The 2003 Tour de France was a multiple stage bicycle race held from 5 to 27 July, and the 90th edition of the Tour de France. 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 Tour de France wins from 1999 to 2005; the Union Cycliste Internationale has confirmed this verdict.
The event started and ended in Paris, covering proceeding clockwise in twenty stages around France, including six major mountain stages. Due to the centennial celebration, this edition of the tour was raced entirely in France and did not enter neighboring countries.
In the centenary year of the race the route recreated, in part, that of 1903. There was a special Centenaire Classement prize for the best-placed in each of the six stage finishes which match the 1903 tour – Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes and Paris. It was won by Stuart O'Grady, with Thor Hushovd in second place. The 2003 Tour was honored with the Prince of Asturias Award for Sport.
Of the 198 riders the favourite was again Armstrong, aiming for a record equalling fifth win. Before the race, it was believed that his main rivals would include Iban Mayo, Aitor González, Tyler Hamilton, Ivan Basso, Gilberto Simoni, Jan Ullrich, and Joseba Beloki but Armstrong was the odds-on favourite. Though he did go on to win the race, it is statistically, and by Armstrong's own admission, his weakest Tour from his seven-year period of dominance over the race.
Teams
The team selection was done in three rounds: in November 2002, the fourteen highest-ranking Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) teams would automatically qualify; four wildcard invitations were given in January 2003, and four more in mid-May. The race started with 22 teams of 9 cyclists.
The teams entering the race were:
Qualified teams
Invited teams
Pre-race favourites
Some notable cyclists excluded from the race were Mario Cipollini and Marco Pantani, whose teams and were not selected. Especially the absence of Cipollini, the reigning world champion, came as a surprise. The Tour organisation gave the reason that Cipollini had never been able to finish the race.
In the first round, the Coast team had been selected to compete, and in January 2003 they signed Jan Ullrich. Financial problems then almost prevented the team from starting, but after Bianchi stepped in as a new sponsor, Team Bianchi was allowed to take the place of Team Coast.
Route and stages
The route of the centenary Tour de France was announced in October 2002. The route recreated, in part, that of the 1903 Tour de France. Starting in Paris with a time trial, the race headed clockwise around France including six stage finishes at cities that featured in the 1903 Tour – Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes and Paris. Due to the centennial celebration, this edition of the tour was raced entirely in France and did not enter neighboring countries.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Stage characteristics and winners
|-
! scope="col" | Stage
! scope="col" | Date
! scope="col" | Course
! scope="col" | Distance
! scope="col" colspan="2" | Type
! scope="col" | Winner
|-
! scope="row" | P
| style="text-align:center;" |5 July || Paris|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Individual time trial ||
|-
! scope="row" | 1
| style="text-align:center;" |6 July || Saint-Denis to Meaux|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Flat stage ||
|-
! scope="row" | 2
| style="text-align:center;" |7 July || La Ferté-sous-Jouarre to Sedan|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Flat stage ||
|-
! scope="row" | 3
| style="text-align:center;" |8 July || Charleville-Mézières to Saint-Dizier|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Flat stage ||
|-
! scope="row" | 4
| style="text-align:center;" |9 July || Joinville to Saint-Dizier|| style="text-align:center;" | || alt=|link=Team time trial|20px || Team time trial ||
|-
! scope="row" | 5
| style="text-align:center;" |10 July || Troyes to Nevers|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Flat stage ||
|-
! scope="row" | 6
| style="text-align:center;" |11 July || Nevers to Lyon|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Flat stage ||
|-
! scope="row" | 7
| style="text-align:center;" |12 July || Lyon to Morzine|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Mountain Stage (s) ||
|-
! scope="row" | 8
| style="text-align:center;" |13 July || Sallanches to Alpe d'Huez|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Mountain Stage (s) ||
|-
! scope="row" | 9
| style="text-align:center;" |14 July || Le Bourg-d'Oisans to Gap|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Mountain Stage (s) ||
|-
! scope="row" | 10
| style="text-align:center;" |15 July || Gap to Marseille|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Flat stage ||
|-
