Objectives and Insights of a Tour
What are the objectives of every riders?
The Tour de France is not only about the yellow jersey. Other jerseys and prizes are also in play. While it is already an accomplishment to be lining up at a Tour de France for some, the aim and objectives of one another differs.
As previously said, the Tour de France is a grand Tour comprising of 21 stages. The stages vary in profile, length and simply type.
The type of stages
This year’s tour will have two time-trials. The first one will be on the opening day and the second time-trial, a very decisive one, will be on the penultimate stage.
For those new to the sport; A time- trial, known as the race against the watch is as its name suggests, riders, one after the other starts from a certain at regular time interval to cover a defined parcours. The time trial stage rewards the one who did the distance in the shortest time.
Image: American Tejay Van Garderen in full Time Trial effort last year.
The remaining stages consist of an amalgame of flat, hilly and mountainous stages.
Flat stages are mainly suited for sprinters. As its name also suggests, sprinters are the fastest men in the peloton. Teams drive their main man to the final sprint for a stage win victory.
Hilly, transitional stages are more complicated affair. Depending on the way it is taken on, anyone in the peloton could have claimed at taking this type of stages. However, riders who does not acknowledge as sprinters or climbers try to maximise their chances for these stages by going into a breakaway. They are affectionately called ‘baroudeurs’. More on them and breakaways in our next post.
The mountain stages are traditionally raced in the Alps and the Pyrénées, these stages define the overall winner as huge time gaps are recorded across the finish line.
Le maillot jaune: The yellow jersey
The one that leads the race before the start of each stage shoulders the yellow jersey. The leader is defined as the one having the fastest cumulative time up to the point. As such the maillot jaune may change bearer everyday.
Image: Slovenian Tadej Pogacar is the big favourite this year again having taken the yellow jersey home for the past two years.
The green jersey
It is worn by the one with the highest sprint classification points.
Image: Irish Sam Bennett won the green jersey in the 2020 edition.
The polka dot jersey
Maillot à pois: this legendary jersey rewards the one with tallying the most king of the mountain (KOM) points.
Image: Legendary. it is part of the Folklore of the tour.
The white jersey
The best young rider jersey takes into account riders below the age 25.
Team Classification
It is defined according to the cumulative time of the first 3 riders of each team passing the line on each stage.
Combativité award
This a special award to the rider voted the most combative in a stage. He gets a special red bib to wear in the next stage.
Trying to decipher what are sprint and KOM points? Don’t worry, everything will be clearer in the next post.
Available:
- The Tour De France and its place in Cycling
Upcoming reads:
- The Breakdown and Progress of a Cycling Race.
- Tour de France 2022 Parcours: Week 1
- Tour de France 2022 Parcours: Week 2
- Tour de France 2022 Parcours: Week 3
- The Riders to Follow in the Tour de France 2022
- The Big Bike Game and Velogames
All photos are courtesy of Ruby_Roubaix, you can check his Instagram.
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All your questions will be answered in the forthcoming posts!