2,200 miles, 21 days and one epic event leading up to the yellow jersey

The 97th Tour de France is currently taking place through July 25. It runs through the entire country of France for 21 days and covers 2,200 miles. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about... it’s an epic bike race.

We’re slightly Tour de France obsessed at our house so I thought a column on the event was in order.

Just the mention of the Tour de France and most people automatically think of Lance Armstrong and his amazing feat of seven straight wins, the most ever, from 1999-2005 after his even more impressive battle over cancer. After a short retirement of three years, Armstrong once again rode in last year’s Tour to a second place finish.

Armstrong who rarely is involved in crashes during the Tour was caught up in three during Stage 8 this year which caused him to lose ground over tour leaders like Andy Schleck of Luxemburg and Alberto Contador of Spain.

Fellow American Levi Leipheimer and member of Lance’s Team Radio Shack after Monday’s Stage 15 sat in seventh place just 5:25 behind overall leader Contador, so the dynamics of the team have changed. The team now works for him instead of Lance which for the novice Tour de France enthusiast means they will do all that they can to protect him such as dropping back to get food and water for him from the team car, pull him through stages as he rides in the slipstream of his teammates and even give him their bike if ever warranted so that he loses no time to his main competitors.

Monday’s Stage 15 saw the yellow jersey leave leader Schleck and onto the shoulders of Contador in the Pyrenees mountains. Contador is now the leader by just 8 seconds.

Here are a few fun facts about the race that you may find interesting. A cyclist in the race will consume an average of 5,900 calories each day while burning an average of 123,900 calories over the 21 days of racing. Forty-two thousand water bottles will be used throughout the tour.

Twenty-two teams began this year’s race with nine riders on each team. Teams are made up of a leader, sprinters and climbers.

The sprinters goal is to win the Green Jersey, the climbers want to win the Polka Dot Jersey and the White Jersey is worn by the best young rider of the tour. The Maillot Jaune (meh-yo jzon) which is French for “yellow jersey” is the coveted prize on the podium in Paris on the final day of the tour.

The smallest margin of victory was in 1989 by American Greg Lemond when he won the yellow jersey by just eight seconds.

Four cyclists have died during the 97 years of the Tour de France, the latest in 1995 when Fabio Casartelli crashed descending a mountain stage in the Pyrenees going 55 mph.

Armstrong used to call the jerseys “Mellow Johnny’s “which is now the name of the bike shop he owns in his home town of Austin, Texas.

Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin are the play-by-play guys of the Tour de France on the Versus network. They use colorful terms announcing the bike race such as the rider has “cracked,” “popped” or my favorite, “his legs have gone rubbery”.

It’s truly an amazing athletic event which will be viewed by some 12 to 15 million spectators over the 2,241 scenic miles to its final day on the Champs-E’lyse’es in Paris.