Tour de France in the context of Giro d'Italia

The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (UK: /ˌʃɒ̃z eɪˈliːzeɪ, ɛ-/, US: /ʃɒ̃z ˌeɪliˈzeɪ/; French: [av(ə)ny de ʃɑ̃z‿elize] ) is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. The avenue is 1.9 kilometres (1.2 mi) long and 70 metres (230 ft) wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc de Triomphe is located. It is known for its theatres, cafés, and luxury shops; as the finish of the Tour de France cycling race; and for its annual Bastille Day military parade.

The name is French for the Elysian Fields, the place for dead heroes in Greek mythology. It has been described as the "most beautiful avenue in the whole world".

Eddy Merckx (French pronunciation: [ɛdi mɛʁks]; Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɛdi ˈmɛr(ə)ks]) is a Brussels Metro station on the western branch of line 5. It is located in the municipality of Anderlecht, in the western part of Brussels, Belgium. The station is named after the Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx, five-times winner of the Tour de France. It is decorated with objects commemorating Merckx, including, displayed in a glass cabinet on the station platform, the bicycle on which he set the hour record in 1972.

The metro station opened on 15 September 2003 as part of the Bizet–Erasme/Erasmus extension of former line 1B, including the stations Erasme/Erasmus, CERIA/COOVI and La Roue/Het Rad. Then, following the reorganisation of the Brussels Metro on 4 April 2009, it is served by the extended east–west line 5.

Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common competition formats are mass start events, where riders start simultaneously and race to a set finish point; and time trials, where individual riders or teams race a course alone against the clock. Stage races or "tours" take multiple days, and consist of several mass-start or time-trial stages ridden consecutively.

Professional racing originated in Western Europe, centred in France, Spain, Italy and the Low Countries. Since the mid-1980s, the sport has diversified, with races held at the professional, semi-professional and amateur levels, worldwide. The sport is governed by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). As well as the UCI's annual World Championships for men and women, the biggest event is the Tour de France, a three-week race that can attract over 500,000 roadside supporters a day.

This is a list of the highest paved roads in Europe. It includes roads that are at least 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) long and whose culminating point is at least 2,000 metres (6,562 feet) above sea level. This height approximately corresponds to that of the highest settlements in Europe and to the tree line in several mountain ranges such as the Alps and the Pyrenees, where most of the highest roads are located.

Some of the listed roads are closed to motorized vehicles, although they are normally all accessible to pedestrians and cyclists. These mountain roads are visited by drivers, motorcyclists, bicyclists and hikers for their scenery and often feature in the routes of European bicycle races such as the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de Suisse, the Tour of Austria, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. Due to snow conditions, most of the high roads are closed between (late) autumn and late spring/early summer.

The Tour de France is an annual men's multiple stage bicycle race primarily held in France, generally considered the most famous bicycle race in the world. It was founded by the French sports journalist and former professional road racing cyclist Henri Desgrange, who became the first director of the race. He was passionate about taking the Tour up to the highest reachable points of elevation in the Alps and Pyrenees using the most difficult routes.

The highest point of the first Tour de France in 1903 was the summit of the 1,161-metre-high (3,809 ft) Col de la République mountain pass in the Mont Pilat area of the Massif Central highland region. The following year the route remained identical, but in 1905 and 1906 the Tour moved into the Alps, in particular the Dauphiné Alps, and up to the Col Bayard at 1,264 m (4,147 ft). The 1907 Tour took the race higher, up to 1,326 m (4,350 ft) with the Col de Porte in the Chartreuse Mountains. This point was again the highest for the next two Tours.

Grand Galibier (3,228 m) is a mountain of the Cottian Alps in Savoie, France.

It is the highest mountain of the Massif des Cerces, a small chain of mountains located about 20 km northwest of Briançon, deep in the heart of the French Alps. It is most famous for giving its name to nearby Col du Galibier, a classic Tour de France climb, which lies on the mountain's shoulder, several hundred metres underneath its summit. The area around the mountain is also popular for hiking and mountain climbing.

A race stage, leg, or heat is a unit of a race that has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day event. Usually, such a race consists of "ordinary" stages, but sometimes stages are held as an individual time trial or a team time trial. Long races such as the Tour de France, Absa Cape Epic or the Giro d'Italia are known for their stages of one day each, whereas the boat sailing Velux 5 Oceans Race is broken down in usually four stages of several weeks duration each, where the competitors are racing continuously day and night. In bicycling and running events, a race with stages is known as a stage race. Other examples include ultramarathons and adventure racing.

The Parc des Princes (French pronunciation: [paʁk de pʁɛ̃s], lit. 'Park of Princes') is an all-seater football stadium in Paris, France. It is located in the southwest of the French capital, within the 16th arrondissement, directly opposite the Stade Jean-Bouin. The stadium, with a seating capacity of 47,929 spectators, has been the home of French football club Paris Saint-Germain FC (PSG) since July 1974. The pitch is surrounded by four covered all-seater stands: Tribune Auteuil, Tribune Paris, Tribune Borelli and Tribune Boulogne.

The stadium's surroundings were once a forest that served as a private recreation area and hunting ground for the king's sons (the princes) for centuries, hence the name Parc des Princes. In 1852, the area was transferred to the Council of Paris. The first Parc was built there in 1897 as a velodrome, hosting prestigious cycling competitions including the Tour de France. Expanded in 1932, the second Parc adopted a more modern design to focus on other sports such as football, rugby union and rugby league.

Luz Ardiden is a ski resort in the Pyrenees. It is situated in the Hautes-Pyrénées department, in the Occitanie Region. The ski resort lies at a height of 1,720 m (5,640 ft) and was opened on 16 January 1975. In recent years the road to Luz Ardiden has served as an occasional stage finish for the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.