The 1999 Tour de France was a
multiple stage bicycle race held from 3 to 25 July, and the 86th edition of the
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...
. It has no overall winner—although American cyclist
Lance Armstrong originally won the event, the
United States Anti-Doping Agency announced in August 2012 that they had disqualified Armstrong from all his results since 1998, including his seven consecutive Tour de France wins from 1999 to
2005
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
(which were, originally, the most wins in the event's history); the
Union Cycliste Internationale
The Union Cycliste Internationale (; UCI; ) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland.
The UCI issues racing licenses to riders and enforces di ...
confirmed the result.
There were no French stage winners for the first time since the
1926 Tour de France. Additionally,
Mario Cipollini won four stages in a row, setting the post-World War II record for consecutive stage wins (breaking the record of three, set by
Gino Bartali
Gino Bartali, (; 18 July 1914 – 5 May 2000), nicknamed Gino the Pious and (in Italy) Ginettaccio, was a champion road cyclist. He was the most renowned Italian cyclist before the Second World War, having won the Giro d'Italia twice, in ...
in 1948.)
Teams
After the doping controversies in the
1998 Tour de France, the Tour organisation banned some riders from the race, including
Richard Virenque,
Laurent Roux and
Philippe Gaumont, manager
Manolo Saiz and the entire team.
Virenque's team Polti then appealed at the
UCI against this decision, and the UCI then forced the organisers of the Tour,
Amaury Sport Organisation
The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO and also A.S.O.) is a private company, founded in 1992, that is part of the privately-owned French media group Éditions Philippe Amaury (EPA). ASO organises the Tour de France and other cycling races, as well a ...
(ASO), to allow Virenque and Saiz entry in the Tour. Initially, the team had been selected, but after their team leader
Serhiy Honchar
Serhiy Gonchar (; born 3 July 1970) is a Ukrainian former professional road racing cyclist. He won the World Time Trial Championship in 2000.
Due to a temporary spelling error in his passport, he is often incorrectly called Honchar.
Career
G ...
failed a blood test in the 1999
Tour de Suisse, the ASO removed Vini Caldirola from the starting list, and replaced them by , the first reserve team.
Each team was allowed to field nine cyclists.
The teams entering the race were:
Qualified teams
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Invited teams
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Route and stages
The
highest point of elevation in the race was at the summit of the
Col du Galibier mountain pass on stage 9.
Race overview
Following the
Festina Affair of the previous year the 1999 edition was billed as the "Tour of Renewal" from the very beginning.
Doping
This tour also saw the mistreatment of
Christophe Bassons by his fellow riders of the peloton (notably Armstrong) for speaking out against doping. The
1998 tour had been marred by the
Festina doping scandal. Bassons later told ''Bicycling'', "The 1999 Tour was supposed to be the "Tour of Renewal", but I was certain that doping had not disappeared."
[Bassons: ‘People Now See I Wasn’t Lying’]
, James Startt, Bicycling.com, 15 October 2012 He quit the tour without finishing after "cracking" mentally due to his treatment by the peloton, especially in stage 10.
[Peddlers - Cycling's Dirty Truth]
, 54:00, Mark Chapman, including interviews with Tyler Hamilton, Bassons, and others. BBC Radio 5 live, 2012 10 15, retr 2012 10 16
Subsequent to Armstrong's statement to withdraw his fight against
United States Anti-Doping Agency's (USADA) charges, on 24 August 2012, the USADA said it would ban Armstrong for life and stripped him of his record seven Tour de France titles. Later that day it was confirmed in a USADA statement that Armstrong was banned for life and would be disqualified from any and all competitive results obtained on and subsequent to 1 August 1998, including forfeiture of any medals, titles, winnings, finishes, points and prizes.
On 22 October 2012, the
Union Cycliste Internationale
The Union Cycliste Internationale (; UCI; ) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland.
The UCI issues racing licenses to riders and enforces di ...
endorsed the USADA sanctions, and decided not to award victories to any other rider or upgrade other placings in any of the affected events.
Other incidents
The 1999 edition of Tour de France had two bizarre moments. The first was on stage 2 when a 25-rider pile-up occurred at
Passage du Gois. The Passage du Gois is a two-mile causeway which depending on the tide can be under water. A rider came down in the middle of the field during the passage, leading to the crash that cost pre-race favourites
Alex Zülle,
Christophe Rinero and
Michael Boogerd more than five minutes to the lead group. The second bizarre incident was on stage 10, one kilometre from the summit of
Alpe d'Huez
L'Alpe d'Huez () is a ski resort in Southeastern France at . It is a mountain pasture in the central French Western Alps, in the Communes of France, commune of Huez, which is part of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-R ...
. Leading Italian rider
Giuseppe Guerini was confronted by a spectator holding a camera in the middle of the road. Guerini hit the spectator but recovered and went on to win the stage.
Classification leadership and minor prizes
There were several classifications in the 1999 Tour de France. The most important was the
general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the race leader, identified by the yellow jersey; the winner of this classification is considered the winner of the Tour.
Additionally, there was a
points classification, which awarded a green jersey. In the points classification, cyclists got points for finishing among the best in a stage finish, or in intermediate sprints. The cyclist with the most points led the classification, and was identified with a green jersey.
There was also a
mountains classification. The organisation had categorised some climbs as either ''
hors catégorie
''Hors catégorie'' (HC) is a French term used in stage bicycle races to designate a climb that is "beyond categorization". The term was originally used for those mountain roads where cars were not expected to be able to pass.
The HC climb is th ...
'', first, second, third, or fourth-category; points for this classification were won by the first cyclists that reached the top of these climbs first, with more points available for the higher-categorised climbs. The cyclist with the most points lead the classification, and wore a white jersey with red
polka dots.
The fourth individual classification was the
young rider classification, which was not marked by a jersey. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only riders under 26 years were eligible.
For the
team classification, the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added; the leading team was the team with the lowest total time.
In addition, there was a
combativity award given after each
mass-start stage to the cyclist considered most combative, who wore a red number bib the next stage. The decision was made by a jury composed of journalists who gave points. The cyclist with the most points from votes in all stages led the combativity classification.
Jacky Durand won this classification, and was given overall the super-combativity award. The
Souvenir Henri Desgrange was given in honour of Tour founder
Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange (; 31 January 1865 – 16 August 1940) was a French cycle sport, bicycle racer and Sports journalism, sports journalist. He set twelve world track cycling records, including the hour record of on 11 May 1893. He was the first o ...
to the first rider to pass the summit of the
Col du Galibier on stage 9. This prize was won by
José Luis Arrieta
José Luis Arrieta Lujambio (born 15 June 1971, in San Sebastián) is a retired Spanish professional road racing cyclist. He last rode for UCI ProTour team . He is now a sporting director for , the same franchise for which he rode earlier in his ...
.
*In stage 1,
Alex Zülle wore the green jersey.
*In stages 3 through 6,
Tom Steels wore the green jersey.
*In stage 7,
Erik Zabel wore the green jersey.
*In stage 8,
Mario Cipollini wore the green jersey.
Final standings
General classification
Points classification
Mountains classification
Young rider classification
Team classification
Combativity classification
Notes
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
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External links
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1999 Tour de Franceat
Cyclingnews.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:1999 Tour De France
Tour de France by year
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...