Tour de France
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each year. Their order on the road is established by contract, the leading vehicles belonging to the largest sponsors. The procession sets off two hours before the start and then regroups to precede the riders by an hour and a half. It spreads 20–25 km and takes 40 minutes to pass at between 20 and 60kmh. Vehicles travel in groups of five. Their position is logged by GPS and from an aircraft and organised on the road by the caravan director - Jean-Pierre Lachaud - an assistant, three motorcyclists, two radio technicians and a breakdown and medical crew. Six motorcyclists from the Garde Républicaine, the élite of the gendarmerie - ride with them. The advertisers distribute publicity material to the crowd. The number of items has been estimated at 11 million, each person in the procession giving out 3,000 to 5,000 items a day. The bank, GAN,
gave out 170,000 caps, 80,000 badges, 60,000 plastic bags and 535,000 copies of its race newspaper in 1994. Together, they weighed 32 tons. Spectators have died in collisions with the caravan (see below). In 1904 Maurice Garin was disqualified as tour winner for the usage of a train. In 1907 Emile Georget was placed last in the day's results after changing his bicycle outside a permitted area. Edmond Gentil, sponsor of the rival Alcyon team, withdrew all his riders in protest at what he considered too light a penalty. They included Louis Trousselier the winner in 1905. In 1912 and in 1913 Octave Lapize withdrew all his La Française team in protest at what he saw as the collusion of Belgian riders. In 1913 as well, Odile Defraye pulled out of the race with painful legs and took the whole Alcyon team with him. In 1920 half the field pulled out at Les Sables d'Olonne in protest at Desgrange's style of management. In 1925 the threat of a strike ended Desgrange's plan that riders should all eat exactly the same amount of food each day. In 1937 Sylvère Maes of Belgium withdrew all his national team after he
Strikes, exclusions and disqualifications