A Comprehensive Guide to Tour de France

Even if you've never ridden a bike, you've likely heard of the Tour de France, and with good reason. Tour de France stands as one of the world's most popular sports events. The NFL has the super bowl, soccer has the world cup, and biking has the Tour de France. Though many websites argue about the actual numbers, they all agree on one thing: the Tour de France is one of the world's most renowned sports events around the world. In fact, it is part of the three big grand tours. (Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España) So, what is the this all about, and why is it so popular? To put it simply, the event is a 23-day race consisting of 21 different stages and 2 rest days. Teams of 9 compete in 1 race every day during the event. As the race goes on, rider's times are noted, and points are awarded, creating a couple different classification brackets. Ultimately each team fights to obtain each stage win. (See the "Jersey" section below.)

When choosing a victor, the Tour de France is no different than most other races. Simply put, the rider with the lowest accumulative time is the victor of the race. However, there is also a point system as a separate, though slightly less prestigious, classification. (See below) As each stage takes place, riders gain points for both themselves and their teams. Though the ultimate winner is the rider that obtains the lowest time, the rider with the most points also earns some praise and respect. For a complete understanding of how scoring works, click here. Likewise, a few different colored jerseys were created for those leading in each classification.

The yellow jersey or the maillot jaune is the most coveted jersey of the entire event. This is because the person with the most points gets to wear it. In other words, the person wearing this jersey is the leader of the entire race. The ultimate goal of racers is to be wearing this Jersey while riding down the finish line at Champs-Élysées. When a rider takes the lead, a jersey printer van creates a new jersey for the rider with their respective sponsor logos, as shown in the video below:  

As stated above, the second most prestigious jersey is the green jersey. This jersey is given to the rider that currently holds the most points in the competition. Due to the intermediate sprint points that can be earned, this jersey is most often held by professional sprinters like the legend Peter Sagan.

The white jersey was created to symbolize the future of bikers in general. Much like the yellow jersey, the white jersey goes to the person with the most points with one other catch; the white jersey can only go to riders that are 25 years of age or younger.

Simply put, the red polka dot jersey goes to the best cyclist at climbing. "It owes its appearance to track racing specialist Henri Lemoine, who competed between the 1930s and 1950s, and that Félix Lévitan, co-director of the Tour with Jacques Goddetwhich, had particularly noticed. While Belgium’s Lucien Van Impe was its first winner and claimed the mountains classification six times, just like his illustrious predecessor, Spain’s Federico Bahamontes, the so-called “Eagle of Toledo”, Frenchman Richard Virenque holds the record for victories with seven titles." 

- https://www.letour.fr/en/the-jerseys-tour-de-france/the-polka-dot-jersey

*Note* Bonus points will be given on stages 2, 7, 8, 11, 14, and 15. These bonuses will only count toward the general classification and not the points classification. First place will gain 8 seconds, second will gain 5, and third will gain 2.

As already mentioned, the Tour de France is not a solo event. It can be pretty daunting to see the initial group of bikers at the starting line; however, once you know what to look for, the mass of bikers becomes much more interesting to watch. We won't go over every detail, like this guide, but here are the basics:

Each team is composed of 8 total members. The team is broken up into 1 leader and 7 servants known as "domestiques." The leader will be the team's chosen contender and the person they most expect to see on the podium. Throughout each stage, the 7 domestiques are assigned the task to protect the leader at all costs. This means several things, including fetching food or water, providing a slipstream, or even giving up their bike.

When a rider is completely spent and has run out of energy.

The video below is a great resource for anyone looking to better understand the Tour de France or refresh their memories on in:

If you found this article helpful, please consider clicking one of the buttons below. Doing so will help us to continue to come up with more articles like this one.