Tour De France allows you and seven other players the chance to ride in one of the Worlds toughest cycling races. You must ride over various stages as fast as you can, and the fastest time wins. Players don't actually race anyone on screen, each rider takes it in turn to ride a stage solo (one player is just about your time with no computer riders). Before you ride you can decide whether to actually compete in the race or practise. In practise you can actually ride the whole course, ride various stages or one stage. In competition mode you have the same options as practise, whole course, various stages or one stage. Each competitor then enters their name and chooses a country.

The game itself is viewed from the side at a high elevated angles with a small part of the stage shown on the screen. As the rider reaches the end of the screen it scrolls to show a new part of the course. To control the bike you waggle the joystick left to right at a steady pace, to turn you have to hold down the fire button and move left or right. You also have a high or low gear which you change by moving up or down. You must follow the road as you will fall off the bike if you touch the sides losing valuable seconds. A timer appears on each screen and one second is equivalent to one minute. A joystick or keyboard is used to control your rider.