It is not enough to just be in the Pro Tour as a professional Racing Team
and race at all the events. Your team has to be invited by the organizers of the
Tour de France. There's a definite pecking order as to who will compete each
year in the Tour de France and who will not.

There have been many books written about the Tour over the years in respect
to the history and its colorful riders but I don't know of any specific books
detailing what it takes to get there and how its done. If there isn't a book
of this nature there certainly should be.

Here are some little known facts about the Tour de France you may be
interested in:

1. Most people would guess that a broken collar bone would be the number 1
injury in The Tour but they would be wrong. The number 1 injury is broken toes.
Not from the riders but from the fans that clog the mountain passes. Their
toes get crushed when team cars roll over them on the narrow roads.

2. Each team is given 3000 water bottles at the start of the tour.

3. It is no coincidence that The Tour de France passes through the specific
towns each year on its way around the country. Each town or city puts in a bid
to have the Tour routed through its community and sometimes they pay a sum
of $500,000 or more to have the honor of this epic event wind its way through
their city. Cities where the Tour starts and stops will easily pay over twice
this amount.

4. Each team gets 4 cars to use as their team cars and equipment cars. Fiat
has been the team car sponsor more than any other brand. After the Tour de
France is over, the cars are sold off at a fraction of what they cost. Wouldn't
that be great to own a team car from the Tour de France?

5. There used to be a time when riders trying to make a call back to the US
or other countries had a difficult time getting a long distance line out of
France and when they did, the cost was astronomical. Today, teams like
Discovery call a specific toll free number to get a line out of the country,
punch in
a specific set of codes and then dial the number they want to reach. By
doing this, the call is directed through channels as if it were made here in
the
US where local charges apply, not international ones which saves a huge
amount of money.

I will try to find more facts on the Tour if anyone is interested.

Chris


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