1999 Tour de France

After the doping controversies in the 1998 Tour de France, the Tour organisation banned some riders from the race, including Richard Virenque, Laurent Roux and Philippe Gaumont, manager Manolo Saiz and the entire TVM–Farm Frites team.^[3] Virenque's team Polti then appealed at the UCI against this decision, and the UCI then forced the organisers of the Tour, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), to allow Virenque and Saiz entry in the Tour.^[4] Initially, the Vini Caldirola team had been selected, but after their team leader Serhiy Honchar failed a blood test in the 1999 Tour de Suisse, the ASO removed Vini Caldirola from the starting list, and replaced them by Cantina Tollo–Alexia Alluminio, the first reserve team.^[5] Each team was allowed to field nine cyclists.^[6]

The teams entering the race were:^[6]

Qualified teams

Invited teams

The highest point of elevation in the race was 2,642 m (8,668 ft) at the summit of the Col du Galibier mountain pass on stage 9.^[7][8]

Stage characteristics and winners^[9][10][11]

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Winner
P	3 July	Le Puy du Fou	6.8 km (4.2 mi)		Individual time trial	Lance Armstrong (USA)[a]
1	4 July	Montaigu to Challans	208.0 km (129.2 mi)		Plain stage	Jaan Kirsipuu (EST)
2	5 July	Challans to Saint-Nazaire	176.0 km (109.4 mi)		Plain stage	Tom Steels (BEL)
3	6 July	Nantes to Laval	194.5 km (120.9 mi)		Plain stage	Tom Steels (BEL)
4	7 July	Laval to Blois	194.5 km (120.9 mi)		Plain stage	Mario Cipollini (ITA)
5	8 July	Bonneval to Amiens	233.5 km (145.1 mi)		Plain stage	Mario Cipollini (ITA)
6	9 July	Amiens to Maubeuge	171.5 km (106.6 mi)		Plain stage	Mario Cipollini (ITA)
7	10 July	Avesnes-sur-Helpe to Thionville	227.0 km (141.1 mi)		Plain stage	Mario Cipollini (ITA)
8	11 July	Metz	56.5 km (35.1 mi)		Individual time trial	Lance Armstrong (USA)[a]
	12 July	Le Grand-Bornand			Rest day
9	13 July	Le Grand-Bornand to Sestrières	213.5 km (132.7 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Lance Armstrong (USA)[a]
10	14 July	Sestrières to Alpe d'Huez	220.5 km (137.0 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Giuseppe Guerini (ITA)
11	15 July	Le Bourg-d'Oisans to Saint-Étienne	198.5 km (123.3 mi)		Hilly stage	Ludo Dierckxsens (BEL)
12	16 July	Saint-Galmier to Saint-Flour	201.5 km (125.2 mi)		Hilly stage	David Etxebarria (ESP)
13	17 July	Saint-Flour to Albi	236.5 km (147.0 mi)		Hilly stage	Salvatore Commesso (ITA)
14	18 July	Castres to Saint-Gaudens	199.0 km (123.7 mi)		Plain stage	Dmitri Konychev (RUS)
	19 July	Saint-Gaudens			Rest day
15	20 July	Saint-Gaudens to Piau-Engaly	173.0 km (107.5 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Fernando Escartín (ESP)
16	21 July	Lannemezan to Pau	192.0 km (119.3 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	David Etxebarria (ESP)
17	22 July	Mourenx to Bordeaux	200.0 km (124.3 mi)		Plain stage	Tom Steels (BEL)
18	23 July	Jonzac to Futuroscope	187.5 km (116.5 mi)		Plain stage	Giampaolo Mondini (ITA)
19	24 July	Futuroscope	57.0 km (35.4 mi)		Individual time trial	Lance Armstrong (USA)[a]
20	25 July	Arpajon to Paris (Champs-Élysées)	143.5 km (89.2 mi)		Plain stage	Robbie McEwen (AUS)
	Total		3,870 km (2,405 mi)[12]

Following the Festina Affair of the previous year the 1999 edition was billed as the "Tour of Renewal" from the very beginning.^[13]

This tour also saw the mistreatment of Christophe Bassons by his fellow riders of the peloton (notably Armstrong) for speaking out against doping. The 1998 tour had been marred by the Festina doping scandal. Bassons later told Bicycling, "The 1999 Tour was supposed to be the "Tour of Renewal", but I was certain that doping had not disappeared."^[14] He quit the tour without finishing after "cracking" mentally due to his treatment by the peloton, especially in stage 10.^[15]

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.^[16][17] 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.^[1] On 22 October 2012, the Union Cycliste Internationale endorsed the USADA sanctions, and decided not to award victories to any other rider or upgrade other placings in any of the affected events.^[2]

