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Tour de France for dummies: a beginner’s guide

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Around this time of the year, the Tour de France keeps popping up in my conversations with non-cycling friends. Despite how little someone knows or cares about cycling, everyone’s at least heard of Le Tour.

At first, it surprised me how little people know about the Tour de France. Basic concepts like “how do you win?” aren’t commonly understood. I guess keen cyclists who live and breathe the sport take that stuff for granted. It can be confusing to the uninitiated.

With that in mind, here’s a simple explanation of the Tour de France for non-cyclists, presented in a FAQ format. I’ll strip out as much of the jargon and complexity as I can, keeping strictly to the basics. After reading this, anyone will be able to follow what’s going on in the race, at least at a rudimentary level.

Here is a beginner’s guide to watching and understanding the Tour—a “Tour de France for dummies”.

What is the Tour de France?

The Tour de France is an annual bike race that goes for three weeks. It takes place mainly in France, but often traverses into other countries. For example, this year’s race starts in Belgium. It always finishes in Paris.

How do you win the Tour de France?

The Tour is made up of 21 separate “ stages “; one stage per day. Think of each stage as a standalone race.

In each stage, all of the riders start at Point A and ride to Point B. The first person to reach Point B wins that stage and gets a prize. The next day, everyone starts at Point C and races to Point D, and so on. Winning a stage is a big deal in itself. It can be a career-defining moment for some cyclists.

But how does one win the whole Tour de France? It’s decided by time. You add up the time each rider takes to finish each stage. Whoever finishes all 21 stages in the lowest cumulative time wins the overall Tour de France—also known as winning the “ General Classification “.

Who rides in the Tour de France?

The race is contested by professional teams. Riders represent their team, not their nation.

The Tour de France is for men only. Currently, there is no equivalent race for women.

This year, there are 22 teams of 8 riders each, meaning 176 riders will start the Tour de France. However, there can only be one winner—despite being a team sport, the Tour is won by an individual. Their teammates help them along the way by using tactics, sacrificing their own interests to help that individual to win.

There are tactics? Don’t you just ride as hard as you can?

Nope, it’s much more interesting than that!

Because of air resistance, you save a lot of energy when cycling behind another rider. If you simply rode as hard as you could from Point A to Point B, a competitor could just ride behind you (in your draft) waiting for you to get tired before overtaking you. Across three weeks of hard racing, saving energy is very important.

That’s where team tactics come in. Among the 176 starters, only a handful are strong enough to have a realistic chance of winning the General Classification. The rest will have different goals. Some will be trying to win a stage, some will try to win one of the other sub-competitions (more on that later), while the rest ride as teammates to help their team leader achieve their goals.

A common tactic, for example, is to ride in front of your team leader, taking the wind for them so they save energy. That’s why you’ll often see long rows of teammates riding in a line. Another example of teamwork is fetching water bottles for your teammate.

How does terrain affect the race?

Some stages cover flat roads. Others are a little hilly. Some are downright mountainous.

Flat stages tend to end in a bunch sprint, with a huge mass of riders rushing at the line together. This is because of the aforementioned air resistance: on a flat road, it’s easy to sit behind other riders, so it’s very hard to escape from the big bunch of riders (called the “ peloton ”). Flat courses favour “sprinters”—bigger riders who can put out a lot of power in the final few hundred metres of a stage.

Hilly and mountainous stages can end with a small group or even just a lone individual reaching the finish line first. On climbs, aerodynamics plays a smaller role, so heavier riders can get dropped from the peloton before the finish, leaving only the lighter, fitter riders in contention.

Why is there always a small group up ahead?

Although everyone starts together at Point A, a few riders will try to break away from the peloton early on. They may do this for one of many reasons, such as:

  • They are bad at sprinting, so breaking away early is their best chance of winning the stage.
  • They want to get TV exposure for their team’s sponsors.
  • By getting up the road, they force other teams to chase while their own teammates rest within the peloton.

Sometimes, riders in the peloton will react, chasing hard to bring those riders back into the bunch before they get too far away.

Since it’s such a long race, nobody has the energy to keep accelerating and chasing forever. As a result, eventually the action settles down with a “ breakaway ” group of riders ahead and everyone else in the main peloton behind. The main drama of the stage is to see whether or not the peloton can organise a chase to gradually reel in the breakaway before the finish.

Sometimes, the breakaway manages to stay away all the way to the end of the stage. The winner outsprints their breakaway companions close to the finish or is strong enough to ride away beforehand.

What are these stages where they ride one at a time?

There are a few special stages where, instead of all starting together a Point A, the riders start one by one. These are called “individual time trials”. Each rider rides that stage alone and against the clock. There is no drafting and no teamwork. The person who completes that stage in the shortest time wins the stage. Certain riders tend to do well in time trials because of their physiology.

There is a similar stage called a “team time trial”. Each team starts at Point A as a group of eight riders. There is drafting within the individual riders of the same team, but no drafting between teams. The team that covers the course in the shortest time wins that stage.

What does it take to win the Tour de France?

It’s very difficult. Winning the Tour de France is the pinnacle of our sport.

To do it, you must be strong across all kinds of stages and terrains. In particular, you must be able to climb mountains well and ride a strong time trial. Otherwise, you will lose too much time to your rivals across the three weeks.

Flat stages are less important to the General Classification because riders can comfortably ride in the protection of the main peloton and won’t lose any time (noting that, for safety reasons, riders who finish a stage in the same group are given the same time, regardless of whether you were at the front of the group or at the back).

