The 1999 Tour de France was a multiple stage bicycle race held from 3 to 25 July, and the 86th edition of the Tour de France. 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 consecutive Tour de France wins from 1999 to 2005 (which were, originally, the most wins in the event's history); the Union Cycliste Internationale confirmed the result.
There were no French stage winners for the first time since the 1926 Tour de France. Additionally, Mario Cipollini won four 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). Stage 4 set a record for the fastest mass-start stage on the Tour de France which stood until 2026, with an average speed of thanks to a strong tailwind.
Teams
After the doping controversies in the 1998 Tour de France, the Tour organisation banned some riders from the race, including Richard Virenque, Laurent Roux and Philippe Gaumont, manager Manolo Saiz and the entire team. Virenque's team Polti then appealed at the UCI against this decision, and the UCI then forced the organisers of the Tour, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), to allow Virenque and Saiz entry in the Tour. Initially, the team had been selected, but after their team leader Serhiy Honchar failed a blood test in the 1999 Tour de Suisse, the ASO removed Vini Caldirola from the starting list, and replaced them by , the first reserve team. Each team was allowed to field nine cyclists.
The teams entering the race were:
Qualified teams
Invited teams
Pre-race favourites Bookmaker William Hill listed Olano at 3-1 odds, followed by Boogerd at 4–1, Tonkov: 5-1, Armstrong: 6-1, Virenque: 8-1 and Dufaux: 10–1.
Route and stages The highest point of elevation in the race was at the summit of the Col du Galibier mountain pass on stage 9.
+ Stage characteristics and winners Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner P 3 July Le Puy du Fou Individual time trial 1 4 July Montaigu to Challans Plain stage 2 5 July Challans to Saint-Nazaire Plain stage 3 6 July Nantes to Laval Plain stage 4 7 July Laval to Blois Plain stage 5 8 July Bonneval to Amiens Plain stage 6 9 July Amiens to Maubeuge Plain stage 7 10 July Avesnes-sur-Helpe to Thionville Plain stage 8 11 July Metz Individual time trial 12 July Le Grand-Bornand Rest day 9 13 July Le Grand-Bornand to Sestrières Stage with mountain(s) 10 14 July Sestrières to Alpe d'Huez Stage with mountain(s) 11 15 July Le Bourg-d'Oisans to Saint-Étienne Hilly stage 12 16 July Saint-Galmier to Saint-Flour Hilly stage 13 17 July Saint-Flour to Albi Hilly stage 14 18 July Castres to Saint-Gaudens Plain stage 19 July Saint-Gaudens Rest day 15 20 July Saint-Gaudens to Piau-Engaly Stage with mountain(s) 16 21 July Lannemezan to Pau Stage with mountain(s) 17 22 July Mourenx to Bordeaux Plain stage 18 23 July Jonzac to Futuroscope Plain stage 19 24 July Futuroscope Individual time trial 20 25 July Arpajon to Paris (Champs-Élysées) Plain stage Total
Race overview
Following the Festina Affair of the previous year the 1999 edition was billed as the "Tour of Renewal" from the very beginning.
Stage 4 from Laval to Blois over a distance of set a new record for the fastest massed-start stage on the Tour de France, with the stage won by Mario Cipollini at an average of with the help of a tailwind. The record stood until stage 11 of the 2026 race.
Doping
This tour also saw the mistreatment of Christophe Bassons by his fellow riders of the peloton (notably 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."Bassons: ‘People Now See I Wasn’t Lying’ , James Startt, Bicycling.com, 15 October 2012 He quit the tour without finishing after "cracking" mentally due to his treatment by the peloton, especially in stage 10.Peddlers - Cycling's Dirty Truth , 54:00, Mark Chapman, including interviews with Tyler Hamilton, Bassons, and others. BBC Radio 5 live, 2012 10 15, retr 2012 10 16
Subsequent to Armstrong's statement to withdraw his fight against United States Anti-Doping Agency's (USADA) charges, on 24 August 2012, the USADA said it would ban Armstrong for life and stripped him of his record seven Tour de France titles. Later that day it was confirmed in a USADA statement that Armstrong was banned for life and would be disqualified from any and all competitive results obtained on and subsequent to 1 August 1998, including forfeiture of any medals, titles, winnings, finishes, points and prizes. On 22 October 2012, 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.
