Tour de France

Updated August 28, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

The 84th Tour de France (July 5-27) ran 21 stages plus a prologue, covering 2,455 miles starting in Normandy, passing through the Swiss Alps and finishing on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris.

Jan Ullrich, nicknamed “the Terminator” by his home country's press, became the first German winner in the Tour's history. He finished with a time of 100 hours, 30 minutes and 35 seconds for an average speed of 24.38 mph, making it the fastest Tour on record. Ullrich's time was 9 minutes, 9 seconds ahead of second-place Richard Virenque of France. It was the largest margin of victory since France's Laurent Fignon beat his countryman Bernard Hinault by 10:32 in 1984.

The 23-year-old German became the eighth youngest winner ever and earmed $360,000. Ullirch captured the leader's yellow jersey in the 10th stage of the race, during the race's second day in the Pyrenees mountain range in the south of France. He never relinguished it, excelling in the Tour's two individual time trials and putting more and more time between himself and Virenque. Last year in his first ever Tour de France, Ullrich placed second to Telekom teammate Bjarne Riis and claimed the “best young rider” award for the top rider under 25.