FAQs

I’ve been watching the Tour de France and don’t get it. Why are there so many of them and why do they all just follow each other round all day?

The Tour de France is one of the most beautiful sporting events on the planet. Taking place every July for over 100 editions, with an ever-changing array of beautiful and awe inspiring landscapes as the race winds it’s way around France and often the neighbouring countries too. However, it can be a bit complicated if you’re new to cycling. Don’t try and take it all in at once, for now just watch the race unfold, enjoy seeing the scenery and watching glimpses of French culture as they swing through picture postcard villages and through valleys, farmyards and of course up mountains, all finishing on the Champs Elysees in Paris.

There are 8 riders per team and typically each team will have one (sometimes two) leader who’s job it is to try and win one of the coloured jerseys on offer. The most famous jersey of course is the yellow jersey that Bradley Wiggins won so famously in 2012 and Brits Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas have also won since. Prior to 2012 a Brit had never won the yellow jersey which makes the recent spate of victories all the more incredible. The yellow jersey is awarded to the cyclist who takes the least amount of time to get to Paris (the final stage) and this means they need to be strong every single day for the best part of 3 weeks. You will very rarely see these guys at the front of the race, infact it is possible to win the Tour de France without winning any of the stages on the way round, but they will make sure they don’t lose by very much if they can’t win, and rarely to the same rider. They will need to be expert climbers, amazing time trial riders and also have lots of luck to not be brought down by other riders in that massive group that slinks it’s way around France (they call that the Peloton)

To answer the question, the riders will follow each other to get an aerodynamic advantage. On a typical day that huge pack of riders will be travelling at 25-27mph and the rider at the front will have lots of wind blowing in his face. The rider behind will have around 20% less wind as the guy in front is breaking a hole through for the rider behind. The one behind him has less wind again and so on and so on, hence why the leaders of each team will typically sit around 6^th or 7^th in their team so that their buddies in front can make their life easier. Sitting behind a rider is typically referred to as slipstreaming and is completely allowed, but once riders start to get out of their team formations it is often the subject of heated negotiations and even fist fights as riders argue over who should sit at the front and who should get to sit behind (normally the answer is to share time at the front, but this doesn’t always happen for a variety of reasons!)

There are other coloured jerseys, Peter Sagan has won the green jersey for the last 7 years and he is an explosive and strong sprinter who can sprint past most of the rest of the field at the end of each day. However, he is too big and heavy to be able to ride up mountains with the yellow jersey winners, hence why he doesn’t win the whole race. So while he might win the sprint each day, he may only win by 5 seconds over the Yellow Jersey riders, however he might come in an hour behind on a mountain stage, so overall he is way behind on time…get it now?

There is also a polka dot jersey (red and white) which is for the person who is the best climber (often the winner of the Yellow Jersey will also win this one by default, or at least come in  2^nd).

A white jersey symbolises the best rider under 23 years old (deemed to be a young rider) although 2019s Yellow Jersey winner was also under 23 so he won both jerseys…what a legend.

Finally, you will see red numbers on certain riders, and those are worn by the team who are winning overall, using a combined total of the times of their riders.

The rest of the super bright jerseys are worn entirely by choice of the teams as you would in any other team sport and are normally worn by the whole team all year round, with the exception of national champions of their respective countries who wear a hybrid of their country flag and their team colours, and the World Champion who gets to wear the coveted Rainbow Stripes, a white jersey with a Rainbow band around the middle.

It’s complicated isn’t it?!

Don’t worry, when you first watched football you had no idea what offside was, and when you watched rugby, you had no clue what happens in the scrum…infact, most people still don’t know what happens in the scrum! But you will pick it up and once you do you will be privy to one of the most exciting and hard-fought battles in all of sport. On any given day there will be races within races, within races, with riders going for the win, others fighting between themselves for the jerseys and others just trying to hang on at the back and not get eliminated for being too slow. It really is an amazing spectacle!

We run trips to go and watch Tour de France stages and to ride some of the Iconic climbs. Our 5 day adventure ‘Trois Montees’ takes in climbs in the Alps and Provence and gives a leg aching insight into what it is like to ride some of the iconic mountains that these guys have to race up each year. Unlike the pros however we can stop for tea and cake, and we have our own amazing house to stay in each night with some filling food and maybe a few beers, strictly for recovery purposes. For more details click on the events calendar and get in touch to book.