2002 Tour de France country Luxembourg
The 2002 Tour de France was a multiple-stage bicycle race held from 6 to 28 July, and the 89th edition of the Tour de France. The event started in Luxembourg and ended in Paris. The Tour circled France counter-clockwise, visiting the Pyrenees before the Alps. It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong originally won the event, the United States Anti-Doping Agency announced in August 2012 that they had disqualified Armstrong from all his results since 1998, including his seven Tour de France wins from 1999 to 2005; the Union Cycliste Internationale confirmed the result.
The favourite was Armstrong, who was, at the time, the winner in the 1999, 2000 and 2001 races. The main opposition would probably come from the ONCE team with Joseba Beloki (3rd last year), Igor González de Galdeano (5th last year) and Marcos Serrano (9th last year), and from the Kelme riders Óscar Sevilla (7th last year, 2nd in last year's Vuelta a España) and Santiago Botero (8th last year). Other riders to keep in account for a high place in the final rankings were Tyler Hamilton (2nd Giro 2002), Levi Leipheimer (3rd Vuelta 2001), Christophe Moreau (4th Tour 2000) and Armstrong's teammate Roberto Heras (4th Vuelta 2001). Important riders who were not present were Jan Ullrich (2nd last year, injury) and Gilberto Simoni (winner 2001 Giro).
Nation State Land Territory