! scope="row" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 16 July
| colspan="2" | Narbonne
|
| colspan="2" | Rest day
|-
! scope="row" | 11
| style="text-align:center;" |17 July || Narbonne to Toulouse|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Flat stage ||
|-
! scope="row" | 12
| style="text-align:center;" |18 July || Gaillac to Cap Découverte|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Individual time trial ||
|-
! scope="row" | 13
| style="text-align:center;" |19 July || Toulouse to Ax 3 Domaines|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Mountain Stage (s) ||
|-
! scope="row" | 14
| style="text-align:center;" |20 July || Saint-Girons to Loudenvielle|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Mountain Stage (s) ||
|-
! scope="row" | 15
| style="text-align:center;" |21 July || Bagnères-de-Bigorre to Luz Ardiden|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Mountain Stage (s) ||<del></del>
|-
! scope="row" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 22 July
| colspan="2" | Pau
|
| colspan="2" | Rest day
|-
! scope="row" | 16
| style="text-align:center;" |23 July || Pau to Bayonne|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Hilly stage ||
|-
! scope="row" | 17
| style="text-align:center;" |24 July || Dax to Bordeaux|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Flat stage ||
|-
! scope="row" | 18
| style="text-align:center;" |25 July || Bordeaux to Saint-Maixent-l'École|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Flat stage ||
|-
! scope="row" | 19
| style="text-align:center;" |26 July || Pornic to Nantes|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Individual time trial ||
|-
! scope="row" | 20
| style="text-align:center;" |27 July || Ville-d'Avray to Paris (Champs-Élysées)|| style="text-align:center;" | || 20px|alt=|link= || Flat stage ||
|-
! scope="row" |
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center"| Total
| colspan="4" style="text-align:center"|
|}
Race overview
thumb|[[Roberto Laiseka|Laiseka, Basso, Hamilton, Armstrong, Beloki and Zubeldia riding up to Alpe d'Huez on the eighth stage]]
The Tour proved to be one more hotly contested than the previous years. Tyler Hamilton and Levi Leipheimer were involved in a crash early in the Tour. Leipheimer dropped out, Hamilton continued and got fourth place in the end while riding with a broken collarbone.
In the Alps, Gilberto Simoni and Stefano Garzelli, first and second in the Giro d'Italia earlier the same year, could not keep up with Lance Armstrong and the other favourites. The same held for last year's number 4, Santiago Botero. Joseba Beloki could, and was in second-place overall (just 40 seconds behind Armstrong) when he crashed on a fast descent from the Cote de La Rochette, shortly after passing the Col de Manse into Gap. The crash was a result of a locked brake, caused by a lack of traction from melting tar on the road, which led to the tyre coming off the rim. Beloki broke his right femur, elbow and wrist, and had to leave the Tour. Armstrong made a detour through the field beside the road to avoid the fallen Beloki. Armstrong was in yellow, but Jan Ullrich won the first time trial by one minute and 36 seconds. He and Alexander Vinokourov were both within very short distance from Armstrong.
Doping
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.
There were also two special awards each with a prize of €5000, the Souvenir Henri Desgrange, given in honour of Tour founder and first race director Henri Desgrange to the first rider to pass the summit of the Col du Galibier on stage 8, and the Souvenir Jacques Goddet, given in honour of the second director Jacques Goddet to the first rider to pass the summit of the Col du Tourmalet on stage 15. Stefano Garzelli won the Henri Desgrange and Sylvain Chavanel won the Jacques Goddet.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:smaller; clear:both;"
|+Classification leadership by stage
! scope="col" style="width:1%;"| Stage
! scope="col" style="width:14%;"| Winner
! scope="col" style="width:14%;"| General classification<br>25px|link=General classification in the Tour de France|alt=Yellow jersey
! scope="col" style="width:14%;"| Points classification<br>25px|link=Points classification in the Tour de France|alt=Green jersey
! scope="col" style="width:14%;"| Mountains classification<br>25px|link=Mountains classification in the Tour de France|alt=Polkadot jersey
! scope="col" style="width:14%;"| Young rider classification<br>25px|link=Young rider classification in the Tour de France|alt=White jersey
! scope="col" style="width:14%;"| Team classification<!-- no yellow number bib given before 2006 -->
! scope="col" style="width:14%;"| Combativity award<br>20px|link=Combativity award in the Tour de France|alt=A white jersey with a red number bib.
