Tour de France

Tour de France is an annual cycling tour event that holds the heart of the French. It starts usually in July and last for 3 weeks. Cyclists from all over the world come to France to bike around the whole France. It is the moment to witness the magnificent sceneries in France while the cyclists bike through mountains, villages and towns. It ended today in Paris.

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Here is the map showing the routes for Tour de France.

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My first encounter with Tour de France was when I visited France in 2002 and the family brought me to the Alpes mountains. Before the tour starts, there will be some parade from different companies who give up sample of their products. With the Malaysian "kiasu" spirit, I managed to collect many cheeses in cube form. I didn't eat cheese at that time so I gave all of them to my brother in law. He still remembered how strong I was when fighting with the crowd to get free gifts. :-)


While chatting about Tour de France, my carpool buddy asked whether there is "vélo" = bicycle in Malaysia. My first impression was that he was making fun of me. Of course Malaysia has bicycle, what was he thinking? He then explained to me that when people ask about vélo, they could be referring to the cycling tour, which was his case. Sincerely I know nothing about bicycle tour in Malaysia. Later one my FIL told me that there is Tour de Langkawi, he saw it on a brochure when he was visiting Langkawi. One thing is sure that Tour de Langkawi is not as big scale and as popular like Tour de France.