I love July. No… not for the heat, but for the Tour de France – second only to March Madness. But what gives here? There is no prologue this year! I’ve surfed a bit, but cannot come up with an answer. Do you know why?
The first Tour was ridden in 1903 and has become the world’s largest cycling race – now… a 23-day, 21-stage road race covering upwards of 2200 miles through France and neighboring countries. The Tour starts today, and will end on July 27 with a historic race through the Champs-Elysees.
Cycling has gotten a reeeally bad name in past years because of athlete doping; jerseys and titles are regularly stripped because of drug testing results. I just want a clean race… cyclist to cyclist. Blood, sweat, and tears. Is that too much to ask?
This year, I’ll be pulling for Team Garmin… not because of big names, but because of local ties and the support from the Garmin company – with world headquarters in the Kansas City metro.
A quick primer in jerseys for Tour novices:
Yellow – overall time
Green – sprinting
Polka Dot – King of the Mountains !!!
White – best placed young rider (<25)
I’m already looking forward to putting my feet up at the end of the day and tuning in to Versus (formerly OLN) to hear the legendary commentary of Phil Liggett!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
what... no prologue!?!?!?
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Ok, so I'm just gonna ask my dumb question re: the color of the jerseys. Are you talking about the shirts on their backs or the number sandwich board thing?? I'm unsure as all the same team has the same color jerseys - shirts on their backs. Do they change color shirts depending on whether they are in the categories you mention?? I'm confused (a lot of the time actually, but I can fake it well)
ReplyDeleteVery good questions, Cindy. The shirts on their backs are the 'jerseys' I am referencing. And... YES... all the guys on a team have the same jersey. EXCEPT... special jerseys are awarded to individuals for their performance. When Lance was riding the tour... we saw him in yellow most of the time (even though his team was wearing the team jersey)... because Lance was the overall leader of the entire tour for time. The polka dot jersey is only awarded to one person on climbing days. Same w/ sprinting... awarded to only one person each day for sprinting performance. The white jersey stays with the rider the entire tour.
ReplyDeleteWhen you're watching the evening coverage of the tour watch for these special colored jerseys... you should be able to pick them out of the crowd. There's also a podium ceremony each day announcing stage winners or and a ceremonial jersey presentation.
A bit of Lance Armstrong trivia... one of the nicknames his friends call him is "Mellow Johnny" ... as in 'maillot jaune' in French! How Texas is that?!?!
Enjoy!
Thanks so much for that explanation. I have watched some of the cycling, but will pay closer attention now to be able to pick these special riders out of the crowd.
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