:: FACTS

How many calories do racers burn?
And other mind-blowing Tour tidbits.

Calories consumed by a rider per day:
5,900 average, 9,000 max

Calories burned by a rider in the course of the Tour:
123,900 (based on 5900-per day average at 21 days of racing)

Number of pedal strokes taken per rider for the three weeks:
324,000 (at 60 rpm); 486,000 (at 90 rpm)

Number (or miles) of barricades erected and torn down for the race:
217 miles

Number of gendarmes (French military police officers) on the Tour:
13,000

Number of chains worn out by a single rider:
3 (Armstrong went through a chain a week)

Total number of tires used by the peloton:
792

Number of finishers, worst-ever year:
10 in 1919 (out of 69 starters)

Most stages won by a single rider, career total:
34, Eddy Merckx (1969: six stages and overall; 1970: eight stages and overall; 1971: four stages and overall; 1972: six stages and overall; 1974: eight stages and overall; 1975: two stages)

Most number of stages won on single Tour:
8--Charles Pelissier (1930), Eddy Merckx (1970, 1974), and Freddy Maertens (1976)

Most riders to wear yellow jersey in one Tour:
8 in 1987

Most days spent in yellow jersey:
96 by Eddy Merckx (in 7 participations)

Biggest winning margin (since 1947):
28 min 27 sec (Fausto Coppi--Stan Ockers in 1952)

Smallest winning margin:
8 sec (Greg LeMond--Laurent Fignon in 1989)

Longest solo breakaway:
253 km by Albert Bourlon in 1947

Biggest winning margin on stage win:
22 min 50 sec by Jose Luis Viejo in 1976

Fastest prologue:
55.152 kph by Chris Boardman in 1994 over 7.2 km

Highest total number of "King of the Mountains" victories:
7 by Richard Virenque

Fastest individual time trial:
54.545 kph by Greg LeMond in 1989 over 24.5 km

Fastest team time trial:
54.930 kph by Gewiss in 1995 over 67 km

Fastest average over a flat stage:
50.355 kph by Mario Cipollini in 1999 over 194.5 km (Laval-Blois)

Fastest average over whole Tour:
40.276 kph by Lance Armstrong in 1999

Oldest race winner:
Firmin Lambot (36) in 1922

Youngest winner:
Henri Cornet (20) in 1904

Most times participated by one rider:
16 (Joop Zoetemelk, between 1970 and 1986; he finished them all)

Two:
rest days (July 10th and 17th)

Three: summit finishes (Pla-de-Beret; L'Alpe d'Huez; La Toussuire)

Four: jerseys to win (yellow, green, polka dot, white)

Five: jaunts into foreign territory (Stage 2 in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg; Stage 3 in Valkenburg, Netherlands; Stage 4 in Huy, Belgium; Stage 11 in Val d'Aran/Pla-de-Beret, Spain; and Germany without any stops)

Seven: classic climbs to hors categorie 'unclassified' summits (Col de Soudet; Col du Tourmalet; Col d'Izoard; L'Alpe d'Huez; Col de Galibier; Col de la Croix-de-Fer; Col de Joux-Plane)

Nine: Riders in each team and number of flat stages

15: million spectators set to line the route

20: stages

22: teams

36: French victories on the Tour since debut in 1903

0: kilometers to ride on team time trial; the 2006 Tour de France won't have any team trials for the first time since 1999

116 km: the combined distance of the prologue and two individual time trials

132: times Paris has hosted a start or finish of the Tour

52 km: the shortest flat stage of the race (Stage 7, from Saint-Meen-le-Grand to Lorient)

198: riders at the start

228.5 km: longest stage in the Tour (Stage 2, from Obernai to Esch-sur-Alzette)

1,200: number of hotel rooms reserved for teams and their staff, press, and Tour personnel

1904: The year of the first documented case of cheating in the Tour

2,965: hours of TV coverage

1,860 m: the altitude of the L'Alpe d'Huez (Stage 15), the highest climb on this year's race

3,653.6 km: the total distance

8,400: food bags distributed at feeding stations throughout race

25,055: number of security personnel.

42,000: water bottles used by teams in race

360,466 km: approximate distance of all previous 92 Tours de France

3,200,000 euros: total prize money for the entire race

450,000 euros: prize money for race winner.

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