If you have only started following the Tour de France this year and you’ve heard the commentators talking about different coloured jerseys, you might be wondering what all the different colours represent and why it’s so important to be wearing a jersey other than your team jersey.
Each team wears their own uniform but there are a number of special shirts or jerseys awarded each day. While it’s considered very prestigious to wear any of these jerseys throughout the race, it’s obviously even more so to be wearing one of these jerseys after the final sprint down the Champs-Élysées in Paris on the last day of the tour.
Here in Australia a lot of people are thrilled to know that Cadel Evans is wearing the Yellow Jersey but many aren’t quite sure what that means. All they know is that those who follow cycling think it’s the best thing since sliced bread so it must be good.
Many other people know that the Yellow Jersey or Maillot Jaune is the most coveted of all the jerseys but here’s a quick rundown of what it’s all about.
Yellow Jersey
The Yellow Jersey is worn by the leader in the general classification. That means that whoever has the lowest overall time at the end of each stage of the event will be awarded with the Yellow Jersey. It was first awarded in 1919 and its colour was chosen to match the yellow paper of l’Auto magazine, founder of the Tour de France in 1903.
Green Jersey
The Green Jersey is given to the leader in the points classification, rewarding the best sprinter. It’s sometimes called the points jersey or sprinters’ jersey. During each stage, points are allocated for several intermediary sprints and for the finish. The jersey was introduced in 1953.
Polka Dot Jersey
The Polka Dot or King of the Mountains Jersey is awarded to the rider who earns most of the points at each summit. The winner is known as the King of the Mountains. Although the award was introduced in 1933, the red and white spotted jersey was not introduced until 1975.
White Jersey
The White Jersey is given to the best rider in the general classification under 25. The jersey was abandoned in 1989 but reintroduced in 1999.
So now you know a little more than you did a short while ago. I hope this brief explanation helps in your enjoyment of this year’s tour.
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Thanks Rodney. That is a great simple explanation of the jersey’s.
Thanks Dave. I’m glad it shed a little light on the jersey situation.
Been waiting for this post! Nice work Rodney – will be sending readers of my blog to this informative post.
And I’m blaming you for my current late nights!
Thanks for your comment on my blog. Thanks also for all the information on the tour.
Ahhh, now that cycling thingie makes sense , thanks 🙂
Thanks John. It’s good to know that more and more people are watching the tour and starting to understand some of the tactics and intricacies involved.
Thanks for dropping in, Dr. John. I enjoyed browsing through your blog.
Glad I could make some sense of it for you, Jayne. Now all we need is top get Cadel Evans back into the Yellow Jersey before Paris.
Rodney, thanks for sharing about the different coloured jerseys and what they mean. As far as I am concern, I only know about the yellow jersey. I first got to know about the yellow jersey from reading Lance Armstrong’s book, It’s Not About the Bike (not too sure if I remember the title correctly). With your post, I have ‘added’ a few more jerseys and have learnt a little more about the Tour de France. 🙂
Thanks, BK. Lance’s book was certainly a great read. Once I started reading it I found it hard to put it down. I’m glad you now know a little more about the jerseys in the world’s greatest race. 🙂
thanks Rodney, this web site was a big help. i have a project on the tour de france for my french class and part of the assessment task asks me to find the jerseys and write about what they are used for,
this has helped a lot with that part of the assessment and i learnt a lot too.
thanks again.
Airbears.
P.S I don’t have a website or Blog,
P.P.S And i had to stay up late to read this,
P.P.P.S This Website is the best thing since Microwave Popcorn
Hey Rodney
Just curious on how well placed you feel Cadel is after last nights ripper of a stage? The commentators seemed to jump back and forth from sastre having enough time to Cadel staying just close enough.
As I do only watch the Tour de France I don’t really know how good a time trialist Cadel is, having to trust the commentators saying ‘he’s good’.
Do you think he has done enough? It def looks like it will be pretty tight!
Hey airbears, I’m glad I could help. I hope you get top marks on this one. 🙂
Good question, James.
Cadel is certainly still in it.
On the first time trial of this year’s race Sastre lost 1:16 on Cadel. That ride was over 29.5 km.
Saturday’s time trial is much tougher and will be 53 km. I’ve heard that Cadel rode the second time trial course four times before the tour to make sure that he knows every turn.
In normal circumstances I reckon he’d be able to pull back the 1:35 he needs over that distance but when Sastre has the yellow jersey on his back he’s likely to ride the time trial of his life.
Menchov was 7 seconds behind Evans in the first time trial so he would be a danger if he wasn’t just already over a minute behind Cadel in the overall standings. Of course anything can happen and if Menchov rides a brilliant time trial he could be a danger.
Wow rodney 🙂 That’s Amazazazing.
You did a top job. I never knew.
That really helped me with an Assignmment
Ily
Is there any chance/likelihood that Cadel would attack over the stages between now and the time trial…or is he likely to stay behind the wheel of yellow until then?
I’m loving talking tactics about the tour hehe!
James, I think it would be hard for him to attack in the next couple of days but I’d certainly like to see it happen.
If Cadel tried any kind of attack on the flatter stages the CSC team would close it down pretty quickly. I think it’d be hard for anyone to get away over the next two days.
Very interesting as a short explanation of the jerseys but would have been even better with the history of the colours and designs of the others.
Thanks for dropping in, Carolyn. Yes, I know that this is just a short explanation. I’m no expert. I simply wanted to give readers a little more understanding of the world’s greatest sporting event. 🙂
Great Information. I’m in the middle of an assignment and it was just the thing i was looking for. THNX
Thanks for dropping in, Amanda. Glad that my post was able to help you. 🙂