# Le Tour de France - Spoilers **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 6, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/le-tour-de-france-spoilers/186631 "2003-07-06T21:44:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/le-tour-de-france-spoilers/186631/162 "2003-07-28T13:11:02Z")
[This was our Pit thread at the time.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=127652&highlight=Borges) Surprisingly, MSNBC have since pulled the page linked to in the OP. It’s nowhere to be found on their website, though Borges has written for them since. Gee, you’d think if a guy warrants a retroactive deletion of an article, he should be fired altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/le-tour-de-france-spoilers/186631/163 "2003-07-29T03:39:12Z")
Armstrong’s team may be referred to orally as “U.S. Postal”, but the words “United States Postal Service” are all over the team jerseys. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/le-tour-de-france-spoilers/186631/164 "2003-07-29T03:55:05Z")
Speaking of the Postal team outfits, what was with the gray on the final stage? Or was my TV color going? ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/le-tour-de-france-spoilers/186631/165 "2003-07-29T05:39:14Z")
Actually Cardinal, on the last day they changed, as did the colour scheme. The words on their nicks on the final day stated “United States Mail”. I’ve got no idea why this happened. Indeed, I’m somewhat surprised the organisers let 'em get away with it to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/le-tour-de-france-spoilers/186631/166 "2003-07-29T06:43:43Z")
They didn’t. According to [this story](http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=reu-tourfine&prov=reuters&type=lgns) the team was fined 4,500 Swiss francs, and each team member was fined 200. Under the circumstances, they’re probably not too broken up about it. ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/le-tour-de-france-spoilers/186631/167 "2003-07-29T11:22:59Z")
Indeed, a most unusual and intriguing final story to this year’s Tour, I must say. Analoguously, I know that in Fomula One, for instance - the appearance of each team’s clothing and car livery are incredibly tightly monitored. Sponsor logos can’t be past a certain size, and the number of sponsor’s per car has limits etc. In particular, changes to colour schemes and appearance et al during mid season are strictly forbidden without written permission by the FIA. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/le-tour-de-france-spoilers/186631/168 "2003-07-29T17:10:37Z")
You guys rock! How did I know I’d get an answer to my question right away? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/le-tour-de-france-spoilers/186631/169 "2003-07-29T17:22:09Z")
And, in F1, both cars entered by a team have to be the exact same colour scheme. BAR tried coming out with [two different cars](http://www.rockdiscography.com/pics/f1barcars0199.jpg) a few years back (1999), and was denied permission. Since their main sponsor, British American Tobacco, still wanted to pimp two brands (Lucky’s and 555), the team decided for an, ah, compromise, shall we say. The result? [Arguably the fugliest F1 car ever.](http://www.jacques.villeneuve.com/1999/bar/car99_front_1.jpg) 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/le-tour-de-france-spoilers/186631.md?page=8)