If you are a genuine contender to win the General Classification, your team’s plan for most of the race will be to save your energy. This will leave you fresh and ready to gain time on your rivals at key points of the race, such as on mountain climbs or in the time trials, where aerodynamics are less of a factor.

Consistency is key. Three weeks is a long time, and mishaps like crashes or mechanical incidents can ruin a contender’s chance of winning the Tour de France. So you’ll need a little luck, too.

What’s the prize for winning?

The person who is leading the General Classification during the race wears the famous yellow jersey, the maillot jaune .

The overall winner earns the right to wear the yellow jersey after the final stage. They also get a trophy and prize money of 500,000 euros, though in practice the money is shared among the winner’s team.

What are the other special prizes and jerseys?

As well as the General Classification and winning stages, there are several sub-competitions within the Tour de France that some riders will be targeting as their goals.

Points Classification

Throughout the Tour, riders can earn points for placing highly on stages and at intermediate sprint points. At the end, the rider with the most points wins the points competition.

Time is irrelevant in this competition. The winner of the points classification is usually a sprinter, as they can usually place highly in all the flat stages (despite losing many minutes of time on the mountainous stages).

The leader of the points classification wears the green jersey.

King of the Mountains (KOM) CLASSIFICATION

Throughout the race, there are “classified climbs” where points are awarded to the first few riders who reach the top of the climb. The rider with the most KOM points at the end of the Tour de France wins this competition.

Often, this classification is won by a rider who is good at climbing uphill and gets in a lot of breakaways to collect KOM points before the peloton arrives.

The leader of the KOM classification wears the polka-dot jersey.

Young riders classification

This is won by the best-placed rider on the General Classification under the age of 26. The leader wears the white jersey.

Most aggressive prize (most combative)

This is a subjective prize awarded after each stage. A panel of judges decide which rider was the most aggressive and exciting during that stage. Usually, it goes to someone in the breakaway. The judges tend to favour French riders.

As well as cash prize, that rider gets to wear special red race numbers during the next stage.

At the end of the Tour de France, the judges decide who was the most aggressive rider over the whole race. That person wins the “super-combativity” prize.

Teams classification

The team classification is calculated by adding up the times of the three best-placed riders from each team per stage. The three riders can be different from stage to stage; it’s just the three riders from your team who happened to cross the line first on each given stage.

The team with the lowest cumulative time wins this classification. The leading team wears special yellow numbers during the race.

Lanterne Rouge

This isn’t an official prize, but the rider who finishes the Tour de France in last place on General Classification is called the “lanterne rouge” (red lantern). This sounds easy enough on paper, but the key requirement is that you have to actually finish every stage of the Tour. If you crash and end up in hospital, you’re out of the race entirely.

Oh, and did I mention there’s a time limit? On every stage, there is a time limit calculated based on a percentage of the stage winner’s time. If you are unable to complete the stage within that time, you are kicked out of the race.

So, merely finishing the Tour de France is a pretty big achievement in its own right.

The Tour de France is the world’s biggest bike race and the biggest annual sporting competition.

Now, when you change channels to SBS this July, you’ll know enough to follow the action. Armed with this knowledge, you can appreciate the drama and excitement of what otherwise looks like just a bunch of oddly-dressed men trundling across France.

Or, I guess, you could always watch it for the scenery.

Know a friend who’s clueless about the Tour de France? Share this article with them so they can begin to love this incredible event!

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Tour de France: Making Sense of Cycling’s Biggest Race

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La Course by Le Tour de France

There are only a handful of events in the world that showcase the endurance capabilities of the human body like the Tour de France.

Since its inception more than 100 years ago, the tour has been the premier venue for cyclists on the world stage to stamp their names into the history books as conquerers of the roughly 2,000-mile course and its nearly 200 riders.

From mad sprints through flat lands between mountains to lung-busting climbs in the French Alps and Pyrenees, the 24-day trek, which finishes along the Champs-Élysées, always packs hefty helpings of triumph, disappointment, glory, and scandal.

However, figuring out how the tour works can be a challenge for people new to the sport. There are a bunch of jerseys that mean different things, a point system that awards riders who do specific things remarkably well, and other fine details that can significantly impact the race.

Tour de France Route

How the Tour de France Works

The Tour de France is a 21-stage race that pits teams of riders against each other over 24 days each year, typically in July. This year, all but three days of the tour include a stage. The others serve as rest days to give riders a chance to recover.

Each of the 22 teams participating in the tour includes eight riders who work together to accomplish various goals throughout the race.

Though riders compete in teams, only one rider wins the race. Most riders competing in the Tour de France do not expect to win the race or even a single stage. Their roles are to support their teams’ leaders, whether providing food and hydration or blocking wind by riding in front.

The overall winner of the Tour de France, the winner of the general classification, is the rider with the lowest cumulative time across all 21 stages.

While only one person wins the general classification, there are other titles for riders who specialize in climbing and sprinting, along with honors for the best team and the most aggressive rider.

The Jerseys

The Tour de France awards four conspicuous jerseys to race leaders in each category, including yellow, green, polka dot, and white.

Tour de France Yellow Jersey.

The yellow jersey, or maillot jaune , is the most prestigious jersey of the tour. The leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey throughout the race. That means the rider with the lowest cumulative time at the end of each day starts the next day in yellow. This jersey can and does change hands multiple times as the race progresses and often favors riders who excel in the mountains and time trials.

