The 2001 Tour de France was a multiple-stage bicycle race held from 7 to 29 July, and the 88th edition of the Tour de France. It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong originally won the event, the United States Anti-Doping Agency announced in August 2012 that they had disqualified Armstrong from all his results since 1998, including his seven Tour de France wins from 1999 to 2005. The verdict was subsequently confirmed by the Union Cycliste Internationale.
The race included a team time trial, two individual time trials and five consecutive mountain-top finishing stages, the second of which was the Chamrousse special-category climb time trial. Thus, all the high-mountain stages were grouped consecutively, following the climbing time trial, with one rest day in between. France was ridden 'clockwise', so the Alps were visited before the Pyrenees. The Tour started in France but also visited Belgium in its first week. The ceremonial final stage finished at the Champs-Élysées in Paris, as is tradition. Erik Zabel won his record sixth consecutive points classification victory. This was a record for points classification victories and is still a record for most consecutive victories, however Peter Sagan now holds the record for most total green jersey wins with seven.
Teams
The organisers felt that the 2000 Tour de France had not included enough French teams and consequently changed the selection procedure. was selected because it included the winner of the previous edition, Lance Armstrong. was selected because it included the winner of the 2000 UCI Road World Cup, Erik Zabel). was selected because it won the team classification in the 2000 Giro d'Italia. was selected because it won the team classifications in both the 2000 Tour de France and 2000 Vuelta a España. A further twelve teams qualified based on the UCI ranking in the highest UCI division at the end of 2000, after compensating for transfers. Although initially it was announced that four wildcards would be given, the tour organisation decided to add five teams: In total, 21 teams participated, each with 9 cyclists, giving a total of 189 cyclists.
The teams entering the race were:
Qualified teams
Invited teams
Route and stages
The highest point of elevation in the race was at the summit of the Col du Tourmalet mountain pass on stage 14.
+ Stage characteristics and winners Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner P7 July Dunkirk Individual time trial 18 July Saint-Omer to Boulogne-sur-Mer Flat stage 29 July Calais to Antwerp (Belgium) Flat stage 310 July Antwerp (Belgium) to Seraing (Belgium) Flat stage 411 July Huy (Belgium) to Verdun Flat stage 512 July Verdun to Bar-le-Duc Team time trial 613 July Commercy to Strasbourg Flat stage 714 July Strasbourg to Colmar Medium mountain stage 815 July Colmar to Pontarlier Flat stage 916 July Pontarlier to Aix-les-Bains Flat stage 1017 July Aix-les-Bains to Alpe d'Huez High mountain stage 1118 July Grenoble to Chamrousse Individual time trial 19 July Perpignan Rest day 1220 July Perpignan to Plateau de Bonascre High mountain stage 1321 July Foix to Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d'Adet High mountain stage 1422 July Tarbes to Luz Ardiden High mountain stage 23 July Pau Rest day 1524 July Pau to Lavaur Flat stage 1625 July Castelsarrasin to Sarran Flat stage 1726 July Brive-la-Gaillarde to Montluçon Flat stage 1827 July Montluçon to Saint-Amand-Montrond Individual time trial 1928 July Orléans to Évry Flat stage 2029 July Corbeil-Essonnes to Paris (Champs-Élysées) Flat stage Total
Race overview
It was during this Tour de France that Johan Bruyneel, the Directeur Sportif of the US Postal team, intentionally mislead other teams about the condition of his riders through race radio, in an attempt to get opponents to believe his riders were suffering more than they actually were. This Tour is also noted for The Look, which became one of the more misinterpreted moments in cycling history.
Doping
After Armstrong abandoned his fight against the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), he was stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles. 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. The 2001 Tour therefore has no official winner.
Classification leadership and minor prizes
There were several classifications in the 2001 Tour de France. The most important was the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times in 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.
Additionally, there was a points classification, which awarded a green jersey. In this classification, cyclists got points for finishing among the best in a stage finish, or in intermediate sprints. The cyclist with the most points lead the classification and was identified with a green jersey.
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 to reach the top of these climbs, 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.
The fourth individual classification was the young rider classification, which was marked by the white jersey. This was decided in the same way as the general classification, but only riders under 26 years of age were eligible.