|-
! scope="row" | P
| Bradley McGee
| style="background:#FFEB64;" rowspan="3"|Bradley McGee
| style="background:#9CE97B;"|Bradley McGee
| no award
| style="background:white;"|Vladimir Karpets
| rowspan="7"|
| no award
|-
! scope="row" | 1
| Alessandro Petacchi
| style="background:#9CE97B;" rowspan="5"|Robbie McEwen
| style="background:#FFA8A4;" rowspan="4"|Christophe Mengin
| style="background:white;"|Andy Flickinger
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|Andy Flickinger
|-
! scope="row" | 2
| Baden Cooke
| style="background:white;" rowspan="2"|Baden Cooke
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|Frédéric Finot
|-
! scope="row" | 3
| Alessandro Petacchi
| style="background:#FFEB64;"|Jean-Patrick Nazon
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|Anthony Geslin
|-
! scope="row" | 4
|
| style="background:#FFEB64;" rowspan="3"|Víctor Hugo Peña
| style="background:white;" rowspan="3"|Vladimir Karpets
| no award
|-
! scope="row" | 5
| Alessandro Petacchi
| style="background:#FFA8A4;"|Frédéric Finot
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|Frédéric Finot
|-
! scope="row" | 6
| Alessandro Petacchi
| style="background:#9CE97B;"|Alessandro Petacchi
| style="background:#FFA8A4;"|Christophe Mengin
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|René Andrle
|-
! scope="row" | 7
| Richard Virenque
| style="background:#FFEB64;"|Richard Virenque
| style="background:#9CE97B;" rowspan="11"|Baden Cooke
| style="background:#FFA8A4;" rowspan="14"|Richard Virenque
| style="background:white;" rowspan="14"|Denis Menchov
|
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|Richard Virenque
|-
! scope="row" | 8
| Iban Mayo
| style="background:#FFEB64;" rowspan="13"|<del>Lance Armstrong</del>
| rowspan="2"|
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|Nicolas Portal
|-
! scope="row" | 9
| Alexander Vinokourov
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|Jörg Jaksche
|-
! scope="row" | 10
| Jakob Piil
| rowspan="2"|
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|José Gutiérrez
|-
! scope="row" | 11
| Juan Antonio Flecha
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|Juan Antonio Flecha
|-
! scope="row" | 12
| Jan Ullrich
|
| no award
|-
! scope="row" | 13
| Carlos Sastre
| rowspan="8"|
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|Carlos Sastre
|-
! scope="row" | 14
| Gilberto Simoni
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|Laurent Dufaux
|-
! scope="row" | 15
| <del>Lance Armstrong</del>
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|Sylvain Chavanel
|-
! scope="row" | 16
| Tyler Hamilton
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|Tyler Hamilton
|-
! scope="row" | 17
| Servais Knaven
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|Servais Knaven
|-
! scope="row" | 18
| Pablo Lastras
| style="background:#9CE97B;" rowspan="2"|Robbie McEwen
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|Andy Flickinger
|-
! scope="row" | 19
| David Millar
| no award
|-
! scope="row" | 20
|Jean-Patrick Nazon
| style="background:#9CE97B;"|Baden Cooke
| style="background:#E4B3AB;"|Bram de Groot
|-
! colspan="2" | Final
! style="background:#FFDB00;"|<del>Lance Armstrong</del>
! style="background:#46E800;"|Baden Cooke
! style="background:#FF3E33;"|
! style="background:white;"|Denis Menchov
!
! style="background:#E42A19;"|
|}
- In stage 1, David Millar wore the green jersey.
- In stage 8, Rolf Aldag wore the polka-dot jersey.
Final standings
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! scope="col" colspan="4" | Legend
|-
| 20px|link=Points classification in the Tour de France|alt=Green jersey
| Denotes the leader of the points classification
| 20px|link=Mountains classification in the Tour de France|alt=Polka dot jersey
| Denotes the leader of the mountains classification
|-
| 20px|link=Young rider classification in the Tour de France|alt=White jersey
| Denotes the leader of the young rider classification
| 20px|link=Combativity award in the Tour de France|alt=A white jersey with a red number bib.