The overall winner of the general classification takes home €500,000, or roughly $535,000.

Tour de France White Jersey.

The white jersey marks the best young rider in the general classification. Only riders under 25 years old at the beginning of the year of the race are eligible to wear the white jersey. It functions the same way as the yellow jersey.

The green jersey , commonly known as the points or sprinter’s jersey, goes to the leader in the points category.

Tour de France Green Jersey.

The Tour de France awards points toward the green jersey to the first 15 riders who cross the line of intermediate sprints and the finish of each stage. Stage wins earn the most points. Many riders in the hunt for the green jersey will not attempt to win mountain stages. They save energy for the flats so they can rack up as many points as possible without exhausting themselves.

On flat stages, the winning rider earns 50 points for a stage win. Hilly stages come with 30 points, and mountainous stages offer 20, so it pays to win flat days. Each rider behind the leader down to 15th place also earns points in descending order. For example, on a sprint stage, the second-place finisher will earn 30 points, while the rider in 15th place earns two.

Intermediate sprint and time-trial stage wins are worth 20 points a piece.

The polka dot jersey, a flamboyant favorite of many, goes to the best climber. It also is commonly referred to as the “King of the Mountains” jersey. Like the green jersey, the polka dot jersey goes to the rider who has racked up the most points during categorized climbing sections of each stage, of which there are dozens.

Points vary from climb to climb based on the difficulty of each ascent and are separate from overall points toward the green jersey. Climbs are graded from Category 4 to Category 1, along with the “Hors Category,” or super-category, which are too difficult to grade.

Tour de France Polka Dot Jersey.

The first eight riders who reach the summits of super-category climbs earn points in descending order from 20 to 2. Category 1 climb points go to the first six riders to reach the summit starting at 10 for the winner and falling to 2 for sixth place.

Four riders earn points ranging from five to one for Category 2 climbs. The first two riders to summit Category 2 climbs earn two points each, and the first rider to summit a Category 4 climb earns one point.

Riders can hold multiple jerseys at the same time. If that happens, the leading rider wears the more prestigious jersey, and the others go to the rider in second place.

Last year, Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates walked away with the yellow, white, and polka dot jerseys, while Mark Cavendish snagged the green jersey.

Riders without the honor of a jersey still have other awards to chase, including individual stage victories, the most aggressive rider prize, and the best team classification.

The most aggressive rider wears a red number plate, while the best team rides with yellow number plates.

The Tour de France Course

The vast majority of the race happens throughout France, though it sometimes begins in nearby countries for a couple of stages before crossing over into France.

This year, the tour begins in Copenhagen on July 1 and includes stages in Belgium, Switzerland and, of course, France. By the race’s end, riders will have covered approximately 2,068 miles.

Each stage brings unique challenges that each rider and team must navigate to keep themselves at or near the front of the pack. Tour organizers categorize stages as flat, hilly, or mountainous.

There are two time-trial stages in the Tour de France in 2022. The first kicks off the event on July 1, and the second comes the day before the race’s finish in Paris. These stages involve riders starting one at a time at set intervals over a short distance.

The first-time trial that opens the tour is just more than 8 miles long. The last one stretches out to a little more than 25 miles.

Profile of the final time trial stage of the Tour de France in 2022.

Each rider races alone against the clock to jockey for the position as the fastest rider. Time trial specialists can pull back significant time against their competition by putting the hammer down during these events.

Riders use customized specialty bikes and apparel to reduce aerodynamic drag as much as possible to ensure they save every millisecond. These courses typically involve rolling terrain where riders stay on the pedals from start to finish.

All other stages of the tour begin with a mass start where most riders stick together in a large group, known as the peloton. Whether across flat, hilly, or mountainous stages, riding in the peloton helps riders save energy for the opportune moment when they might be able to attack.

The longest stage of the tour in 2022 is nearly 137 miles. The shortest outside of the two time trials comes on the final day at 72 miles.

Flat stages, also called sprint stages, don’t have much elevation gain, but they make up for it in explosive endings. The flat stages of the Tour de France cater to sprinters, who usually spend the entire day tucked safely in the peloton to protect themselves from wind resistance.

They save their energy for the last part of the stage when they rely upon teammates to get them into an excellent position to erupt from behind and surge to the finish line.

Profile of a flat stage of the 2022 Tour de France.

Mountain stages test cyclists who specialize in climbing and descending. These stages include thousands of feet of elevation gain on extremely steep grades, followed by white-knuckle descents that often see riders hit 40 mph or higher.

Due to the varied nature of these stages, the field of athletes often becomes considerably stretched out, with leading riders working in small groups to push ahead as others lose steam and drop back.

Top riders can use mountain stages to pull away from the rest of the field and gain valuable time toward their overall general classification time. Additionally, the top three finishers of each stage other than time trials earn 10-, 6-, and 4-second time bonuses toward their overall general classification time.

Profile of a mountain stage of the Tour de France.

How to Watch the Tour de France

The Tour de France will air on NBC and NBC Sports networks. NBC’s Peacock service and NBC Sports will stream live coverage from Phil Liggett and Bob Roll. Cyclists Jens Voigt and Van Velde will also contribute to the commentary.

