [[Sestriere]] and kept on riding to the first of his astonishing seven consecutive Tour de France victories; however, in retrospect, 1999 was just the beginning of the doping problem getting much, much worse. Following Armstrong's retirement in [[2005 Tour de France|2005]], the [[2006 Tour de France|2006]] edition saw his former teammate [[Floyd Landis]] finally get the chance he worked so hard for with a stunning and improbable solo breakaway on Stage 17 in which he set himself up to win the Tour in the final time trial, which he then did. Not long after the Tour was over, however, Landis was accused of doping and had his Tour win revoked.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0520/Floyd-Landis-admits-doping-to-clear-his-conscience-implicates-Lance-Armstrong|title=Floyd Landis admits doping to clear his conscience, implicates Lance Armstrong|date=20 May 2010|work=Christian Science Monitor|access-date=26 March 2020|issn=0882-7729}}</ref>
[[File:Tour de France 2009, andy en albert (22014224710).jpg|thumb|left|[[Andy Schleck]] (left) and [[Alberto Contador]] (right) at the [[2009 Tour de France]]]]
Over the next few years, a new star in [[Alberto Contador]] came onto the scene;<ref>{{Cite news|last=Fotheringham|first=William|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/07/alberto-contador-retire-cycling-vuelta-a-espana|title=Alberto Contador leaves a legacy of cavalier racing and controversy|date=7 August 2017|work=The Guardian|access-date=26 March 2020|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> however, during the [[2007 Tour de France|2007]] edition, a veteran Danish rider, [[Michael Rasmussen (cyclist)|Michael Rasmussen]], was in the [[maillot jaune]] late in the Tour, in position to win, when his own team sacked him for a possible doping infraction;<ref>{{cite web|title=I am a Drug Cheat and a Liar Says Former Rival of Cadel Evans
|work=Sydney Morning Herald |date=1 February 2013 |url=https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cycling/i-am-a-drug-cheat-and-a-liar-says-former-rival-of-cadel-evans-20130201-2dowo.html}}</ref> this allowed the rising star Contador to ride mistake-free for the remaining stages to win his first. [[2008 Tour de France|2008]] saw a Tour where so many riders were doping that, when it went ten days without a single doping incident, it became news.<ref name="Jamey Keaten">{{cite web|title=Carlos Sastre Wins Doping Scarred Tour
|publisher=Jamey Keaten |date=27 July 2008 |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/carlos-sastre-wins-doping-scarred-tour/}}</ref> It was during this Tour that a UCI official was quoted as saying, "These guys are crazy, and the sooner they start learning, the better."<ref name="Jamey Keaten"/> [[Roger Legeay]], a [[Directeur Sportif]] for one of the teams noted how riders were secretly and anonymously buying doping products on the internet. Like Greg LeMond at the beginning of the EPO era, 2008 winner [[Carlos Sastre]] was a rider who went his entire career without a single doping incident and between approximately 1994 and 2011 this was the only Tour to have a winner with a clear biological passport.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lemond: Doping Era Denied Evans His Best Years
|publisher=Cycling Central SBS |date=7 April 2015 |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/article/2015/01/22/lemond-doping-era-denied-evans-his-best-years}}</ref> 2009 saw the [[2009 Tour de France|return]] of Lance Armstrong and, strangely, after Contador was able to defeat his teammate, [[Der er et yndigt land|the Danish National Anthem]] was mistakenly played. No Danish rider was in contention in 2009, and Rasmussen, the only Danish rider capable of winning the Tour during this era, was not even in the race. Another rider absent was Floyd Landis, who had asked Armstrong to get him back on a team to ride the Tour once more, but Armstrong refused because Landis was a convicted doper. Landis joined [[UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling (men's team)|OUCH]], an American continental team, and not long after this initiated contact with USADA to discuss Armstrong.

In [[2011 Tour de France|2011]], [[Cadel Evans]] became the first Australian to win the Tour after coming up just short several times in the previous few editions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.espn.co.uk/olympics/tdf2011/story/_/id/6797580/2011-tour-de-france-cadel-evans-becomes-first-australian-win|title=Evans first Australian to capture Tour de France|date=24 July 2011|work=ESPN.co.uk|access-date=26 May 2020}}</ref> The [[2012 Tour de France]] was won by the first British rider to ever win the Tour, [[Bradley Wiggins]], while finishing on the podium just behind him was [[Chris Froome]], who along with Contador became the next big stars to attempt to contest the giants of [[Jacques Anquetil|Anquetil]], Merckx, Hinault, Indurain and Armstrong.
[[File:Tour de France 2016, froome (27979590983).jpg|thumb|right|[[Chris Froome]] at the [[2016 Tour de France]]]]
Overshadowing the entire sport at this time, however, was the [[Lance Armstrong doping case]], which finally revealed much of the truth about doping in cycling.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2018/10/24/lance-armstrong-doping-scandal-panel-delivers-final-justice/1757954002/|title=Final justice handed down in Lance Armstrong doping scandal|access-date=15 September 2020|first=Brent|last=Schrotenboer|work=USA Today|date=17 December 2019}}</ref> As a result, the UCI decided that each of Armstrong's seven wins would be revoked. This decision cleared the names of many people, including lesser-known riders, reporters, team medical staff, and even the wife of a rider who had their reputations tarnished or had been forced from the sport due to pressure from Armstrong and his support staff. Much of this only became possible after Floyd Landis came forward to [[USADA]]. Also around this time, an investigation by the French government into doping in cycling revealed that way back during the 1998 Tour, close to 90% of the riders who were tested, retroactively tested positive for EPO.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-doping-cycling-france/french-senate-lays-bare-doping-in-1998-tour-de-france-idUSBRE96N0PA20130724|title=French Senate lays bare doping in 1998 Tour de France|first=Alexandria|last=Sag|access-date=15 September 2020|work=Reuters|date=24 July 2013}}</ref> {{Failed verification|date=May 2024}} The result of these doping scandals being that in the case of Landis in 2006, and Contador in 2010, new winners were declared in [[Óscar Pereiro]] and [[Andy Schleck]], respectively; however, in the case of the seven Tours revoked from Armstrong, there was no alternate winner named.

