Tour de France questions?

What is the average the athletes ride during the tour?
What is the fastest speed during the time trial?
Do all athletes on the tour have to participate in the time trial?
How fast do the athletes ride up the mountains during the tour?
Is there a hierarchy of athletes within the team? If so, how and why is it set up the way it is?
Do all teams apply the same type of hierarchy?
If you want to win the tour, on which days do you want to win the challenge/race of the day/Jersey in order to earn points that help you win? I know Lance did not try to win all the jerseys, just the ones that will get him to win the tour.
How many cyclelists are on a team?
What are their specific jobs within the teams?
How far in advance do they start training as a team in order to be ready for the tour?
How much money does an athlete make who rides on a team?
How much does it cost to operate/own a team?
How many different bikes does each athlete need during the tour? Or do they just reconfigure the bike to fit the upcoming challenge (I.e Mountains, time trail, flats of the day)
Where can I find out more of the tour racing details and not just general information?
Does anyone know what website will live broadcast the tour?
Thank you to all who will help me with their answers about the tour. I know I am asking a lot of questions. Since I cannot find concise answers, I figured I will ask them this way.

--Average speed during 5 hour stage - 25-28 mph
--Time Trial speed - 30-35 mph depending on the hills
--Mountain speed - varies with grade of climb but 5-15 mph
--Yes, all tour participants must ride the time trial
--Each team has a designated leader, a couple of riders that escort the leader to keep him away from crashes, some riders that are assigned to drop back to the team car & get drinks & food for the leader & "Lieutenants". A single rider can't win the tour on his own, he must rely on his team.
--To win the tour, stay out of trouble the first week (mostly flat stages), do well in the time trials, stay near the front on the mountain stages in the second & third weeks
--9 riders from each team participate in the Tour de france. They are chosen by the team director from a roster of 25 or 30 teakm members.
-- Teams usually start traing in December for the following year's tour.
--A team leader will make the most in base salary. Usually all the race winnings are put into a pool and divided amongst the team. I think first prize for the Tour was about $500,000
-- A team will have an annual budget of $10-30+ million
--Usually a rider will 3 different bikes for the tour plus a spare for each and lots of spare wheels and parts
--The versus channel wil have extensive coverage on TV. www.letour.com will have live updates, but not streaming video

Wow, that's a lot of questions! That's the basics, Hope this helps.

Wiki to the rescue:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_Fra...

If you can't find what you're looking for with the above link (which is pretty comprehensive, visit this site for more stats:
http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdfstats... )

I hope that helps!

the avg speed is roughly 25mph
fastest TT speed - roughly 34mph
Yes all in TT
up mtns at 4.5-18mph
pecking order according to long term overall prospects
same criteria according to objectives
you hit em harde in the hills on 1 or 2 days and you limit your losses on the other days and the TT's
9
get food/water, block wind for leader
everyone on the whole team is always ready - or 10yrs
$30,000-1m
1m would do ok at lower high level
road bike, TT bike, climbing bike at most
start googlin'
on TV - versus.com
ok

You need to watch more tv.

If you aren't looking for live video coverage, I would suggest www.velonews.com .They have daily live text coverage of the classic races.I loved their coverage of the Giro de Italia and I am currently following the Dauphne Libre'.They also have archives of old races, helpful videos and relevant articiles.

I can answer one of your questions. The best stages to win are the uphill mountain stages. A perfect example is Lance Armstrong. He was a better climber than anything else and he won the tour in the mountains, but to be a good climber you have to train hard, and learn to keep your heart rate pretty high.

If you watch the Tour on VS. channel (Ch. 608 in Chicago DirecTV), all your questions will be answered.