TOUR DE FRANCE: QUICK FACTSJULY 8,
TOUR DE FRANCE: QUICK FACTSJULY 8,
The Tour de France is the most talked about event in the world, regardless of whether you’re a mountain biker or a roadie. The rules of the Tour can vary so here are some facts to help you understand French racing.
RIDERS There’s 21 teams each with nine riders. There are 189 riders in total.
TEAM BREAKDOWN Italy six teams. France has five teams. Spain has four teams. Belgium has two. The United States, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands each have one team.
TEAM BUDDGET: What does it cost to race in the Tour de France. The budget for the 21 teams is 90.3 million. This is the most expensive yellow shirt!
RIDING DISTANCE 2033.4 Miles
THE COURSE There’s ten flat stages and one semi-mountainous, six high-mountain, and three individual time trials.
DAYS 23 Days (July 6, to July 28,). There are 20 one-day stages and an opening Prologue. Rest days for travel are July 16 (day 11), and July 22 (17).
BORDER CLOSINGS: Tour de France does not start in France. Luxembourg hosts the Prologue and Stage 1. Stage 2: The peloton races into Saarbrucken in Germany. The teams then transport their riders to France for the remaining stages.
SHUTTLES The racers travel 16 times by car, plane, and train between the various start and end locations of each stage.
TEAMTIME TRIAL: Stage 4 is where the TTT takes place. It covers 41.9 miles from Chateau-Thierry to Epernay. This race tests teams’ ability to work together, bringing five of their nine riders along with them across the finish line. The fifth rider from each team is allowed to cross the finish line.
WHAT DO THE RIDERS DO ON RESTING DAYS? The riders travel 193 miles south of Lorient to Bordeaux during the first day. After a rest day, they travel 44 miles to Bazas for Stage 10. The Stage 36 cms ride to Mont Ventoux from Lodeve is the second day of rest. It’s a 137.3-mile stage with 1,615.4 m climbing and an average 7.6 percent grade.
THE LONGEST STAGE The racers must endure a 140.7-mile grind from Vaison-la-Romaine, France to Les Deux-Alpes.
THE MOUNTAINS The Tour de France revolves around the Alps. The Pyrenees are reached at Stage 11. Stage 16 is the most difficult and includes Col du Galibier, at 2,644.7 m. This 179.5-mile stage will see riders climb a total 4,679.0m.
TOUR DE TOUR: Riders travel 185 miles north via train from Melun after Stage 48 cms individual trial – Regnie-Macon. The final stage of the Tour will be Stage 51 cms, a 87-mile race to Paris Champs Elysees.
GENERAL Classification (GC): A stage race’s overall standings. It is calculated by adding up the times of all riders in the prologue and on each stage. This also includes any time bonuses or penalties that the rider has accrued during the race. The yellow jersey is awarded to the rider who has the highest score.
TIME BONUSES – Time bonuses can be awarded to riders who win stages, sprints, or are the first to reach the top of the mountain.
PENALTIES: Riders may be subject to a time penalty if they are late, cut the course, or eat at the wrong time.
TEAM HALLOWE: The Team Challenge Award is given to the team that has the fastest total time from its top three riders. This is also known as the General Team Classification (or Team GC). What is the prize? The team automatically gets seated on the next year’s tour. To qualify for the award, the team must still have at least three participants in the race.
MOST Aggressive Rider: This award is given to the rider who shows the greatest effort and displays great sportsmanship. This award sounds almost like the best sportsmanship award. A red number is given to the rider to recognize them.
YELLOW JEERSEY: This award is called MAILLOT JUNE in French and goes to the race leader. It’s the rider who has the fastest total time on all stages up to that point. This is the rider leading the GC. Because LAuto, the original sponsor of Tour, printed yellow paper, it is yellow.
GREEN JEANSEY: This jersey is awarded to the winner of the sprint points competition. Sprint points can be earned at pre-designated places midway through stages and at the finish of each stage. It is green because Belle Jardinier, a department store that specializes in gardening products, was the first sponsor of this jersey.
POLKADOT JERSEY The white jersey with red Polka-dots with is awarded to the rider who has earned the most points for riding over the mountain passes and summits during the race. The King of the Mountains (KoM) is the rider who wins the most points. The jersey’s color theme was based on the packaging of Poulain Chocolate (the sponsor of the award) when it was first introduced in 1975.
WHITE JEANSEY: The white jersey is given to the under-25-year-old rider who has the highest current GC score. It is white because it is young and fresh.
TEAM SELECTION: The UCI rankings of teams and their performance on other grand tours will determine which teams are eligible for the Team Selection. The Tour organizers select the remaining teams by hand.
THE BEST TOUR RIDER: Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx have won the Tour five times. Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain, and Bernard Hinault also won the Tour. Greg Lemond has won three times the Tour. Lance Armstrong will be aiming for his fourth Tour title, as you can see.
