(La version française de ce post)
The Tour de France starts today. I'm not really a fan of cycling, but I find myself reading articles about the race every year. It's interesting to watch drone footage of the participants biking through mountain routes. There are two top favorites: Jonas Vingegaard, a Danish cyclist from Team Jumbo-Visma who won last year, and Tadej Pogacar, the Slovenian cyclist from UAE Team Emirates who won in 2020 and 2021.
The Tour de France is primarily contested as a stage race, where the competition is divided into daily segments called stages. The Tour covers an impressive distance of 3,408.9 kilometers over three weeks, but the time gap between the first and second place is minuscule. The closest was in 1989 with only an 8-second difference!
In preparation for this year's Tour de France, I took the time to educate myself before the race.
Here are the key terms you need to know to watch (and enjoy!) the Tour de France and understand what those men in colorful spandex are doing out there.
Jerseys
Yellow: Overall leader, finishing the race in the shortest time possible.
Green: Points leader, who has accumulated the most points during the race. Points are awarded based on the positions riders finish each stage and their performance in intermediate sprints within stages.
Polka-dot: King of the mountains; worn by the rider who has achieved the best rankings and accumulated the most points in the mountain stages of the race. The more challenging the climb, the more points can be won.
Rider Roles
Climber: A lightweight rider specialized in hilly or mountainous racing.
Sprinter: A powerful rider capable of high-speed burst finishes.
Time trialist: A strong endurance rider excelling at maintaining a high speed over a long period of time to win stage sprints or time trials.
Road captain: An experienced rider responsible for executing the team's strategy and ensuring each rider is in the right place at the right time.
Rider Positioning
Peloton/Bunch: The main group of racers.
Paceline: When riders form a single or double line take advantage of the aerodynamic shelter of the rider in front of them. Riders take turns at the front, breaking the wind for their teammates.
Breakaway: When one or more riders escape from the peloton and ride ahead of the main group.
Grupetto: The group of riders at the back of the peloton. During a mountain stage, it usually consists of sprinters or heavier riders who can't match the pace of the lightweight climbers.
~ I put the "elo" in peloton,
<3 K