The 2004 Tour de France was the 91st, taking place from July 3 to July 25, 2004. It consisted of 20 stages over 3391 km.[1]
The race victory is currently voided, originally Lance Armstrong had become the first to win six Tours de France, before his disqualification. Armstrong had been favored to win, his competitors seen as being German Jan Ullrich, Spaniards Roberto Heras and Iban Mayo, and fellow Americans Levi Leipheimer and Tyler Hamilton. A major surprise in the Tour was the performance of French newcomer Thomas Voeckler, who unexpectedly won the maillot jaune in the fifth stage and held onto it for ten stages before finally losing it to Armstrong.
The route of the 2004 Tour was remarkable. With two individual time trials scheduled in the last week, one of them the climb of Alpe d'Huez, the directors were hoping for a close race until the end. For the first time in years, the mountains of the Massif Central made an appearance.
On 24 August 2012, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced that they had disqualified Armstrong from all his results since 1998, including his victory in the 2004 Tour de France. In October 2012 the Union Cycliste International (UCI) accepted USADA's verdict and stripped his titles since August 1998, including the 2004 Tour de France.
Participating teams [edit]
The first 14 teams in the UCI ranking at 31 January 2004 were automatically invited. These were:[2]
Wildcards were sent to
Initially the organisers had an option for a 22nd team, which would be Kelme, but after Jesús Manzano exposed doping use in that team, Kelme was not invited, and the race started with 21 teams of nine cyclists.[3]
Stages [edit]
Classification leadership [edit]
- Jersey wearers when one rider is leading two or more competitions
Doping [edit]
The book L. A. Confidentiel, by David Walsh and Pierre Ballester, came out shortly before the 2004 Tour, accusing Lance Armstrong of doping. Lance Armstrong and his lawyers asked for an emergency hearing in French court to insert a denial into the book. The French judge denied this request. Armstrong also launched defamation suits against the publisher and the authors, as well as magazine L'Express and UK newspaper The Sunday Times which both referenced it. [6][7][8]
The 18th stage saw mistreatment of Filippo Simeoni by Lance Armstrong, after Simeoni had testified about doping and doctor Michele Ferrari. [9]
188 riders in 21 teams started; 147 riders finished.
Results [edit]
General classification [edit]
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Points classification [edit]
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Mountains classification [edit]
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Youth classification [edit]
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See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Jacques Augendre (2009). "Guide Historique" (PDF) (in French). Amaury Sport Organisation. Archived from the original on 2009-10-09. Retrieved 30 September 2009.
- ^ "Invitations for the Tour de France 2004". Letour.fr. 2004-01-31. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
- ^ "Press release from the organisers of the Tour de France". Letour.fr. 2004-01-31. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
- ^ a b "91ème Tour de France 2004" (in French). Memoire du cyclisme. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
- ^ Zwegers, Arian. "Tour de France GC Top Ten". CVCC. Archived from the original on 2009-06-10. Retrieved 15 Aug 2011.
- ^ CYCLING; Armstrong Is Suing Accuser, By RICHARD SANDOMIR; Samuel Abt in Paris contributor, June 16, 2004, New York Times, retr 2012 10 20
- ^ Armstrong wants doping denial in book, ABC News (Australia) Jun 19, 2004, retr 2012 10 20
- ^ Judge calls Armstrong's request 'abuse' of system, Associated Press, 2004 6 21, via espn.go.com, retr 2012 10 20
- ^ The USADA Report Against Lance Armstrong, by the Numbers, Thursday, October 11, 2012 By Adventure Lab, Outside Magazine, retr 2012 10 18
External links [edit]
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| UCI World Circuits |
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| International Games |
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Andreas Klöden (Germany)
Ivan Basso (Italy)
Robbie McEwen (Australia)
Richard Virenque (France)
Vladimir Karpets (Russia)
Individual time trial
Fabian Cancellara (SUI)
Plain stage
Jaan Kirsipuu (EST)
US Postal (USA)
Tom Boonen (BEL)
Thor Hushovd (NOR)
Hilly stage
Stage with mountain(s)
Aitor González (ESP)
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