Rider Yellow

Tour de France: Newbie Viewer Guide

The Tour de France is a bicycle race that winds its way around France for a full three weeks. If you are new to the sport of professional cycling it might be a bit confusing. Who’s in the lead? How are times kept? Why are there teams if cycling is an individual sport?

The winner of the tour is the rider with the best time over the three weeks of racing. Every day there is a new stage, kind of like a race within the race. At the end of each day you have the winner of that day’s stage, and the overall leader of the tour, the guy with the lowest cumulative time up to that point. The overall leader, or general classification (GC) leader wears the yellow jersey.

The yellow jersey is the most coveted prize among all cyclists. They say the man in yellow, even if he is of modest talent relative to his peers, will summon extra strength while wearing yellow. A rider might win the tour and yet never have worn the yellow jersey during the race if he wins it on the last day. Some riders are in yellow for a week or so, then have to give up the jersey mid-race when another rider moves up in the standings with the lowest time. In most tours the yellow jersey is worn by several different riders.

The tour starts with around 200 riders. Each rider is on a team of about eight members. Each team has one or two designated leaders. It’s the job of the other riders, or domestiques, to help the leader get to the finish line in the least amount of time possible. This involves giving the leader a draft–where the domestique rides in front in the wind and the team captain rides behind him to save energy. The domestiques also will give the leader their own wheel, or even their bicycle, if the leader has a flat. If the leader falters on a tough stage, the whole team will fall back and help pull him back to the pack.

So even though there is only one eventual winner, professional cycling is really a team sport. The leader with the strongest team always has an advantage.

About the Author

Brett writes about cycling, computers and PTACS!  Keep cool in summer with Carrier PTAC units and toasty warm in winter with a PTAC Heat Pump!  PTAC air conditioners are easy to install and easy to maintain.

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