Why the Tour de France is called the 'Torture de France'

Hanover, in July 2006. The name alone fills one with fear: 'Tour of suffering'. No other sporting challenge is more of a drain on an athlete's physical abilities, demanding as it does total dedication and that proverbial sufferance, than this three-week ordeal. Scorching heat, damp and cold that creep mercilessly into the body, audacious steering manoeuvres at insane speeds on the final straight or seemingly endless uphill climbs that claw their way through into the bare scree of the Alps and Pyrenees. The Tour de France, which draws millions every year to the roadsides and transfixes them to the television screens, is a crucible that tests both the sporting ability and also the character of every professional cyclist that undertakes this adventure, with its uncertain outcome.

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However, the 'Great Loop' is not just physical but also psychological torment. By no means every professional in a racing team has the privilege of being one of the select nine members chosen for the Tour team. Achieving this involves delivering impressive performances in the classic spring races such as 'Milan - San Remo' or 'Paris - Roubaix', as well as being able to integrate fully into a team, fitting in and setting aside personal interests. Being a member of a Tour team means slogging away day after day to the point of physical self-sacrifice for your team captain and his objectives, doing the donkey work in the saddle, risking life and limb in breakneck descents, not even mentioning it and just accepting it all as an honour and a quirk of sporting providence. Nobody can survive alone in this psychological wilderness, being consumed relentlessly by nagging self-doubts. 'Le Tour' embodies the treacherous and perverse modern methods of torture, whose wounds can barely be healed by the applause and cheering from the roadside.

Against this dreadful backdrop, the riders often also have to suffer uncertainty about their own future, which hangs over them like a dark, impenetrable shroud. Even in the individual teams themselves envy and jealousy sometimes prevail among the members, because at the end of the day it is all about ensuring one's own job. Places in top teams are rare. Becoming part of the Tour's elite inner circle, with its promise of enormous media interest and lucrative follow-on contracts, is even harder. Many of the riders who submit to the strict dictates of team order during the three weeks in July only have access to the 'major fleshpots' in the autumn circuit races, where 'big money' can be made. All the prizes won during the round trip through France go into the team's funds and are divided up later. Outstanding performers whose market value rises are in a stronger position when it comes to haggling over contracts. Very few are able to successfully juggle their own requirements and unconditional subordination.

On top of the strenuous demands of a tough racing day, there are journalists wanting interviews, fans who besiege the usually not very comfortable hotel and make their presence heard, sleepless nights in the stop-over towns which enjoy their status to the full by partying through the night and running other events - no wonder that for some, this is the last straw. However, often it is also down to simple logistical shortcomings - after a mountain finish, the coach to the hotel gets stuck in traffic, or one has to wait for too long for a massage, or riders' stomachs just start playing up. Anyone who is constantly under pressure to deliver high performance is as susceptible as a Formula One engine. The slightest 'ailment' can lead to violent stomach cramps, vomiting, insomnia or the shivers. Some riders are already physical and mental wrecks when they get up in the morning and clamber into the saddle, and by evening they have no idea how they managed to cover 200 kilometres during the day. Physical and mental harshness and cruelty - that is, in short, what makes up the Tour de France.

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