Tour de France

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la tour de france explained

Mark Wilson is a freelance journalist for GearJunkie and BikeRumor. Mark has been writing about cycling, climbing, outdoor events and gear for more than a year. Before that, he spent more than a decade as a journalist at major daily newspapers in Texas covering crime, public safety and local government. Mark spent every free moment during that time carving up singletrack and gravel, or climbing with friends and family in Texas, Colorado and Mexico. Based in Texas, Mark is always looking for new trails, crags and gear to help navigate the outdoors. As a new dad, he is particularly interested in learning how to share his love of the outdoors with his son.

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la tour de france explained

Making Sense of the Tour de France

Breaking down the scoring and terminology used in the tour de france.

TourDeFranceMobile 1

Every year in July, thousands of people flood to the French countryside to watch the oldest and most epic cycling event in the world. 22 teams made up of eight riders per team take on the expedition of biking over 3,300km in 24 days, all for the glory of the Tour de France. If you’ve ever wondered how someone wins the actual Tour or why the camera is always on some guy with a yellow shirt, you’re not alone. The Tour de France has been going on for over 100 years and to a newcomer, the scoring and jargon can be confusing. Here is a beginners guide to making sense of the Tour de France.

Terminology

Like all great sports, the Tour de France and cycling, more specifically, uses a number of terms to describe the ongoing competition. Some terms are more self-explanatory than others, but these are the basic concepts you should be familiar with when watching any form of cycling.

Group Terms

GettyImages 1242011012

Peloton : You may hear the word peloton and immediately think of the popular exercise equipment people use to compete in virtual cycling competitions. However, it's a French term that translates to Platoon , defined as a subdivision of a company of soldiers, usually forming a tactical unit that is commanded by a lieutenant and divided into several sections . That’s because cyclists in these competitions will ride in what’s called the peloton, which is the main pack of riders. Riders stay in the peloton closely together to conserve energy by drafting. 

Drafting : Because this is a race, mere milliseconds matter if you want to win. When you’re racing all day for 24 days, conserving energy is critical. Drafting is an aerodynamic technique where two vehicles or other moving objects are caused to align in a close group, reducing the overall effect of drag due to exploiting the lead object’s slipstream.

Riders can significantly reduce the required pedal effort by closely following the slipstream of the rider in front. Riding in the peloton can save as much as 40% energy in forward motion when compared to riding alone. 

Teams will designate a leader who is generally the best cyclist, and it is the team's responsibility to keep that leader out of wind and in good position before a critical chance at a break.

Breaks and Sprinters

GettyImages 1241736554

Breaks: A break or breakaway in cycling is a pretty easy one to understand. This occurs when a group of riders break away from the peloton to have more space and freedom. A small group can maintain a higher speed than the peloton, which the remaining riders may not be as motivated or organized to chase. 

Sprinters: A ‘sprinter’ is a term used to describe a cyclist who can accelerate quickly and aggressively to a high speed. The sprinter will use the slipstream of other bikers to conserve energy until an opportunity to break arises. A team reserves its best rider as the sprinter.

Climbs and Climbers

GettyImages 1141902367

Climbs: Climbs require lower riding speeds and reduce the drafting advantage, giving individual riders a great opportunity at a solo break away. Riders can capitalize on the descent because going downhill alone allows more space for maneuvering.

Climbers: A team will designate a climbing specialist, reserved to the rider who is exceptionally well on high-inclined roads. The climber will ride in front of his team and set the speed while mapping the best line to ride. It’s crucial to have a climber that can protect your team's lead rider during attacks.

To win the Tour de France you have to win the General Classification. There are four other classifications that can be won, however, with different restrictions and scoring systems for each. These are the five separate ways a rider or team can claim a jersey at the Tour de France.

General Classification (Yellow Jersey)

General Classification Yellow Jersey

The yellow jersey is the most iconic and historic of those given out at the Tour. First given out in 1919 , the winner of the General Classification, or GC, gets to wear the yellow jersey for the next stage of the race. This is awarded to the rider who has the lowest time. The lowest combined time over the course’s entire 21-stage race will win the overall Tour de France and the GC. The actual yellow jersey comes from a marketing campaign by L’auto’s newspaper because the color matched the front page of their paper.

Mountain Classification (Polka-Dot Jersey)

Mountain Classification pola dot jersey

The Mountain Classification is reserved for the ‘King of the Mountains’, who can be seen wearing a polka-dot jersey. This is awarded to the rider who collects the most points on the course in categorized climbs. Riders get more points on harder climbs and on mountaintop stage finishes. The polka-dot jersey was first introduced in 1975, but the designation has been given out since 1933.

Points Classification (Green Jersey)

Points Classification green jersey

The green jersey, also known as the “sprinters jersey”, is awarded to the rider who scores the most points throughout the course of the race. Riders can earn points by placing in the top-15 of a given stage, with an additional set of points given to the top-15 riders to cross a predetermined ‘sprint’ point during each stage. Whoever has the most points at the start of each stage wears the green jersey for the day and the cumulative leader at the end of the 21st stage wins the overall points classification.

Young Rider Classification (White Jersey)

Young rider classification white jersey

The white jersey works the same way as yellow jersey, but only riders under 26 years of age qualify for this classification. Initially, the classification was reserved for riders in their first three years of professional racing, but was changed in 1983 so that only first-time riders could win the distinction. Finally, in 1987, the rules were changed to how they are today.

Best Team Classification (Yellow Helmets)

Team classification Yellow helmets

The last classification is the best team classification, but this doesn’t really impact racers strategy. Teams select the three riders with the lowest scores and add the times together. The team with the lowest combined score wins best team classifications and wears yellow helmets. 

