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The race included a 67-kilometre-long (42 mi) team time trial, two individual time trials and five consecutive mountain-top finishing stages, the second of which was the Chamrousse special-category climb time trial. Thus, all the high-mountain stages were grouped consecutively, following the climbing time trial, with one rest day in between. France was ridden 'clockwise', so the Alps were visited before the Pyrenees. The Tour started in France but also visited Belgium in its first week. The ceremonial final stage finished at the Champs-Élysées in Paris, as is tradition. Erik Zabel won his record sixth consecutive points classification victory. This was a record for points classification victories and is still a record for most consecutive victories, however Peter Sagan now holds the record for most total green jersey wins with seven.
The organisers felt that the 2000 Tour de France had not included enough French teams and consequently changed the selection procedure. U.S. Postal Service was selected because it included the winner of the previous edition, Lance Armstrong. Team Telekom was selected because it included the winner of the 2000 UCI Road World Cup, Erik Zabel). Mapei–Quick-Step was selected because it won the team classification in the 2000 Giro d'Italia. Kelme–Costa Blanca was selected because it won the team classifications in both the 2000 Tour de France and 2000 Vuelta a España. A further twelve teams qualified based on the UCI ranking in the highest UCI division at the end of 2000, after compensating for transfers. Although initially it was announced that four wildcards would be given, the tour organisation decided to add five teams: In total, 21 teams participated, each with 9 cyclists, giving a total of 189 cyclists.
It was during this Tour de France that Johan Bruyneel, the Directeur Sportif of the US Postal team, intentionally mislead other teams about the condition of his riders through race radio, in an attempt to get opponents to believe his riders were suffering more than they actually were. This Tour is also noted for The Look, which became one of the more misinterpreted moments in cycling history.
After Armstrong abandoned his fight against the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), he was stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles. The Union Cycliste Internationale endorsed the USADA sanctions and decided not to award victories to any other rider or upgrade other placings in any of the affected events. The 2001 Tour therefore has no official winner.
There were several classifications in the 2001 Tour de France. The most important was the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times in each stage. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the race leader, identified by the yellow jersey; the winner of this classification is considered the winner of the Tour.
Additionally, there was a points classification, which awarded a green jersey. In this classification, cyclists got points for finishing among the best in a stage finish, or in intermediate sprints. The cyclist with the most points lead the classification and was identified with a green jersey.
There was also a mountains classification. The organisation had categorised some climbs as either hors catégorie, first, second, third, or fourth-category; points for this classification were won by the first cyclists to reach the top of these climbs, with more points available for the higher-categorised climbs. The cyclist with the most points lead the classification and wore a white jersey with red polka dots.
The fourth individual classification was the young rider classification, which was marked by the white jersey. This was decided in the same way as the general classification, but only riders under 26 years of age were eligible.
For the team classification, the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added; the leading team was the team with the lowest total time.
In addition, there was a combativity award given after each mass-start stage to the cyclist considered most combative, who wore a red number bib the next stage. The decision was made by a jury composed of journalists who gave points. The cyclist with the most points from votes in all stages led the combativity classification. Laurent Jalabert won this classification, and was given overall the super-combativity award.
^ On 24 August 2012, the United States Anti-Doping Agency announced that they had disqualified Armstrong from all his results since 1998, including his victory in the 2001 Tour de France. The Union Cycliste Internationale, responsible for the international cycling, confirmed this verdict on 22 October 2012.
"88ème Tour de France 2001" [88th Tour de France 2001]. Mémoire du cyclisme (in French). Archived from the original on 5 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
van den Akker, Pieter. "Informatie over de Tour de France van 2001" [Information about the Tour de France from 2001]. TourDeFranceStatistieken.nl (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 2 March 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
Route of the 2001 Tour de France
Christophe Moreau (FRA)
Erik Zabel (GER)
Marc Wauters (BEL)
Jaan Kirsipuu (EST)
Erik Dekker (NED)
Serguei Ivanov (RUS)
Lance Armstrong (USA)
Félix Cárdenas (COL)
Roberto Laiseka (ESP)
Ján Svorada (CZE)
Andrei Kivilev (KAZ)
Stuart O'Grady (AUS)
Alessandro Petacchi (ITA)