| Denotes the winner of the super-combativity award
|}
General classification
{| class="wikitable" style="width:42em;margin-bottom:0;"
|+ Final general classification (1–10)
|-
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | Rider
! scope="col" | Team
! scope="col" | Time
|-
! scope="row" | DSQ
| <s></s> || <s></s> || style="text-align:right;" | <s>83h 41' 12"</s>
|-
! scope="row" | 2
| || || style="text-align:right;" | + 1' 01"
|-
! scope="row" | 3
| 20px|link=Combativity award in the Tour de France|alt=A white jersey with a red number bib. || || style="text-align:right;" | + 4' 14"
|-
! scope="row" | 4
| || || style="text-align:right;" | + 6' 17"
|-
! scope="row" | 5
| || || style="text-align:right;" | + 6' 51"
|-
! scope="row" | 6
| || || style="text-align:right;" | + 7' 06"
|-
! scope="row" | 7
| || || style="text-align:right;" | + 10' 12"
|-
! scope="row" | 8
| || || style="text-align:right;" | + 12' 28"
|-
! scope="row" | 9
| || || style="text-align:right;" | + 18' 49"
|-
! scope="row" | 10
| || || style="text-align:right;" | + 19' 15"
|}
{| class="collapsible collapsed wikitable" style="width:42em;margin-top:-1px;"
|-
! scope="col" colspan="4" | Final general classification (11–147)
|-
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | Rider
! scope="col" | Team
! scope="col" | Points
|-
! scope="row" | 1
| 20px|Cooke was awarded the final green jersey as points classification winner|alt=Green jersey
|
|align=right|216
|-
! scope="row" | 2
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 214
|-
! scope="row" | 3
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 188
|-
! scope="row" | 4
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 173
|-
! scope="row" | 5
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 156
|-
! scope="row" | 6
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 154
|-
! scope="row" | 7
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 153
|-
! scope="row" | 8
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 122
|-
! scope="row" | 9
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 112
|-
! scope="row" | 10
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 107
|}
Mountains classification
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Final mountains classification (1–10)
|-
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | Rider
! scope="col" | Team
! scope="col" | Points
|-
! scope="row" | 1
| 20px|Virenque was awarded the final polkadot jersey as mountains classification winner|alt=Polkadot jersey
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 324
|-
! scope="row" | 2
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 187
|-
! scope="row" | 3
|</s>
|<s></s>
| style="text-align:right;" | <s> 168</s>
|-
! scope="row" | 4
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 137
|-
! scope="row" | 5
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 136
|-
! scope="row" | 6
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 130
|-
! scope="row" | 7
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 125
|-
! scope="row" | 8
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 124
|-
! scope="row" | 9
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 116
|-
! scope="row" | 10
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 100
|}
Young rider classification
{| class="wikitable"
|+Final young rider classification (1–10)
|-
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | Rider
! scope="col" | Team
! scope="col" | Time
|-
! scope="row" | 1
| 20px|Menchov was awarded the final white jersey as young rider classification winner|alt=Yellow jersey
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 84h 0' 56"
|-
! scope="row" | 2
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 42' 29"
|-
! scope="row" | 3
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 1h 02' 48"
|-
! scope="row" | 4
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 1h 05' 17"
|-
! scope="row" | 5
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 1h 09' 09"
|-
! scope="row" | 6
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 1h 17' 44"
|-
! scope="row" | 7
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 1h 25' 33"
|-
! scope="row" | 8
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 1h 32' 19"
|-
! scope="row" | 9
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 1h 51' 49"
|-
! scope="row" | 10
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 2h 01' 08"
|}
Team classification
{| class="wikitable"
|+Final team classification (1–10)
|-
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | Team
! scope="col" | Time
|-
! scope="row" | 1
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 248h 18' 18"
|-
! scope="row" | 2
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 21' 46"
|-
! scope="row" | 3
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 44' 59"
|-
! scope="row" | 4
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 45' 53"
|-
! scope="row" | 5
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 1h 12' 40"
|-
! scope="row" | 6
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 1h 38' 45"
|-
! scope="row" | 7
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 2h 02' 17"
|-
! scope="row" | 8
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 2h 02' 36"
|-
! scope="row" | 9
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 2h 08' 06"
|-
! scope="row" | 10
|
| style="text-align:right;" | + 2h 08' 56"
|}
Centenaire classification
{| class="wikitable"
|+Final centenaire classification (1–10)
|-
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | Rider
! scope="col" | Team
! scope="col" | Points
|-
! scope="row" | 1
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 82
|-
! scope="row" | 2
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 86
|-
! scope="row" | 3
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 103
|-
! scope="row" | 4
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 118
|-
! scope="row" | 5
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 123
|-
! scope="row" | 6
|
| Bianchi
| style="text-align:right;" | 165
|-
! scope="row" | 7
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 169
|-
! scope="row" | 8
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 184
|-
! scope="row" | 9
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 188
|-
! scope="row" | 10
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" | 210
|}
Notes
References
Bibliography
Further reading
External links
- 2003 Tour de France at Cyclingnews.com