The 1999 edition of Tour de France had two bizarre moments. The first was on stage 2 when a 25-rider pile-up occurred at Passage du Gois. The Passage du Gois is a two-mile causeway which depending on the tide can be under water. A rider came down in the middle of the field during the passage, leading to the crash that cost pre-race favourites Alex Zülle, Christophe Rinero and Michael Boogerd more than five minutes to the lead group.^[18] The second bizarre incident was on stage 10, one kilometre from the summit of Alpe d'Huez. Leading Italian rider Giuseppe Guerini was confronted by a spectator holding a camera in the middle of the road. Guerini hit the spectator but recovered and went on to win the stage.^[19]

There were several classifications in the 1999 Tour de France.^[20] The most important was the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the race leader, identified by the yellow jersey; the winner of this classification is considered the winner of the Tour.^[21]

Additionally, there was a points classification, which awarded a green jersey. In the points classification, cyclists got points for finishing among the best in a stage finish, or in intermediate sprints. The cyclist with the most points led the classification, and was identified with a green jersey.^[22]

There was also a mountains classification. The organisation had categorised some climbs as either hors catégorie, first, second, third, or fourth-category; points for this classification were won by the first cyclists that reached the top of these climbs first, with more points available for the higher-categorised climbs. The cyclist with the most points lead the classification, and wore a white jersey with red polka dots.^[23]

The fourth individual classification was the young rider classification, which was not marked by a jersey. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only riders under 26 years were eligible.^[24]

For the team classification, the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added; the leading team was the team with the lowest total time.^[25]

In addition, there was a combativity award given after each mass-start stage to the cyclist considered most combative, who wore a red number bib the next stage. The decision was made by a jury composed of journalists who gave points. The cyclist with the most points from votes in all stages led the combativity classification.^[26] Jacky Durand won this classification, and was given overall the super-combativity award.^[27] The Souvenir Henri Desgrange was given in honour of Tour founder Henri Desgrange to the first rider to pass the summit of the Col du Galibier on stage 9. This prize was won by José Luis Arrieta.^[28][29]

Classification leadership by stage^[30][31]

Stage	Winner	General classification	Points classification	Mountains classification	Young rider classification[b]	Team classification	Combativity
							Award	Classification
P	Lance Armstrong[a]	Lance Armstrong[a]	Lance Armstrong[a]	Mariano Piccoli	Rik Verbrugghe	U.S. Postal Service	no award
1	Jaan Kirsipuu		Jaan Kirsipuu				Thierry Gouvenou	Thierry Gouvenou
2	Tom Steels	Jaan Kirsipuu			Christian Vande Velde		Jacky Durand
3	Tom Steels						Frédéric Guesdon
4	Mario Cipollini						Gianpaolo Mondini
5	Mario Cipollini						Mariano Piccoli
6	Mario Cipollini						François Simon
7	Mario Cipollini						Lylian Lebreton
8	Lance Armstrong[a]	Lance Armstrong[a]			Magnus Bäckstedt		no award
9	Lance Armstrong[a]		Stuart O'Grady	Richard Virenque	Benoît Salmon		José Luis Arrieta
10	Giuseppe Guerini					ONCE–Deutsche Bank	Stéphane Heulot
11	Ludo Dierckxsens					Festina–Lotus	Rik Verbrugghe
12	David Etxebarria		Erik Zabel				Massimiliano Lelli
13	Salvatore Commesso					ONCE–Deutsche Bank	Roland Meier
14	Dimitri Konishev					Festina–Lotus	Jacky Durand	Jacky Durand
15	Fernando Escartín					Banesto	Fernando Escartín
16	David Etxebarria						Pavel Tonkov
17	Tom Steels						Carlos Da Cruz
18	Gianpaolo Mondini						Frédéric Bessy
19	Lance Armstrong[a]						no award
20	Robbie McEwen						Anthony Morin
Final		Lance Armstrong[a]	Erik Zabel	Richard Virenque	Benoît Salmon	Banesto	Jacky Durand

• In stage 1, Alex Zülle wore the green jersey.
• In stages 3 through 6, Tom Steels wore the green jersey.
• In stage 7, Erik Zabel wore the green jersey.
• In stage 8, Mario Cipollini wore the green jersey.

• Augendre, Jacques (2016). "Guide historique" [Historical guide] (PDF). Tour de France (in French). Paris: Amaury Sport Organisation. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
• Nauright, John; Parrish, Charles (2012). Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice. Vol. 2. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-300-2.
• "Race regulations" (PDF). Tour de France. Paris: Amaury Sport Organisation. 1999. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 July 2003. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
• van den Akker, Pieter (2018). Tour de France Rules and Statistics: 1903–2018. Self-published. ISBN 978-1-79398-080-9.

• Abt, Samuel (2000). Lance Armstrong's Comeback from Cancer: A Scrapbook of the Tour de France Winner's Dramatic Career. San Francisco: Cycle Publishing. ISBN 978-1-892495-25-9.
• Wilcockson, John; Pelkey, Charles (1999). Lance Armstrong and the 1999 Tour de France. Boulder, Colorado: VeloPress. ISBN 978-1-884737-69-5.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tour de France 1999.

• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 1 October 1999)
• 1999 Tour de France at Cyclingnews.com