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In the cycling world, it doesn’t get any bigger than the Tour de France. The Olympics and the world championships both pale in comparison to the scale of the annual three-week long summer race.

Join  PRO  to watch the  2021 Tour de France  live and on demand in Canada on FloBikes. Exclusive highlights and content will be available to our worldwide audience!

Not only is the Tour de France the most important race in cycling, it is one of the most viewed annual sporting events worldwide. It is however, not the easiest race to understand. 

In any given moment of the Tour de France, there are multiple competitions being fought out, amongst 23 teams, all with different motivations and strategies. The complexity of the race makes it endlessly entertaining for fans, but also poses barriers to casual viewers.

Read on if you think the Tour de France could use some untangling. 

What Is A Grand Tour?

The Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España makeup cycling’s three grand tours, but the Tour de France, or simply, the Tour is the most prestigious.

Each grand tour consists of 21 stages and two rest days. Throughout the three weeks of racing, multiple competitions are fought out.

General Classification

The biggest prize in the Tour de France is the yellow jersey. It signifies which rider has completed every stage of the race in the shortest amount of time. The final general classification and yellow jersey is awarded to the rider with the lowest cumulative time spent racing.

In 2020, Tadej Pogacar won the GC having covered the race’s 3,484 kilometers in 87 hours, 20 minutes and 5 seconds. Primoz Roglic finished in second place just 59 seconds behind.

la tour de france explained

Youth Classification

The Tour de France features a second general classification prize signified by a white jersey. The best young rider classification is contested by riders under the age of 26. Egan Bernal and Tadej Pogacar, the Tour’s two most recent winners, won both the white and yellow jerseys.

la tour de france explained

King of the Mountain

The KOM classification at the Tour features one of cycling’s most recognizable jerseys. A white jersey with red polka dots is awarded to the rider who accumulates the most points on offer at the top of the Tour’s many mountain passes.

The Tour’s mountains are categorized based on difficulty. The climb’s category is determined by both length and gradient. A category 4 climb is relatively minor, while a category 1 climb is difficult. An HC or hors categorie (beyond categorization) climb is the most difficult.

The more difficult the climb, the more KOM points are offered at the top. The KOM competition incentivizes riders to race aggressively on the climbs, creating drama and intrigue throughout the Tour’s many mountainous stages. 

la tour de france explained

Points Competition

The green points jersey is also known as the sprint competition. In contrast to the KOM competition, which is fought out in the mountains, the sprint competition is contested on flatter terrain. 

Sprint points are awarded at the finish of every stage, except stages that finish on a categorized climb (those finishes award KOM points). Additional sprint points are awarded in lesser quantities at intermediate sprint points, in the middle of stages. The person to accumulate the most sprint points throughout the race wins the green jersey, a competition which has been dominated by Peter Sagan , thanks to his ability to collect points in flat and hilly stages.

la tour de france explained

If you made it this far, you've probably realized that there is a lot of winning happening at the Tour de France. However, the winning doesn't just happen on the final day of the race when the jersey competitions are decided. 

To win an individual stage of the Tour de France is a dream for many riders. While riders in contention for the four overall jersey competitions battle amongst each other for their respective prizes, other riders will race with abandon to claim one of the precious 21 stage victories on offer.

What results is an intricate, often messy, and always explosive clash of the best cyclists in the world for three weeks of unparalleled sporting competition every summer.

la tour de france explained

If you are in Canada, tune in to FloBikes, your home for all things Tour de France.

  • Primoz Roglic
  • Peter Sagan
  • Egan Bernal
  • Tadej Pogacar

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la tour de france explained

How the Tour de France works

Bike racing can be dumb and confusing. Here's an explainer for your non-cycling friends this summer.

Caley Fretz

If you read this website regularly, this article might not be for you. But if you find yourself watching the Tour de France with friends and family this July who are just getting into cycling, this may be of use.

The Tour de France is complicated. Three weeks, flat stages, mountain stages, individual time trials, 21 winners but also one winner, and then other winners of other categories too? And a team wins? But also nobody really cares which team wins. Polka dots are involved somehow? And what on earth is a horse category?

There are a million and one “What the Tour de France Jerseys Mean” stories out there as most bicycle websites have a top-secret Search Engine Optimization chophouse in the shed out back because many people are googling that phrase every summer. We don’t have such a chophouse, and this isn’t the start of one. What we do have are many friends who just watched Tour de France: Unchained and have lots of questions.

If you, too, have such friends, feel free to send them this. We’re going to start basic and then go real deep.

How does the Tour de France work?

The simplest version: Each stage, one per day, is its own race. The whole Tour de France is a championship of sorts, totalling up those daily races. The yellow jersey is the champion, and the winner of it is decided by the fastest total time, not points.

To win the Tour de France, a rider must complete the 21 days of racing in the least amount of time. Each rider’s total time for each day, or stage, is added up as the race goes on, and whoever has the lowest rolling total after a given stage wears the yellow jersey ( maillot jaune , in French), the next day. This rolling total is called the General Classification, or GC, or even sometimes the overall classification. Many words. Same thing.

If you have the lowest cumulative time at the end of the final stage, and thus are the best-placed rider on the General Classification, you win the Tour de France. You get a big stuffed lion, some champagne, and stand on a podium on the Champs-Élysées as the sun sets behind the Arc de Triomphe and do a speech thanking your teammates and family. Well done!

There are other things you can win along the way. Each stage has a winner, too. Winning a stage is a huge deal, particularly for those riders who don’t have the right body type (AKA, skinnier than the already skinny average rider) or just aren’t quite good enough (sad) to fight for the yellow jersey.

