What exactly is the Tour de France? Is it a marathon?
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists of 21 day-long stages over the course of 23 days. It "is the world’s most prestigious and most difficult bicycle race".
The race was first organized in 1903 to increase sales for the newspaper "L'Auto" and is currently run by
translation of the French, "voiture balai", and it was seen first at the 1910 Tour. The broom wagon of the Tour de France did indeed once carry a broom fixed above the driver's cab—except in the years that it was sponsored by a vacuum-cleaner company. Likewise, in other road cycling races it is not rare to see real brooms affixed to the broom wagon.
The use of broom wagons has expanded to other sports events—especially in marathon events a broom wagon is a common