Other incidents 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. The Passage du Gois is a two-mile causeway which depending on the tide can be under water. A rider came down in the middle of the field during the passage, leading to the crash that cost pre-race favourites Alex Zülle, Christophe Rinero and Michael Boogerd more than five minutes to the lead group. 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.
Classification leadership and minor prizes
There were several classifications in the 1999 Tour de France. The most important was the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on 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 the points classification, cyclists got points for finishing among the best in a stage finish, or in intermediate sprints. The cyclist with the most points led 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 that reached the top of these climbs first, 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 not marked by a jersey. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only riders under 26 years 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. Jacky Durand won this classification, and was given overall the super-combativity award. The Souvenir Henri Desgrange was given in honour of Tour founder Henri Desgrange to the first rider to pass the summit of the Col du Galibier on stage 9. This prize was won by José Luis Arrieta.
+Classification leadership by stage Stage Winner General classification Points classification Mountains classification Young rider classification Team classification Combativity Award Classification P Lance ArmstrongLance ArmstrongLance ArmstrongMariano PiccoliRik Verbruggheno award 1 Jaan KirsipuuJaan Kirsipuu Thierry Gouvenou Thierry Gouvenou 2 Tom SteelsJaan KirsipuuChristian Vande Velde Jacky Durand 3 Tom Steels Frédéric Guesdon 4 Mario Cipollini Gianpaolo Mondini 5 Mario Cipollini Mariano Piccoli 6 Mario Cipollini François Simon 7 Mario Cipollini Lylian Lebreton 8 Lance ArmstrongLance Armstrong Magnus Bäckstedt no award 9 Lance ArmstrongStuart O'GradyRichard VirenqueBenoît Salmon José Luis Arrieta 10 Giuseppe Guerini Stéphane Heulot 11 Ludo Dierckxsens Rik Verbrugghe 12 David EtxebarriaErik Zabel Massimiliano Lelli 13 Salvatore Commesso Roland Meier 14 Dimitri Konishev Jacky Durand Jacky Durand 15 Fernando Escartín Fernando Escartín 16 David Etxebarria Pavel Tonkov 17 Tom Steels Carlos Da Cruz 18 Gianpaolo Mondini Frédéric Bessy 19 Lance Armstrong no award 20 Robbie McEwen Anthony Morin FinalLance ArmstrongErik Zabel Benoît Salmon
In stage 1, Alex Zülle wore the green jersey. In stages 3 through 6, Tom Steels wore the green jersey. In stage 7, Erik Zabel wore the green jersey. In stage 8, Mario Cipollini wore the green jersey.