What about the other jersey colors?

la tour de france explained

The yellow jersey, as mentioned, is for the overall winner, and whoever is leading throughout the race. Most other riders are in the jerseys of their teams, or sometimes a special jersey for being a national champion of their country. There are three exceptions.

The green jersey ( maillot vert ) is the points jersey. The green jersey is won by whoever has the most points at the end of the race, and during the race it’s worn by whoever has the most cumulative points so far.

Points are awarded at finish lines, particularly flat finish lines, as well as at little fake finish lines in the middle of each stage, called intermediate sprints. Riders sprint for these finish lines, real or fake, and accumulate points. There are more points available on flat stages – which favor sprinters – than there are on mountain stages. For that reason, it is sometimes known as the sprinter’s jersey, because that tends to be the type of rider who contests for it.

For mountain stages, there are a different type of points available. These are for the King of the Mountains competition, and those points accumulate to determine who wears the polka dot jersey ( maillot à pois ) . The points for this jersey are awarded in roughly the same way as for the green jersey, except riders gain points by reaching the tops of mountains ahead of their competitors. The bigger the climb, the more points on offer, with the highest amounts for summits that also serve as finish lines for a stage.

You’ll see riders targeting this competition engage in seesaw battles over multiple stages in the mountains. One day, one rider will attack and take a big haul of points to go into the lead, and the next day someone else will do the same. Since it’s hard to attack multiple days in a row, riders have to pick the days they think offer the best chance for them to score points.

Finally, we have the white jersey ( maillot blanc ). This is for the best young rider. It is awarded in exactly the same way as the yellow jersey, but only riders under the age of 25 qualify. Lately, that has meant the yellow jersey and white jersey are often won by the same rider because the winners of the Tour have been so unbelievably young. A rider can’t wear two jerseys of course, and the yellow jersey takes precedence. So whoever is in second place in the young rider competition gets to borrow the jersey until the finish. This is true of all special jerseys; there is an order of importance that is adhered to.

Is cycling a team sport?

Yes and no. Mostly yes.

Only one rider wins the Tour de France. That rider’s team plays a crucial role, though. It is technically possible for a solo rider to win the Tour (if all seven teammates got sick, or something), but it is extremely unlikely. So it is a sport with collective team sacrifice but without collective team victory.

(There is a Teams Classification, where the times of the top three riders from each team are tallied up each day and then added up at the end of the race. The only teams that care about this are the ones that can’t win the yellow jersey. The general cycling public mostly ignore it.)

There are 22 teams in the Tour de France, each comprised of eight riders. Each team has corporate sponsors, and the most important of those sponsors make up the team name. Hence all the weird team names (e.g. what is a Soudal?)

Of those eight riders, each holds a different role. Precisely how these roles are divided out changes with each team based on that team’s goals in the race. To put it in soccer (football) terms, some teams rock up with three defenders, some might go with five.

Fundamentally, cycling is a team sport because of drafting.

So what is drafting?

la tour de france explained

Drafting is riding behind another rider, which saves a significant amount of energy. A rider who is drafting simply doesn’t have to pedal as hard as the rider in front because of wind resistance.

This is the premise upon which cycling tactics are built. Boiled down, cycling tactics are primarily focused on figuring out how to draft more than everybody else and then choosing the right moment to stop drafting and go it alone.

Drafting is so effective because wind resistance is the number one force a rider has to overcome. The faster a rider is going, the more wind resistance they face, which further increases the importance of drafting.

This is why mountains are so important to the Tour de France. When climbing mountains, riders are mostly overcoming gravity, not wind resistance. This makes drafting less effective. That means it’s easier to attack and separate yourself from the other riders – they can’t just follow in your slipstream, taking an easy ride.

On a flat road at high speeds, the second rider in a group may be using more than 30% less energy than the first rider. On a climb, that difference could be 5% or less. So if you’re the first rider and want to ride away from a second rider, probably smart to do so on a climb. Hence, the importance of mountains.

Are substitutions allowed?

Nope. If a rider has to leave the race due to injury or illness, the team continues on without a replacement.

What’s a breakaway and why do they exist?

la tour de france explained

A breakaway is a group of riders, anywhere from one to a few dozen, that splits off from the front of the main peloton. They literally break away by sprinting away to establish a gap and then staying ahead further up the road from the rest for some period of time. The purpose of this changes depending on the stage in question and the dynamics of the race, but most breakaways fall into one of three categories.

Doomed/French: Some stages of the Tour de France are almost impossible for a breakaway to win. These are flat, fast sprint stages, where the larger peloton has a big advantage (more riders = more drafting = more speed). Yet a breakaway will still split off. Why? These breaks are doomed.

They are generally full of lower-level teams, often French, that are just looking for TV time. They are a rolling billboard for the day, and will almost surely be caught before the finish. Yet they continue to try. We salute them.

Optimistic: There are other stages where a breakaway has a good chance of survival to the finish line, so any rider in the break has a chance at a stage win. These are usually hilly or mountain stages deeper into the race, where the contenders for the yellow jersey have little incentive to keep the peloton together. At this point in the race, many riders are far behind in the GC, so they are allowed to form a breakaway and fight for a stage win. They are no threat to the yellow jersey.

The key subtext here is that winning a Tour de France stage is incredibly difficult. Most riders will never do it. And for most riders, winning out of a breakaway is the only way they will win a stage. Competing with only a small handful of other riders instead of nearly 200 improves their odds.

