The Tour de France is perhaps the most famous and prestigious race in road cycling, one of the three so-called Grand Tours, the others being held in Spain and Italy. It is an annual event and covers a course around France of roughly 2200 miles. It is not the same route every year though, although the race does always end in the capital Paris. La Grande Boucle as it is sometimes called, starts in early July and consists of 21 days of racing, called stages. At the end of the Tour, the rider with the lowest total time, the sum of his times for all the stages, is hailed as the winner.
There are three main competition cycling shirts worn by front-runners in the Tour de France. The most famous one – which is well-known by people whether they follow road race cycling or not – is the yellow jersey (or maillot jaune). This is worn by the rider who has the lowest total time for the preceding stages. So for example, if a rider has the yellow jersey during a stage, but does not win that stage, he will keep this cycling shirt for the next stage as long as nobody else beats his aggregate time. Some of the most famous, and celebrated, cyclists who achieved the yellow jersey at the end of all 21 stages – meaning they won the Tour de France – are American champion Lance Armstrong (who won in seven consecutive years), Miguel Indurain (Spain), Bernard Hinault (France) and Eddy Merckx (Belgium).
Another competition cycling shirt is the green jersey (maillot vert). This is worn by the rider with the highest tally of points in sprints. The points are awarded at the end of the stages – and sometimes in sprint sections during a stage – and the available points vary according to whether the terrain is flat or mountainous.
The third cycling shirt that is coveted by many Tour de France “climbers” is the white with red polka dot jersey (maillot a pois rouges) which is awarded to the “King of the Mountains”, the rider with the best aggregate points score over the mountain stages.
Although the yellow jersey is very well-known, the green and polka dot jerseys are not so famous. A final warning though: if you are watching a cycle race on TV and looking out for these colored cycle jerseys, do make sure you are watching the Tour de France! Other competitions use different color systems.
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