The 2003 Tour de France started and ended in Paris. Lasting from July 5 to July 27 the race covered 3,350 km (2081.58 mi), 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 favorite was again Lance 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 odds-on favorite.

[edit] Overview

Laiseka, Basso, Hamilton, Armstrong, Beloki and Zubeldia riding up to Alpe d'Huez

The Tour proved to be one more hotly contested than the previous years, but in the end it was indeed Armstrong who won. 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 favorites. 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 as a result of a blown tire caused by melting tar in the road. Beloki broke his right femur 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.

Armstrong did however withstand the attacks in the end, and took his fifth Tour de France in row, thereby equalling the record of Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain. Before him, only Indurain had won in five consecutive years. Lance Armstrong had never won a tour by less than six minutes before 2003.

[edit] Stages

Stages

For detailed results, see: Prologue to Stage 9 and Stage 10 to Stage 20.

3268 kl total

[edit] Jersey progress

Jersey wearers when one rider is leading two or more competitions

• In stage 1, David Millar wore the green jersey.
• In stage 8, Rolf Aldag wore the polka-dot jersey.

[edit] Results

[edit] General classification Rank Name Country Team Time Ave. Speed 1 Lance Armstrong  United States U.S. Postal Service 83h 41' 12" (40.94 km/h) 2 Jan Ullrich  Germany Team Bianchi 1' 01" 3 Alexander Vinokourov  Kazakhstan Team Telekom 4' 14" 4 Tyler Hamilton  United States Team CSC 6' 17" 5 Haimar Zubeldia  Spain Euskaltel-Euskadi 6' 51" 6 Iban Mayo  Spain Euskaltel-Euskadi 7' 06" 7 Ivan Basso  Italy Fassa Bortolo 10' 12" 8 Christophe Moreau  France Crédit Agricole 12' 28" 9 Carlos Sastre  Spain Team CSC 18' 49" 10 Francisco Mancebo  Spain Ibanesto.com 19' 15"

[edit] Points classification Rank Name Country Team Points 1 Baden Cooke  Australia FDjeux.com 216 2 Robbie McEwen  Australia Lotto 214 3 Erik Zabel  Germany Team Telekom 188 4 Thor Hushovd  Norway Crédit Agricole 173 5 Luca Paolini  Italy Quick Step 156 6 Jean-Patrick Nazon  France Jean Delatour 154 7 Stuart O'Grady  Australia Crédit Agricole 153 8 Fabrizio Guidi  Italy Team Bianchi 122 9 Jan Ullrich  Germany Team Bianchi 112 10 Damien Nazon  France Brioches 107

[edit] King of the Mountains classification Rank Name Country Team Points 1 Richard Virenque  France Quick-Step 324 2 Laurent Dufaux  Switzerland Alessio 187 3 Lance Armstrong  United States U.S. Postal Service 168 4 Christophe Moreau  France Crédit Agricole 137 5 Juan Miguel Mercado  Spain Ibanesto.com 136 6 Iban Mayo  Spain Euskaltel-Euskadi 130 7 Haimar Zubeldia  Spain Euskaltel-Euskadi 125 8 Jan Ullrich  Germany Team Bianchi 124 9 Tyler Hamilton  United States Team CSC 116 10 Paolo Bettini  Italy Quick-Step 100

[edit] Team classification The team classification is based on the added time of the team's top three best riders in each stage. Rank Team Time 1 Team CSC 248h 18' 18" 2 Ibanesto.com 21' 46" 3 Euskaltel-Euskadi 44' 59" 4 U.S. Postal 45' 53" 5 Team Bianchi 1h 12' 40" [edit] Combativity classification Rank Name Country Team 1 Alexander Vinokourov  Kazakhstan Team Telekom

[edit] Young Riders' Classification The youth classification tracks the best riders under 25 years old in the Tour de France Rank Name Country Team Time 1 Denis Menchov  Russia Ibanesto.com 84h 0' 56" 2 Mikel Astarloza  Spain AG2R 42' 29" 3 Juan Miguel Mercado  Spain Ibanesto.com 1h 02' 48" 4 Sylvain Chavanel  France Brioches 1h 5' 17" 5 Andy Flickinger  France AG2R 1h 9' 09"

[edit] Centenaire classification Rank Name Country Team Points 1 Stuart O'Grady  Australia Crédit Agricole 82 2 Thor Hushovd  Norway Crédit Agricole 86 3 Fabrizio Guidi  Italy Team Bianchi 103 4 Luca Paolini  Italy Quick-Step 118 5 Gerrit Glomser  Austria Saeco 123

[edit] See also

• List of teams in the 2003 Tour de France
• List of doping cases in cycling

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tour de France 2003

• Cyclingnews.com coverage of the 2003 Tour
• Letour.fr results
• Stage victories and jersey progression (German)
• Youth classification and team classification progression (Dutch)