Final standings
Legend Denotes the leader of the points classification Denotes the leader of the mountains classification Denotes the winner of the super-combativity award
General classification
+ Final general classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Time 1 91h 32' 16" 2 + 7' 37" 3 + 10' 26" 4 + 14' 43" 5 + 15' 11" 6 + 16' 47" 7 + 17' 02" 8 + 17' 28" 9 + 17' 37" 10 + 23' 10" Final general classification (11–141) Rank Rider Team Time 11 + 23' 32" 12 + 26' 41" 13 + 26' 53" 14 + 27' 58" 15 + 28' 44" 16 + 28' 59" 17 + 33' 39" 18 + 34' 14" 19 + 34' 53" 20 + 37' 10" 21 + 39' 21" 22 + 39' 29" 23 + 40' 28" 24 + 43' 39" 25 + 45' 03" 26 + 45' 31" 27 + 45' 34" 28 + 50' 31" 29 + 52' 53" 30 + 53' 21" 31 + 1h 00' 10" 32 + 1h 00' 45" 33 + 1h 01' 20" 34 + 1h 01' 27" 35 + 1h 02' 23" 36 + 1h 06' 10" 37 + 1h 08' 05" 38 + 1h 09' 15" 39 + 1h 10' 01" 40 + 1h 11' 51" 41 + 1h 11' 54" 42 + 1h 15' 26" 43 + 1h 19' 26" 44 + 1h 20' 42" 45 + 1h 23' 24" 46 + 1h 24' 29" 47 + 1h 26' 50" 48 + 1h 27' 43" 49 + 1h 30' 20" 50 + 1h 31' 21" 51 + 1h 32' 51" 52 + 1h 33' 14" 53 + 1h 36' 57" 54 + 1h 41' 55" 55 + 1h 42' 04" 56 + 1h 42' 22" 57 + 1h 42' 25" 58 + 1h 43' 36" 59 + 1h 45' 50" 60 + 1h 47' 47" 61 + 1h 48' 21" 62 + 1h 49' 10" 63 + 1h 55' 01" 64 + 1h 55' 33" 65 + 1h 59' 01" 66 + 1h 59' 49" 67 + 2h 01' 06" 68 + 2h 01' 46" 69 + 2h 02' 05" 70 + 2h 04' 03" 71 + 2h 04' 31" 72 + 2h 08' 08" 73 + 2h 09' 22" 74 + 2h 10' 58" 75 + 2h 12' 57" 76 + 2h 14' 15" 77 + 2h 14' 42" 78 + 2h 16' 35" 79 + 2h 16' 35" 80 + 2h 16' 44" 81 + 2h 17' 34" 82 + 2h 18' 02" 83 + 2h 18' 23" 84 + 2h 19' 03" 85 + 2h 23' 58" 86 + 2h 24' 14" 87 + 2h 25' 02" 88 + 2h 25' 08" 89 + 2h 26' 01" 90 + 2h 27' 17" 91 + 2h 28' 00" 92 + 2h 28' 33" 93 + 2h 29' 40" 94 + 2h 30' 07" 95 + 2h 30' 25" 96 + 2h 32' 11" 97 + 2h 32' 20" 98 + 2h 33' 31" 99 + 2h 33' 39" 100 + 2h 34' 01" 101 + 2h 34' 22" 102 + 2h 36' 04" 103 + 2h 36' 15" 104 + 2h 36' 28" 105 + 2h 36' 37" 106 + 2h 37' 27" 107 + 2h 38' 05" 108 + 2h 39' 21" 109 + 2h 39' 29" 110 + 2h 39' 32" 111 + 2h 39' 38" 112 + 2h 39' 50" 113 + 2h 40' 00" 114 + 2h 43' 14" 115 + 2h 45' 17" 116 + 2h 46' 20" 117 + 2h 46' 26" 118 + 2h 47' 27" 119 + 2h 47' 48" 120 + 2h 49' 14" 121 + 2h 49' 17" 122 + 2h 49' 23" 123 + 2h 51' 03" 124 + 2h 51' 09" 125 + 2h 51' 43" 126 + 2h 51' 48" 127 + 2h 52' 01" 128 + 2h 54' 06" 129 + 2h 54' 40" 130 + 2h 58' 32" 131 + 3h 00' 09" 132 + 3h 02' 20" 133 + 3h 03' 11" 134 + 3h 05' 09" 135 + 3h 05' 31" 136 + 3h 05' 41" 137 + 3h 06' 28" 138 + 3h 07' 07" 139 + 3h 11' 55" 140 + 3h 14' 19" 141 + 3h 19' 09"
Points classification +Final points classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Points 1 323 2 275 3 196 4 188 5 186 6 166 7 166 8 141 9 140 10 130
Mountains classification