MOUNTAIN BIKER'S USER GUIDE TO THE TOUR
Mountain Bike Action | 6.Jul.2004 | Eddie Arnet
While five riders have won the Tour de France a total of five times each, only Indurain and Armstrong have won it five consecutive years in a row. Now Lance is going after what every other Tour winner has said is impossible. That is for one rider to win the Tour an unprecedented six times, not to mention six times in a row.
TOUR FACT SHEET
2107 miles
23 days total: 1 prologue, 20 stages and 2 rest days
11 flat stages
6 mountain stages
3 individual time trials
1 team time trial
21 nine-rider teams
$3,687,619.22 total prize money
$491,648.51 to the winner (winning team)
AMERICAN RIDERS
Leading the red, white and blue effort is U.S. Postal Service presented by Berry Floor team leader Lance Armstrong. Of the other eight riders on the team, two include Americans Floyd Landis and George Hincapie. Their main job is to see to it that Lance stays positioned in the same group as the other riders who are in contention for the overall win.
Other Americans racing the Tour include: Phonak Hearing Systems team leader Tyler Hamilton. Team CSC's Bobby Julich. Rabobank team leader Levi Leipheimer. Liberty Seguros' Christian Vandevelde.
TOUR TERMINOLOGY
General Classification (GC): The overall standings in a stage race. It's determined by totalling the times of each rider in the prologue, all the stages and includes the time bonuses and penalties the rider accumulates during the race. The rider with the best score gets to wear the yellow jersey.
Time Bonuses: Time bonuses are awarded to riders for winning stages, sprints and being the first to the top of specified mountain spots.
Penalties: Riders can receive a time penalty for being late to the start, cutting the course, eating at the wrong time, taking too long of a "free ride" by hanging on to the team car and other infractions.
Team Challenge: The team with the best total time of its top three riders earns the Team Challenge Award. It is also called the General Team Classification or Team GC. The prize? The team is automatically seated into the following year's tour. The team must have at least three riders still in the race to qualify for the award.
Most Aggressive Rider: The rider who displays the most effort and shows great sportsmanship earns this credit. Something must have gotten lost in the translation, because this sounds like a best sportsmanship award to us. The rider is recognized by a red race number.
Yellow Jersey: It's called "maillot jaune" in French, and is awarded to the race leader; the rider with the best total time of all the stages to that point. That's the rider who is leading the GC. It's yellow because the original sponsor of the Tour, a newspaper called L'Auto, was printed on yellow paper.
Green Jersey: The "maillot vert" jersey signifies the best sprinter, and is given to the leader of the sprint points competition. Sprint points are earned at pre-designated spots midway through certain stages, and also at the stage finish. It's green because the first sponsor of the points jersey was the department store Belle Jardinier that specialized in gardening products. The sprint competitions are just a way for the Tour organizer to force a higher, more exciting race pace.
Polka-dot Jersey: A white jersey with red polka-dots is given to the rider with the most points earned for being the top rider over the summits and mountain passes throughout the race. That rider is deemed as the King of the Mountains (KoM). The color motif for the jersey was similar to the packaging of Poulain Chocolate, the sponsor of the award when it was introduced 1975. It's called the "maillot pois".
White Jersey: The under-25-year old rider with the best, current GC score gets to wear the white jersey. It's white because so is fresh and young. Call it the "maillot blanc".
Team Selection: Most teams qualify based on their UCI rankings and performance in other grand tours during the previous year. The Tour organizers hand select the other teams to fill in the remaining open spots.
Climb Ratings: Tour de France organizers rank the climbs for difficulty. The most difficult climbs are listed as Hors Categorie, which literally translates into a climb that is so difficult it is "out of, or beyond category". In a decreasing order the less challenging ascents are rated as Category 1, Category 2, Category 3 or Category 4 climbs.
...A Lot More...
Mountain Bike Action | 6.Jul.2004 | Eddie Arnet
While five riders have won the Tour de France a total of five times each, only Indurain and Armstrong have won it five consecutive years in a row. Now Lance is going after what every other Tour winner has said is impossible. That is for one rider to win the Tour an unprecedented six times, not to mention six times in a row.
TOUR FACT SHEET
2107 miles
23 days total: 1 prologue, 20 stages and 2 rest days
11 flat stages
6 mountain stages
3 individual time trials
1 team time trial
21 nine-rider teams
$3,687,619.22 total prize money
$491,648.51 to the winner (winning team)
AMERICAN RIDERS
Leading the red, white and blue effort is U.S. Postal Service presented by Berry Floor team leader Lance Armstrong. Of the other eight riders on the team, two include Americans Floyd Landis and George Hincapie. Their main job is to see to it that Lance stays positioned in the same group as the other riders who are in contention for the overall win.
Other Americans racing the Tour include: Phonak Hearing Systems team leader Tyler Hamilton. Team CSC's Bobby Julich. Rabobank team leader Levi Leipheimer. Liberty Seguros' Christian Vandevelde.
TOUR TERMINOLOGY
General Classification (GC): The overall standings in a stage race. It's determined by totalling the times of each rider in the prologue, all the stages and includes the time bonuses and penalties the rider accumulates during the race. The rider with the best score gets to wear the yellow jersey.
Time Bonuses: Time bonuses are awarded to riders for winning stages, sprints and being the first to the top of specified mountain spots.
Penalties: Riders can receive a time penalty for being late to the start, cutting the course, eating at the wrong time, taking too long of a "free ride" by hanging on to the team car and other infractions.
Team Challenge: The team with the best total time of its top three riders earns the Team Challenge Award. It is also called the General Team Classification or Team GC. The prize? The team is automatically seated into the following year's tour. The team must have at least three riders still in the race to qualify for the award.
Most Aggressive Rider: The rider who displays the most effort and shows great sportsmanship earns this credit. Something must have gotten lost in the translation, because this sounds like a best sportsmanship award to us. The rider is recognized by a red race number.
Yellow Jersey: It's called "maillot jaune" in French, and is awarded to the race leader; the rider with the best total time of all the stages to that point. That's the rider who is leading the GC. It's yellow because the original sponsor of the Tour, a newspaper called L'Auto, was printed on yellow paper.
Green Jersey: The "maillot vert" jersey signifies the best sprinter, and is given to the leader of the sprint points competition. Sprint points are earned at pre-designated spots midway through certain stages, and also at the stage finish. It's green because the first sponsor of the points jersey was the department store Belle Jardinier that specialized in gardening products. The sprint competitions are just a way for the Tour organizer to force a higher, more exciting race pace.
Polka-dot Jersey: A white jersey with red polka-dots is given to the rider with the most points earned for being the top rider over the summits and mountain passes throughout the race. That rider is deemed as the King of the Mountains (KoM). The color motif for the jersey was similar to the packaging of Poulain Chocolate, the sponsor of the award when it was introduced 1975. It's called the "maillot pois".
White Jersey: The under-25-year old rider with the best, current GC score gets to wear the white jersey. It's white because so is fresh and young. Call it the "maillot blanc".
Team Selection: Most teams qualify based on their UCI rankings and performance in other grand tours during the previous year. The Tour organizers hand select the other teams to fill in the remaining open spots.
Climb Ratings: Tour de France organizers rank the climbs for difficulty. The most difficult climbs are listed as Hors Categorie, which literally translates into a climb that is so difficult it is "out of, or beyond category". In a decreasing order the less challenging ascents are rated as Category 1, Category 2, Category 3 or Category 4 climbs.
...A Lot More...