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.
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. Laurent Jalabert won this classification, and was given overall the super-combativity award.
There were also two special awards each with a prize of F 20,000, the Souvenir Henri Desgrange, given in honour of Tour founder and first race director Henri Desgrange to the first rider to pass the summit of the Col de la Madeleine on stage 10, and the Souvenir Jacques Goddet, given for the first time in honour of the second director Jacques Goddet to the first rider to pass the summit of the Col du Tourmalet on stage 14. Laurent Roux won the Henri Desgrange and Sven Montgomery won the Jacques Goddet.
+Classification leadership by stage Stage Winner General classification Points classification Mountains classification Young rider classification Team classification Combativity Award Classification P Christophe MoreauChristophe MoreauChristophe Moreau no awardFlorent Brardno award 1 Erik ZabelErik ZabelJacky Durand Jacky DurandJacky Durand 2 Marc WautersMarc WautersJaan KirsipuuRobbie Hunter Jens Voigt 3 Erik ZabelStuart O'GradyErik ZabelBenoît SalmonFlorent Brard Nicolas Jalabert 4 Laurent JalabertPatrice Halgand Laurent Jalabert 5 Jörg Jaksche no award 6 Jaan Kirsipuu Rik Verbrugghe 7 Laurent JalabertJens Voigt Laurent Jalabert Laurent Jalabert 8 Erik DekkerStuart O'GradyStuart O'Grady Aitor González 9 Sergei Ivanov Bradley McGee 10 Lance ArmstrongFrançois SimonLaurent RouxÓscar Sevilla Laurent Roux Laurent Roux 11 Lance Armstrong no award 12 Félix Cárdenas Paolo Bettini 13 Lance ArmstrongLance ArmstrongLaurent Jalabert Laurent Jalabert Laurent Jalabert 14 Roberto Laiseka Wladimir Belli 15 Rik Verbrugghe Marco Pinotti 16 Jens Voigt Jens Voigt 17 Serge Baguet Jakob Piil 18 Lance Armstrong no award 19 Erik Zabel Guillaume Auger 20 Ján SvoradaErik Zabel Alexander Vinokourov FinalLance ArmstrongErik ZabelÓscar Sevilla
In stage 1, Igor González de Galdeano wore the green jersey. In stages 8 and 9, Erik Zabel wore the green jersey.
Final standings
Legend Denotes the leader of the points classification Denotes the leader of the mountains classification Denotes the leader of the young rider classification Denotes the winner of the super-combativity award
General classification
+ Final general classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Time DSQ 86h 17' 28" 2 + 6' 44" 3 + 9' 05" 4 + 9' 53" 5 + 13' 28" 6 + 17' 22" 7 + 18' 30" 8 + 20' 55" 9 + 21' 45" 10 + 22' 38" Final general classification (11–144) Rank Rider Team Time 11 + 24' 22" 12 + 28' 09" 13 + 28' 33" 14 + 29' 00" 15 + 30' 44" 16 + 33' 55" 17 + 41' 15" 18 + 48' 04" 19 + 50' 06" 20 + 50' 20" 21 + 53' 35" 22 + 55' 29" 23 + 56' 01" 24 + 57' 29" 25 + 59' 17" 26 + 59' 53" 27 + 1h 00' 06" 28 + 1h 02' 15" 29 + 1h 06' 02" 30 + 1h 07' 10" 31 + 1h 08' 40" 32 + 1h 11' 07" 33 + 1h 