The 1999 Tour de France was the 86th Tour de France, taking place from July 3 to July 25, 1999. Having been stripped of the win due to the use of banned substances, Lance Armstrong's 1999 win, his first of 7 consecutive wins and the most in Tour history, no longer applies and there was no official winner of the 1999 Tour De France. There were no French stage winners for the first time since the 1926 Tour de France. Additionally, Mario Cipollini won 4 stages in a row, setting the post-World War II record for consecutive stage wins (breaking the record of three, set by Gino Bartali in 1948.)
The 1999 edition of Tour de France had two bizarre moments. The first was on stage 2 when a 25 rider pile-up occurred at Passage du Gois. Passage du Gois is a two mile causeway which depending on the tide can be under water. The second bizarre incident was on stage 10, one kilometre from the summit of Alpe d'Huez. Leading Italian rider Giuseppe Guerini was confronted by a spectator holding a camera in the middle of the road. Guerini hit the spectator but recovered and went on to win the stage.
This tour also saw the mistreatment of Christophe Bassons by the riders of the peloton (notably Lance Armstrong) for speaking out against doping. The 1998 tour had been marred by the Festina doping scandal. Bassons later told Bicycling, "The 1999 Tour was supposed to be the "Tour of Renewal," but I was certain that doping had not disappeared." He quit the tour without finishing after "cracking" mentally due to his treatment by the peloton, especially in stage 10.
Read more about 1999 Tour De France: Participants, Stages, Christophe Bassons, Results
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