On these days, the precise makeup of the breakaway is carefully monitored by the leading teams. They want the right mix of riders – nobody close to the yellow jersey will be allowed. Once the right mix is found (this can take more than an hour of hard racing), the break is “allowed” a bit of a time gap.

There is a rhythm to these sort of Tour de France stages. After the start, the fight for the breakaway begins. That small, manageable group is then left to dangle in front of the peloton for much of the day, before being chased back (or sometimes not) before the finish. Traditionally, the peloton and the breakaway call a bit of a truce in the middle hours of a long stage before the chase resumes near the finish, the breakaway is caught, and the peloton fights for the stage win.

Earned: On the hardest stages, often those with big mountains, a breakaway might simply be the strongest riders in the race riding away from everybody else. This is hardly even a breakaway anymore, since by definition a breakaway is breaking away from the focal point of the race. But if the top contenders are all breaking away together, they are still the focal point of the race. In this scenario, everyone else is just dropped .

A rider is leading everybody, but they are apparently not winning. What gives?

Being first is generally a bad thing in bike racing. Right up until the finish line, that is.

The rider at the front of the peloton at most points throughout the Tour de France is quite intentionally not winning. They are working for somebody else. This comes back to drafting. Whoever is on the front of any group is doing an extraordinary amount of extra work. They are pedalling way harder than everybody behind them. When things really heat up, they will already be tired and will get dropped. That means that the position on the very front is a sacrificial one. Any rider who finds themselves there long before the finish is doing a job for their leader.

What’s the deal with time trials?

la tour de france explained

Ahh, contre la montre . Against the clock. That’s what time trials are.

Most Tours de France have at least one time trial. A time trial is a stage where riders start one at a time, rather than as a large group, and are timed from start to finish. They call it the “race of truth” because there is no drafting, no teamwork, just a rider against the course.

Since the Tour de France is won by accumulating time, these stages are always important to winning the yellow jersey.

Team time trials are also a thing. These fall under the same rules but each team is set off as a group. They work together (drafting!) to get to the finish as quickly as possible.

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la tour de france explained

2023 Tour de France: A visual guide to cycling’s most challenging race

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the number of competing teams in the Tour de France. The correct number is 22.

The 110th edition of the Tour de France , the most challenging and best-known bicycle race in the world, starts July 1 in Bilbao, Spain, and ends 2,115 grueling and painful miles later on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris on July 23.

In France, the tour is more than a three-week race – it's a cultural phenomenon . Ten million to 12 million racing fans will line the roads of the course to cheer on 176 riders among 22 teams.

Around the world, millions will watch on broadcast TV or streaming services. 41.5 million viewed the 2022 race on the French public service broadcaster France Télévisions alone.

And while nearly 200 riders compete, only one will win.

The race: More than 2,100 miles in 21 days

The Tour de France is actually a collection of 21 single-day races, called stages, over 23 days. (Two rest days are built in.) The stages range from:

  • Flat (8 stages): While the route is not always flat, racers usually ride together in a large group called a peloton . Flat stages end with riders breaking away by themselves or a large group sprinting together.
  • Hilly (4 stages): Considered more arduous than a flat stage but less difficult than a mountain stage.
  • Mountain (8 stages): First introduced in 1910, mountain stages are the most challenging. This year, riders will climb the 6,939-foot Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees.
  • Time trial (1 stage): Individual riders race against the clock. The 2023 time trial is 13.7 miles. The other stages average to 105 miles, and the longest stage is 130 miles.

Tour route is different every year

The Tour de France has been held annually – except for war years – since 1903. While the format stays the same, the route changes every year, alternating between a clockwise and counterclockwise circuit of France.

It's designed by two men, Christian Prudhomme , a former TV journalist who is general director of the tour, and Thierry Gouvenou , a former pro racer who is the tour's race director. Prudhomme decides the general route and Gouvenou maps out details , linking towns and cities together.

The tour was confined to France in the early years but has expanded beyond French borders. The Grand Départ , the start of the race, was held outside France for the first time in 1954, in the Netherlands.

Other nations have hosted the Grand Départ, including the U.K. in 2007 and 2014.

Since 1975, the final stage has ended in Paris . In 2024, however, the race will finish in Nice .

Do women compete in the Tour de France?

Women have competed, but not directly with men and not over the same distances. Women have raced on smaller editions of the tour over the years, once in 1955 and again from 1984 to 1989. That series was canceled over financial problems.

Other equivalent events such as la Grande Boucle Féminin were held, but these did not last.

The women's tour was revived in 2022 with 144 women competing in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift , a smaller version of the men's event with 640 miles over eight days.

Femmes avec Zwift returns this year , with women riders racing eight days over a 594-mile course.

Which riders are favored to win this year?

The top three contenders according to Cycling News are:

How does a rider win the Tour de France?

The overall winner is the rider with lowest accrued time over the 21 stages of the race. It's possible to win the tour without winning a single stage – American rider Greg LeMond won in 1990 without a stage win. Roger Walkowiak of France won in 1956 without winning a stage.

Overall leaders wear a distinctive yellow jersey as long as they're in the lead. The jersey can be worn by a number of riders throughout the race. Its use was introduced in 1919.

There are also secondary honors, such as the award given to the rider who scores the most points, earned by finishing among the top 15 in a specific stage.

There's also the King of the Mountains award for the rider who gets the most points in categorized mountain climbs.

