The Tour de France is the most famous, longest and most gruelling of the three "grand tours" which make up part of the professional road cycling calender.
It is ridden over what is usually a 23-day period, covering around 3500 kilometres, with just two rest days where the riders do not have to race.
The Tour de France is a stage race, meaning that the race is broken down into day-long sections which are known as stages. The times of each individual riders are totalled after each stage, and whoever finishes the three week period with the lowest accumulative time, wins the race.
Guide to the Tour de France's Jerseys
The rider who is leading the race, or in other words, has the lowest time at that point, wears the yellow jersey, or "maillot jaune".
There are a number of other jerseys available for riders to wear:
- White Jersey- This jersey is worn by whichever young rider (under the age of 25), is highest up the general classification of riders.
- Green Jersey- The green jersey is worn by whoever is winning the sprint points competition. At the end of each stage, points are awarded to a number of the first cyclists to cross the line (the number of people who win sprint points on each stage is determined by the race organisers). Whoever has the most sprint points is allowed to wear the green jersey and win a cash prize.
- Polkadot Jersey- The polkadot jersey is worn by the rider who is winning the "King of the Mountains" competition. It is very similiar to the sprinting competition, but instead of points being awarded at the end of each stage, the points in this competition are awarded to the riders who are the quickest to reach the summit of each mountain (the number of points given is determinded by the classification of the mountain).
Since 1975, the race has always ended with a stage which finishes on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. It is not normally agressively contended until the very end with the top sprinters trying to earn themselves one of the most coveted road sprinting victories.
Prize money has been awarded since the first tour, and now the prize money purse is worth about $5,000,000. In 2006, the winner of the race, Oscar Pereiro was awarded $720,000. Winners of each of the "jersey" competitions are also awarded prize money. Nowadays, the prize money is normally put into a central fund by each team, and then divided at the end of the tour.
Between 20 and 22 teams compete in the Tour de france each year by invitation only.
Types of Stage in the Tour de France
In the Tour, there are three main different types of stage:
- Individual Team Trial-This is stage ridden individually, with riders being set off at preset time intervals. It is a race against the clock, and is relatively short in distance compared to the typical stage. During the tour, there are around 2-3 time trials (one may be a Team Time Trial), with the first stage, or prologue usually being raced as an individual time trial to determine which rider will wear the yellow jersey on the second stage. Time trial stages are raced on special bikes which a specifically built for saving as much time as possible and are as aerodynamic as possible.
- Team Time Trial (TTT)-Similar to the individual time trial, however it is ridden by all the members of each team at one. The time is taken at the fifth rider to cross the line, which encourages teams to employ tactics such as those used in the team pursuit in track cycling to keep together and maximise speed.
- Mass Start Stage-This is the most common of the stage types. All of the riders are set off at once, and whoever gets to the finish first is the stage winner. Sometimes these stages are mountainous where the peloton often splits up and favours the climbers, and some are flat where attacks are rare and the peloton normally stays together and at the end, each team's sprinters go for individual victories. These stages are normally competed over a distance of 150-250kms.
The Tour de France is held every year in France, and normally visits at least one country bordering France. It is held between July and August.
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