Tour de France The Idiosyncracies

 Tour de France. I love this race. One of the great sporting events of the year with an incredible history and endless sagas - good and bad. A tweet today about a Belgian rider passing through his home town and being allowed/expected to be greeted with hugs without losing his place in the peloton made me think that there are so many special idiosyncracies about this race. What follows are some of them. Please feel free to add to them.
When a rival is inconvenienced by mechanical failure or a crash, opponents do not generally take advantage. Alberto Contador apologised to Andy Schleck during the 2010 TdF after he sped away to gain 40 seconds on Schleck. Contador claimed he had not realised Scleck's predicament. Maybe maybe not. but Contador did not want to be judged by Tour history. He will be anyway for other reasons. (See other posts)
Lanterne Rouge. Poor old last man in General Classification - they used to make him carry a red light beneath his saddle. Some motivation.
The start of most stages comes in 2 phases - le depart fictif - a gentle ambling beginning before the Director's white flag marks the le depart reel. Battle commences.
The purpose of the Tour, started in 1903 was to 'educate and improve the population about their country'. It was felt that most French people knew very little of the geography of their country.

France in hard times suffers from what has become known as  a 'Poulidor Complex'. Raymond Poulidor was the habitual loser against 5 time winner Jacques Anquetil. Surprisingly Poulidor was more popular in France than his compatriot. He never won, but finished on the podium, top 3 finish eight times.
The Tour has never visited Corsica. It is finally going in 2013.
Eddie Merckx ('The Cannibal') won all the available prizes during his first Tour in 1969, King of the Mountains (Polka), Points Classification (Green) and overall winner (Maillot Jaune - first introduced 1919). 5 Tour wins and probably the greatest ever rider. (There is loads about Armstrong in other posts). Merckx was so dominant that he was hated by many French fans and even punched by a spectator during the 1975 race.He broke his jaw too, but still managed second place. However earlier when Merckx' great rival Luis Ocana crashed in 1971 allowing Merckx to take the Tour lead, Merckx, honouring a convention of the Tour, refused to wear the yellow jersey the following day.
Just this last week, Bradley Wiggins, doing his best to stay out of trouble and protect the yellow jersey, managed to get burnt on the arm by a flare wielding fan. The fans are certainly crazy - its part of the special appeal of this race.
Voiture Balai. In a surprising moment of sympathy in 1910, TdF inaugurator Henri Legrange permitted a sweeper vehicle at the back of the race to recuperate those riders who could not continue through exhaustion or inury.
Originally riders were not allowed any outside assistance, could not use replacement bikes and had to carry everything with them throughout the race including burst inner tubes. And food.
Medical controls were first brought in after the death of Tom Simpson of GB on Mont Ventoux in 1967 from a combination of amphetamines, brandy and the intense heat. The previous year, 1966, riders had staged a walking protest during the Bordeaux - Bayonne stage against the introduction of doping controls.
In 1960 the peloton stopped to honour President de Gaulle at Colombay les Deux Eglises in mid course.
The Champs Elysses Finale was first used at the conclusion of the 1975 Tour. According to Mark Cavendish who is bidding to win the final stage in Paris for the 4th successive year "For me its the most beautiful boulevard in the world, its an iconic avenue".
Yesterday Stage 14. Following the hallowed tradition of tapping into the Tour as a great vehicle for protest (or was it just a prankster?) tacks were thrown in the paths of riders. Cadel Evans punctured 3 times. And Bradley Wiggins? He waited for his adversary and caused the peloton to do the same. Bradley just became 'Patron'. He also demonstrated that he gets it - that something more powerful than winning is taking place. Its called Sport in its truest sense.
There is more, so much more. There are 6 stages to go.
Bradley Wiggins became a Tour great yesterday.