环法自行车赛剪影
来源: 国外博客 编辑: Vicki
如果你此时正在法国，如果你正在疑惑7月的法国怎么会这么多自行车？不用担心，这是环法自行车赛。其实它的目的很简单：锻造强人。在整个比赛过程中，每位参赛者必须首先赢得9人组的比赛，每组中用时最少者获胜，而整个比赛中累积用时间最少者则是最后的赢家。每年的比赛赛道个各不一样。到底是怎样的美丽吸引如此多的车手来参加呢，一起来看看吧
A guide to the Tour de France
If you happen to be in France in July and wonder what all the two-wheeling is about, don’t worry - it’s the Tour de France（环法自行车赛）. Let us put you in the picturesque（美丽的，风景如画的） picture.
‘The course changes every year, but it will always end in Paris after running its spectacularly（壮观地，雄伟地） scenic route through France.’
Its purpose was simple: to make supermen. The harder the race and the longer the course, the more public interest that it would generate. The more sensational（轰动）, the better. That, after all, is what sells newspapers. And that was the intention behind L’Auto newspaper instituting the world’s most famous bicycle race in 1903.
L’Auto editor, Desgrange, burst the boundaries of bicycle racing when he determined the first race’s course, around the perimeter （周围，边缘）of France, which would endure for five weeks. When only 16 riders entered, he halved（把……减半） the distance and waved a cash-carrot（现金奖励） as incentive（诱饵） to attract more entrants （参加者）– increasing the number of competitors to 60.
These days, there’s close to 200 cyclists, each competing in teams of nine members. All riders in a team record the same time as their leading rider, with the overall winner of the tour determined by an accumulation of per-day times. The rider with the least accumulated hours wins.
The course changes every year but a few things are certain. One: it will traverse（穿越） flat terrain (graded as easy) through to hors catégorie (beyond classification), such as the gruelling （紧张的）Tourmalet pass（徒尔马莱通道） – the highest road in the Pyrenees（比利牛斯山脉）. Two: the entire length of the race won’t exceed 3500km (with limitations also on the number of kilometres covered in each day’s stage) and will include two rest days. And three: it will end in Paris after running its spectacularly scenic course through France.
As well as the yellow jersey (maillot jaune黄色领骑衫), worn by the rider with the least elapsed （共用……时间）time each day, there’s a green jersey (maillot vert) for the rider with the most sprint points. A polka-dot （圆点花样的布料）jersey (maillot a pois) for the king of the mountains (the first to the top), and riders are awarded for their chutzpah （放肆）with the Prix de la Combativite （战斗奖）– for breaking from the peloton and leading, rather than sitting in another’s slipstream（滑流）.
The tour takes over towns that are en route, each hosting a veritable carnival and barely able to contain the excitement as the word spreads that the riders are on their way. If you have your bike, each day’s stage is open to anyone in the morning. But be quick, or risk being swallowed by the publicity caravan – a 20km-long train of fancy floats advertising commercial products by handing out samples, sweets and souvenirs.
For the record:
Lance Armstrong（兰斯阿姆斯特朗） is a legend of the tour, winning seven consecutive （连续的）races (from 1999 to 2005), after surgery and chemotherapy treatment for cancer in 1996.
In 1990, Greg Le Mond won the overall tour without once wearing the yellow jersey.
The prize money for the winner is around US$750,000.
Other info:
Entry to compete is by invitation.
For spectators, primo （第一）roadside positions are hard-won（来之不易的）, with people camping out to claim them up to a week before – especially in the mountain stages. It goes without saying that you should book accommodation in any of the host towns early.
Get more info at the official Tour de France site.
博外话：举世闻名的环法自行车赛1903年起源于两家报社--《机动车报》和《自行车报》（l'Auto 和 le Vélo）的竞争。当时《机动车报》的编辑亨利·德斯格朗吉（Henri Desgrange）决定要组织一项“世界上最重要的自行车比赛！”于是在1903年的7月1日第一届环法自行车赛诞生了。共有60名参加了这次比赛，最终毛瑞斯·盖利（Maurice Garin）成为了世界上第一位环法赛的总冠军。盖利是在第六赛段开始领先的，经过2397公里的鏖战他第一个到达了设在巴黎市内的王子公园的终点。他的成绩比第二名的选手博希尔（Pothier）要快3小时。
