Introduction to the Tour De France Part 2: Whats up with those jerseys and how do I win one?

There are four jerseys available to be won in the Tour, the yellow, green, polka dot and white jersey.

There are also three other ‘classifications’: Most combative, best team and the lanterne rouge (red lantern)

Yellow Jersey/ Maillot Jaune: Overall winner, winner of the General Classification (GC)

Most simply this is the rider that gets around France the fastest.

Known as the general classification, all of the riders are listed in order of their total time taken based on their timed result from each of the 21 stages. The person with the lowest time overall at the end of each day gets to wear the yellow jersey.

The rider with the lowest time overall at the end of the Tour is the winner of the Tour De France General Classification.

The jersey is yellow because that was the colour of L’Auto – the newspaper that first sponsored the Tour De France. The jersey first appeared in the event in 1919 so that spectators could pick out the race leader.

Green Jersey/ Maillot Verte: Known as the sprint jersey

This is one for the riders who are good at finishing stages. At each of the stage finishes points are awarded in descending order based on whether you finish first, second, third etc. (how far the down the finishing order the points are available change on each stage)

Different stages have different points available for the competition. There are also intermediate sprint points during some of the stages where points are also awarded based on the first riders through.

This is known as the sprinters jersey as the highest points are generally awarded on the flatter stages which often see all of the cyclists finishing together, the sprinters are the fastest finishes and will race at top speed towards the finish line to win the stages consistently finishing among the first riders to cross the line.

The rider with the most points at the end of the Tour De France is the winner of the Green Jersey.

Polka Dot Jersey/Maillot a Pois/King of the Mountains

Similar to the Green jersey the winner of this competition is based on the order riders get over the top of each of the mountains on the Tour De France route.

The more challenging the climb the more points are awarded at the top. While there are many cyclists who specialise in mountain climbs, this competition will often feature riders who are trying to win the yellow jersey as a lot of the time gains and losses during the Tour De France happen in the mountains which requires good climbers.

White Jersey/ Maillot Blanc/ Best Young Rider

This competition is identical to the Yellow jersey competition but is only open to riders aged under 25.

Most Combative/Most Aggressive rider

This combative rider is awarded at the end of each stage. It is given to the rider who was seen to be the most attacking rider of each individual day as decided by a panel.

The winner gets to rider the next day with a red race number instead of white.

At the end of the tour the overall prize is awarded to the rider who provided the most attacking action during the Tour.

Team Classification

This takes the top three riders from the general classification on each team and ranks the teams according to which has the quickest combined time for the competition.

The classification generally indicates the strongest overall team and is calculated at the end of each days stage.

The team leading the Team classification each day wears a yellow race number.

Lanterne Rouge

This is the opposite of the Yellow Jersey competition and is the name that refers to the rider with the SLOWEST overall time on the general classification.

Often riders who are near the bottom of the general classification will deliberately try to win this ‘honour’ towards the end of the Tour De France, especially French riders as the Lanterne Rouge has traditionally carried some prestige and financial opportunities for the rider in Europe.

Coming Soon… Part 3: How do the teams work? Why don’t they all just try to win for themselves?