Frenchman Bernard Hinault leads Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk (green jersey) during the 16th stage of the Tour de France in 1979. Hinault went on to win his second consecutive Tour de France as Zoetemelk finished second again.(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Christian Prudhomme and former Tour winners Bernard Hinault and Bernard Thevenet French at the memorial site at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette near Arras(Image credit: ASO/B. Bade)
Christian Prudhomme and former Tour winners Bernard Hinault and Bernard Thevenet paid their respects to the fallen at the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette.(Image credit: ASO/B. Bade)
Chris Froome (Sky) testing out the le Coq Sportif jersey(Image credit: ASO/G. Demouveaux)
The Tour de France continues to remember the victims of World War I during today's stage 6 from Arras to Reims.
Race director Christian Prudhomme and former Tour winners Bernard Hinault and Bernard Thevenet visited the French memorial site at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette near Arras to remember Francois Faber, the winner of the 1909 Tour de France, who was killed in May 1915 during the war.
Numerous riders who competed in the early editions of the Tour de France, including winners Lucien Petit-Breton and Octave Lapize, lost their lives during the Great War. Fifteen of the 145 riders who raced the 1914 Tour de France were killed.
The route of the Tour de France follows what was the front line during the war. While the red poppy is a sign of remembrance of the war in Britain and Belgium, in France the "Bleuet" flower is used to remember the fallen. The four jerseys wearers on the podium will wear a special bleuets jersey after the stage in Reims and be awarded a bouquet of bleuets.
Form fitting
Rain, rain go away
After the Dantesque conditions of stage 5, bad weather continued to dampen the spirits of the riders as they started stage 6 under grey skies and on wet roads.
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