=== Since 2012 ===
[[File:Tour de France, 2014 02.jpg|thumb|Tour de France, Yorkshire (England), 2014]]
[[Ineos Grenadiers|Team Sky]] dominated the event for several years, with wins for [[Bradley Wiggins]], [[Chris Froome]] (four times) and [[Geraint Thomas]] before [[Egan Bernal]] became the first Colombian winner in 2019.  The streak was interrupted only by [[Vincenzo Nibali]]'s [[2014 Tour de France|2014]] win.
[[File:TDF3033 pogacar vingegaard (52243724489).jpg|thumb|left|[[Tadej Pogačar]] (''right'') and [[Jonas Vingegaard]] (left) during the [[2022 Tour de France]]]]
Due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic in France|COVID-19]] outbreak, the [[2020 Tour de France|2020 Tour]] started in late August,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/52275648|title=Tour de France to go ahead at end of August after coronavirus delay|date=15 April 2020|publisher=BBC Sport|access-date=15 April 2020}}</ref> the first time since the end of World War II that the Tour was not held in July.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lindsey |first1=Joe |title=The Tour de France Goes Virtual |date=29 June 2020 |url=https://www.outsideonline.com/2415248/tour-de-france-virtual-online-coronavirus |publisher=Outside |access-date=30 June 2020}}</ref>  This saw the first of two successive victories for [[Tadej Pogačar]] of [[UAE Team Emirates]], who was the first Slovenian winner, and the second youngest (at 21) after Henri Cornet in 1904. He also won the mountain and youth classifications, becoming the first rider since Eddy Merckx in [[1972 Tour de France|1972]] to win three jerseys in a single Tour.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tadej Pogačar: Shark in Sheeps Clothing|author=Patrick Fletcher |date=20 September 2020 |url=https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tadej-pogacar-shark-in-sheeps-clothing-tour-de-france-champion/}}</ref>  Pogačar repeated this triple in [[2021 Tour de France|2021]]. On stage 13 of this Tour, sprinter [[Mark Cavendish]] tied the record of [[Eddy Merckx]] for all time stage wins with 34.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mark Cavendish ties Eddy Merckx's record 34 Tour de France stage wins
|publisher=NBC Sports by Associated Press
|date=9 July 2021
|url=https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2021/07/09/mark-cavendish-tour-de-france-stage-wins-merckx/
}}</ref>

Danish rider [[Jonas Vingegaard]], second in 2021, won in both [[2022 Tour de France|2022]] and [[2023 Tour de France|2023]], with Pogačar coming second both times. The 2022 race was followed by the [[2022 Tour de France Femmes|Tour de France Femmes]], the first official Tour de France for women since 1989.<ref name=":3" />

In [[2024 Tour de France|2024]], Pogačar took back the Tour title, winning by more than six minutes over Vingegaard while Tour debutant, [[Remco Evenepoel]], rounded out the podium. Pogačar won six stages, including five of the last eight stages. With his win, he became only the eighth rider, and the first since [[Marco Pantani]] in [[1998 Tour de France|1998]], to win the [[Giro d'Italia]] and the Tour de France in the same calendar year.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tadej Pogacar wraps up Tour de France victory to seal historic double|author=Jeremy Whittle|publisher=The Guardian|date=21 July 2024|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/21/tadej-pogacar-wraps-up-tour-de-france-victory-to-seal-historic-double}}</ref> On stage 5 of the race, sprinter [[Mark Cavendish]] won his 35th overall Tour stage win, breaking the tie between him and [[Eddy Merckx]], who held the record for 49 years, for the all-time stage wins record in the Tour.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tour de France: Cavendish breaks Merckx's record with 35th stage win
|publisher=Le Monde
|date=3 July 2024
|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/sports/article/2024/07/03/tour-de-france-cavendish-breaks-merckx-s-record-with-35th-stage-win_6676578_9.html
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=A tribute to Cavendish
|publisher=Le Tour
|date=3 July 2024
|url=https://www.letour.fr/es/video/8749/a-tribute-to-cavendish-etapa-5-tour-de-france-2024
}}</ref>