2013 Tour de France

The 2013 Tour de France is the 100th Tour de France. It runs from 29 June 2013 to 21 July 2013.

It started in Corsica, in the city of Porto-Vecchio. The island hosted the first three stages. Corsica was the only Metropolitan region, and Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse were the only Metropolitan departments, through which the Tour had never previously passed and the organisers wanted to combine the 100th edition of the Tour with the Tour's first ever visit to Corsica.

The tour is to be the first to be completed only on French soil since 2003. It will feature a final set of stages which have been described as "brutal", including three Alpine stages in the last week along with a "viciously hard" time trial. These include a double ascent of l'Alpe d'Huez, the first time the tour will feature a double climb of this scale. There will be eight flat stages, three hilly stages, seven mountain stages (with four summit finishes), two individual time trial stages and one team time trial stage covering a total of 3403 km. The Tour will finish at dusk in Paris.

Teams
All 19 teams in the UCI's Proteam category were entitled, and obliged, to enter the race. Three UCI Professional Continental teams, all French-based, were also invited.

†: Invited Pro-Continental teams

Pre-race favourites
Bradley Wiggins, the defending champion, had focused on the Giro d'Italia, but retired early due to illness. He subsequently pulled out of the Tour de France because illness and injury had left him insufficient time to train. This left Chris Froome, second place finisher in the 2012 tour, the undisputed leader of, and a top favourite for the race, having won the Tour of Oman, Critérium International, Tour de Romandie and Critérium du Dauphiné in 2013. Another rider Richie Porte has also shown excellent form in 2013, winning Paris-Nice and finishing second to Froome in Criterium International and the Dauphine, but is expected to ride solely for his team-mate. Another of the top favourites, Alberto Contador, will return to the race having been suspended from the 2012 race. Andy Schleck of, the 2010 winner, should also return having missed 2012 due to injury. Other contenders include Joaquim Rodríguez of, who podiumed both the Giro and Vuelta in 2012, Alejandro Valverde of , who placed second in the 2012 Vuelta, his teammate Nairo Quintana, and winner of the 2011 Tour, Cadel Evans, although he may have to share leadership of with Tejay van Garderen. 's Vincenzo Nibali was a possible contender after getting his first Tour de France podium in 2012 but focused on the 2013 Giro d'Italia.

Speaking after his victory in the Criterium du Dauphine on 9 June, Froome said that he was one of seven possible winners, the others being Contador, Valverde, Rodriguez, Evans, van Garderen and Quintana.

Stages
There are to be 21 stages in the 2013 race covering a total of 3403 km, taking place entirely in France unlike many previous Tours. The Tour will start in Corsica, visiting the only two Départements in Metropolitan France it has never visited – Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse. As the 100th edition of the race, the 2013 edition will feature some of the famous climbs from the history of the race, including a summit finish on Mont Ventoux on Stage 15, and Stage 18 in which Alpe d'Huez will be climbed twice by the riders, with the stage finishing after the second ascent.

The race features a team time trial around Nice on Stage 4, and two individual time trials. The other stages are all mass-start stages, they are divided in three categories, as shown in the table below: the type of stage influences the points available for the points classification and the time limit. The winner of a flat stages is given 45 points, the winner of a medium-mountain stage is given 30 points and the winner of a mountain stage is given 20 points.

The race will conclude on Stage 21, with a night time finish on the Champs-Élysées in Paris for the first time.

Classification leadership
There were four main classifications contested in the 2013 Tour de France, with the most important being the general classification. The general classification was 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 was considered the winner of the Tour. In 2013, there were no time bonuses given.

Additionally, there was a points classification, which awards a green jersey. In the points classification, cyclists get points for finishing among the best in a stage finish, or in intermediate sprints. The cyclist with the most points led the classification, and is identified with a green jersey.

There was also a mountains classification. The organization categorized some climbs as either hors catégorie, first, second, third, or fourth-category; points for this classification were won by the first cyclists that reach the top of these climbs, with more points available for the higher-categorized climbs. The cyclist with the most points led the classification, and was identified with a polka dot jersey.

The fourth individual classification was the young rider classification, marked by the white jersey. This classification was calculated the same way as the general classification, but the classification was restricted to riders who were born on or after 1 January 1988.

For the team classification, the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added; the leading team is the team with the lowest total time. The riders in the team that lead this classification were identified with yellow numbers and helmets.

For the combativity award, a jury gives points after each stage to the cyclists they considered most combative. The cyclist with the most votes in all stages leads the classification.


 * Notes:
 * In stage 2, Alexander Kristoff, who was second in the points classification, wore the green jersey, because Marcel Kittel (in first place) wore the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification during that stage.
 * In stage 2, Danny van Poppel, who was second in the young rider classification, wore the white jersey, because Marcel Kittel (in first place) wore the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification during that stage.
 * In stage 9, Pierre Rolland, who was second in the mountains classification, wore the polka dot jersey, because Chris Froome (in first place) wore the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification during that stage. Froome and Rolland both had collected 31 points up to this point, but Froome claimed the polka dot jersey, because he had crossed the line as first on first category mountains more often than Rolland.
 * In stage 13, the combativity award was voted to by the jury to recognize the contributions of the entire team. Mark Cavendish was the selected to represent the team on the podium.
 * In stages 16 to 18, Mikel Nieve, who was third in the mountains classification, wore the polka dot jersey, because Chris Froome (in first place) wore the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification during those stages, and Nairo Quintana (in second place) wore the white jersey as leader of the young rider classification during the same stages. In stage 19, Christophe Riblon wore the polka dot jersey for the same reasons.
 * In stage 20, Pierre Rolland, who is second in the mountains classification, will wear the polka dot jersey, because Chris Froome (in first place) will wear the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification during that stage.