The Tour de France is one of cycling's three major races known as what?

The Tour de France is one of cycling’s three major stage races known collectively as the Grand Tours.

The other two are Italy’s Giro d’Italia and Spain’s Vuelta a España. Each is generally a three-week race made up of daily stages, combining flat sprints, mountain climbs, individual time trials and sometimes team time trials. The overall winner is determined by cumulative time rather than by winning the most individual stages.

The Tour is the oldest of the three, first held in 1903. The Giro d’Italia began in 1909, while the Vuelta a España was first staged in 1935. The races usually occupy different parts of the season: the Giro traditionally runs in May, the Tour in July and the Vuelta in late summer.

A common mix-up is calling the Grand Tours “cycling’s World Cups.” The World Championships are a separate one-day or championship event, while the Grand Tours are multi-stage races. “Monuments” is also a different term, referring to five prestigious one-day classics.