What were you doing on July 4th? In Utrecht, Holland, 198 riders were mounting their bicycles. Each one wanted the same thing: the famous yellow shirt that marks a person as the winner of a race in the Tour de France.

The Tour de France is the biggest bicycle race in the world. The first one happened in 1903. The race lasts 23 days. Bikers ride for more than 2,000 miles through France and the surrounding countries. They bike on flat, hilly, and mountainous land. They stop to rest for only two days!

The race will continue from now until July 26th. Billions of people will watch it on television. Will you be one of them?