The 2014 Tour de France was the 101st edition of the race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 3,358.1-kilometre (2,086.6 mi) race included 21 stages, starting in Leeds, United Kingdom, on 5 July and finishing on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 27 July.
The race was contested by 22 teams. All of the eighteen UCI ProTeams were automatically invited, and obliged, to attend the race. On 14 January 2014, the organiser of the Tour, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), announced the four second-tier UCI Professional Continental teams given wildcard invitations: Cofidis, NetApp–Endura, Bretagne–Séché Environnement and IAM Cycling. The team presentation – where the members of each team's roster are introduced in front of the media and local dignitaries – took place at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, United Kingdom, on 3 July, two days before the opening stage held in the city. The riders arrived at the arena by a ceremonial ride from the University of Leeds. The event included performances from Embrace and Opera North in front of an audience of 10,000.
Each squad was allowed a maximum of nine riders, therefore the start list contained a total of 198 riders. Of these, 47 were riding the Tour de France for the first time. The total number of riders that finished the race was 174. The riders came from 34 countries; France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Australia and Belgium all had 10 or more riders in the race. Giant–Shimano's Ji Cheng was the first Chinese rider to participate in the Tour. Riders from eight countries won stages during the race; German riders won the largest number of stages, with seven. The average age of riders in the race was 29.88 years, ranging from the 20-year-old Danny van Poppel to the 42-year-old Jens Voigt, both Trek Factory Racing riders. Voigt, riding in his final year as a professional, equalled Stuart O'Grady's record for most appearances in the Tour with 17. Garmin–Sharp had the highest average age, while Trek Factory Racing had the lowest.
^ Gladstone, Hugh (10 July 2014). "André Greipel sprints to Tour de France stage victory in Reims". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 13 February 2016. Katusha's Joaquim Rodriguez was amongst the biggest names to get caught out, while Egor Silin (Katusha) and Sky's Xabier Zandio were both forced to abandon after a couple of crashes around the 80km to go mark.
^"High mountains re-shuffle top of general classification". Team Katusha. Katusha Management SA. 18 July 2014. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014. Unfortunately due to the illness and fever the Russian Champion Aleksandr Porsev finished the distance of the 13th stage out of time limit and was forced to quit the race.
^ "Greipel wins stage six in Reims". Yahoo!Eurosport. TF1 Group. 10 July 2014. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2016. Frenchmen Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) and Jean-Christophe Péraud (Ag2R-La Mondiale) hit the deck with a cluster of riders, with Spaniard Jesus Hernandez – a team-mate of Alberto Contador at Tinkoff-Saxo – becoming another casualty of the race on a day which also saw Argentina's Max Richeze (Lampre) fail to take to the start.
^ Abraham, Richard (11 July 2014). "Matteo Trentin pips Peter Sagan to Tour de France stage seven". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 14 February 2016. The stage wasn't without its casualties; Dutchmen Stef Clement (Belkin) and hitherto youngest rider in the Tour, Danny van Poppel (Trek Factory) both abandoned following early crashes. BMC's key mountain goat Darwin Atapuma also withdrew after coming down behind Van Garderen: a key loss for the Tour hopeful as the race heads to the hills.
^MacLeary, John (18 July 2014). "Tour de France 2014, stage 13: as it happened". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 February 2016. They're dropping like flies. Janier Acevedo (Garmin-Sharp) has now abandoned. I'm not too sure why the pair just quit but I'm guessing it was heat exhaustion.
^"Reto Hollenstein suffers pneumothorax on stage 16". Cyclingnews.com. 23 July 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2016. Hollenstein was examined in the Tour de France's mobile clinic after finishing in Bagneres-de-Luchon, which detected a pneumothorax of the right lung, in addition to multiple abrasions on his shoulder forcing him out of the race.