13' 05" 34 + 1h 15' 57" 35 + 1h 17' 07" 36 + 1h 20' 13" 37 + 1h 20' 33" 38 + 1h 21' 48" 39 + 1h 22' 01" 40 + 1h 22' 02" 41 + 1h 22' 37" 42 + 1h 24' 28" 43 + 1h 24' 31" 44 + 1h 26' 21" 45 + 1h 29' 40" 46 + 1h 30' 02" 47 + 1h 31' 50" 48 + 1h 32' 09" 49 + 1h 33' 14" 50 + 1h 33' 26" 51 + 1h 34' 10" 52 + 1h 34' 29" 53 + 1h 35' 35" 54 + 1h 36' 20" 55 + 1h 38' 38" 56 + 1h 39' 33" 57 + 1h 41' 49" 58 + 1h 44' 40" 59 + 1h 46' 23" 60 + 1h 50' 07" 61 + 1h 55' 25" 62 + 1h 57' 09" 63 + 1h 58' 31" 64 + 1h 59' 12" 65 + 1h 59' 40" 66 + 2h 00' 43" 67 + 2h 01' 26" 68 + 2h 02' 03" 69 + 2h 05' 23" 70 + 2h 05' 38" 71 + 2h 05' 46" 72 + 2h 05' 53" 73 + 2h 06' 17" 74 + 2h 07' 01" 75 + 2h 07' 42" 76 + 2h 08' 11" 77 + 2h 08' 19" 78 + 2h 09' 21" 79 + 2h 10' 05" 80 + 2h 11' 22" 81 + 2h 11' 50" 82 + 2h 17' 04" 83 + 2h 17' 54" 84 + 2h 22' 28" 85 + 2h 22' 50" 86 + 2h 23' 09" 87 + 2h 24' 09" 88 + 2h 26' 04" 89 + 2h 27' 37" 90 + 2h 27' 51" 91 + 2h 29' 16" 92 + 2h 29' 57" 93 + 2h 31' 02" 94 + 2h 31' 35" 95 + 2h 34' 19" 96 + 2h 34' 28" 97 + 2h 35' 08" 98 + 2h 35' 39" 99 + 2h 35' 51" 100 + 2h 37' 05" 101 + 2h 37' 24" 102 + 2h 40' 28" 103 + 2h 42' 41" 104 + 2h 43' 02" 105 + 2h 43' 08" 106 + 2h 44' 09" 107 + 2h 46' 48" 108 + 2h 47' 19" 109 + 2h 48' 10" 110 + 2h 48' 14" 111 + 2h 49' 00" 112 + 2h 49' 17" 113 + 2h 50' 07" 114 + 2h 50' 26" 115 + 2h 50' 31" 116 + 2h 56' 00" 117 + 2h 58' 06" 118 + 2h 59' 57" 119 + 3h 01' 02" 120 + 3h 01' 24" 121 + 3h 01' 27" 122 + 3h 05' 05" 123 + 3h 05' 12" 124 + 3h 07' 12" 125 + 3h 07' 47" 126 + 3h 09' 02" 127 + 3h 09' 58" 128 + 3h 13' 01" 129 + 3h 17' 38" 130 + 3h 21' 26" 131 + 3h 24' 23" 132 + 3h 24' 56" 133 + 3h 26' 02" 134 + 3h 27' 22" 135 + 3h 29' 53" 136 + 3h 30' 44" 137 + 3h 33' 21" 138 + 3h 38' 00" 139 + 3h 38' 21" 140 + 3h 39' 05" 141 + 3h 40' 36" 142 + 3h 41' 14" 143 + 3h 41' 46" 144 + 3h 52' 17"
Points classification +Final points classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Points 1 252 2 244 3 169 4 148 5 141 DSQ 134 7 127 8 124 9 114 10 108
Mountains classification +Final mountains classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Points 1 258 2 211 3 200 DSQ 195 5 164 6 147 7 145 8 134 9 123 10 120
Young rider classification +Final young rider classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Time 1 86h 35' 58 2 + 10' 03" 3 + 47' 32" 4 + 1h 13' 20" 5 + 1h 15' 59" 6 + 1h 40' 42" 7 + 1h 41' 10" 8 + 1h 47' 47" 9 + 1h 59' 24" 10 + 2h 09' 07"
Team classification +Final team classification (1–10) Rank Team Time 1 259h 14' 44" 2 + 4' 59" 3 + 41' 06" 4 + 41' 49" 5 + 51' 53" 6 + 54' 51" 7 + 1h 20' 41" 8 + 1h 22' 24" 9 + 1h 45' 33" 10 + 1h 49' 18"
Combativity classification +Final combativity classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Points 1 94 2 55 3 45 4 44 5 36 6 36 7 32 8 30 9 28 10 23
Notes
References
Bibliography
Further reading
External links
2001 Tour de France at Cyclingnews.com