Cycling shirts are well-known in the famous competition the Tour de France for classifying the top riders. The jerseys to look out for in the French race are the coveted yellow jersey – or maillot jaune. This cycling shirt is worn by the rider who is the leader of the competition. But the winner didn’t always wear the yellow jersey. Originally, the race winner wore a normal cycling shirt along with a green armband. In 1913, Belgian rider Philippe Thys became the first official wearer, although he took some persuading, as he felt he might get a harder race from his opponents if they saw him wearing the yellow top.
Tour de France yellow jersey
The fiftieth anniversary of the Tour de France saw the introduction of a new cycling shirt color – the green jersey, or maillot vert. This shirt gets worn by the racer with the highest number of individual points, the points being awarded for sprints at the end of each stage of the Tour. There are four different types of stage, each with its own scoring system. In order of highest points on offer, they are: flat stages; medium mountain stages; high mountain stages; and time trials. Not only are the points lower for the winning rider in each of these types of stage, but the number of riders awarded points also reduces. So in flat sprints, the first 25 racers are awarded points, the winner receiving 35; but with time trials, only the first 10 get points, with the winner awarded only 15. The wearer of the green jersey is the rider with the most cumulative points. If more than one rider has the same points total, then the number of stage wins is taken into account.
The third important cycling shirt color in Tour de France racing is white with red polka-dots, and is worn by the cyclist called the King of the Mountains. Points are given to the first to reach the peaks of certain hills and mountains along the route. The climbs are divided into categories according to steepness and duration, with the easiest numbered 4 and the hardest numbered 1 – and even climbs dubbed ‘beyond classification’. As with the green jersey system, the polka-dot jersey sees more points-winners and higher points awarded for the more difficult climbs; and on the last climb of each stage, double points are earned if the hill is classed as ‘beyond classification (hors categorie)’ as well as categories 1 and 2.
So in future, when you see these colored cycling shirts whizzing past (except perhaps for the polka-dot one!), as you watch the Tour de France, you might ponder how much sustained effort these cyclists have had to put in, on their quest to win the final yellow jersey!