Domestiques are the tour's unsung heroes

Winning riders don't win by themselves. They get crucial support from teammates, called "domestiques," the French word for servants, who support the lead rider and the team overall.

Domestiques assist by:

  • Bringing food and water to teammates.
  • Helping leaders with flat tires and mechanical breakdowns, including giving top riders their own wheels or even bikes to continue the race.
  • Riding in front of top riders to provide a windbreak.
  • If a top rider falls behind, domestiques will lead him back to the pack.

The windbreak technique is called drafting, in which domestiques cut the wind ahead of the top rider. Cycling sources say the top rider conserves 15% to 40% of his energy in drafting.

Riding in front of the pack is exhausting. Domestiques often trade off places in front of the top rider.

How physically demanding is it?

The race is considered one of the most difficult athletic events in the world. Participants are:

Riders can be injured in collisions or crashes. Broken bones, concussions and dislocated shoulders are common.

What do the jersey colors signify?

Tour riders wear the distinctive uniforms of their teams, but you'll see four jerseys with special colors and significance.

Tour de France terms you should know

  • Peloton: A French term meaning "group." It refers to the main pack of riders.
  • Breakaway: One rider or a group of riders who have outdistanced the peloton.
  • Attack: When a rider or riders race away from the group.
  • Team leader: The best rider on the team.
  • Time trial: A race against the clock.
  • Rouleur: A steady rider with a consistent pace.
  • Slipstream: The relatively still air behind a rider, used by followers to overcome air resistance.
  • Drafting: Taking shelter in the slipstream of the rider ahead.
  • Sag wagon: A vehicle that picks up riders who are no longer able to continue.

What do the riders win?

The tour says, "A total of  2.3 million euros  (about $2.5 million) will be awarded to the teams and riders including €500,000 (about $531,820) to the final winner of the overall individual classification."

Who are the legends of the Tour de France?

Past multiple winners include:

  • Fausto Coppi | Italy, 1949, 1952
  • Jacques Anquetil | France, 1957, 1961-64
  • Eddy Merckx | Belgium, 1969-74
  • Bernard Hinault | France, 1978-79, 1981-82, 1985
  • Greg LeMond | U.S., 1986, 1989-90
  • Miguel Indurain | Spain, 1991-95
  • Chris Froome | Kenya, 2013, 2015-17

American Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France a record seven times from 1999 to 2005, but he was stripped of his victories by the International Cycling Union in 2012 over allegations of using illegal drugs. He admitted to years of performance-enhancing drug use to Oprah Winfrey in a televised interview. 

How to watch the Tour de France

Coverage of the 2023 Tour de France will be carried on :

  • NBC Sports: Will broadcast select parts of race.
  • Peacock : Will stream all race stages.
  • USA Network: Will show condensed live coverage.

SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Associated Press; VeloNews; letour.com; bicycling.com; cyclingnews.com

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The Tour de France explained in animation

Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! >","name":"in-content-cta","type":"link"}}'>Download the app .

An animated history and explanation of all you need to know about the Tour de France. One of the greatest sporting spectacles in the world.

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\n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-racing\/laurens-ten-dam-smashes-transcordilleras-ultra\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"laurens ten dam smashes transcordilleras ultra\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-racing\/laurens-ten-dam-smashes-transcordilleras-ultra\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"laurens ten dam smashes transcordilleras ultra\"}}\u0027>\n laurens ten dam smashes transcordilleras ultra\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"mosaic gt-1 iar titanium all-road pushes 40mm clearance with full integration","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-gear\/mosaic-gt-1-iar-titanium-all-road-pushes-40mm-clearance-with-full-integration\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": 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What do the Tour de France leaders jerseys mean? Yellow, green, polka dot and white jerseys explained

How to win the Tour de France general, sprint, mountains and youth classifications

POOL LEQUIPPE/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images

Colin Henrys

To a first-time viewer, the Tour de France can be a minefield. The winner is not simply decided by which rider crosses the finish line first in Paris.

How can a rider win multiple stages and not wear the yellow jersey? What is that polka dot jersey about? And what's with all the jargon they use?

Here’s our full guide to how the Tour de France is won: the classifications, the jerseys and the previous winners.

Tour de France classifications explained – what do the different jersey colours mean?

Jumbo-Visma team's Belgian rider Wout Van Aert wearing the sprinter's green jersey (L), Cofidis team's German rider Simon Geschke wearing the climber's dotted jersey (2nd L), Jumbo-Visma team's Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey (2nd R) and UAE Team Emirates team's Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar wearing the best young rider's white jersey (R) await the start of the 19th stage of the 109th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 188,3 km between Castelnau-Magnoac and Cahors, in southwestern France, on July 22, 2022.

The Tour de France consists of four classifications that individual riders can win. The different classifications are signified by coloured cycling jerseys :

  • The general classification (GC) – yellow jersey
  • Mountains classification – polka dot jersey
  • Points classification – green jersey
  • Young rider classification – white jersey

The leader of each classification at the end of each stage wears the jersey on the following day.

If they continue to lead, they continue to wear the jersey until someone knocks them from the top of the classification. The leader of the classification at the end of the race is the overall winner of that particular classification.

There is also a team classification, but no coloured jersey is awarded for this.

What is the Tour de France general classification (GC)?

Danish Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo-Visma celebrates on the podium in the yellow jersey of leader in the overall ranking after stage 21, the final stage of the Tour de France cycling race, from Paris la Defense Arena to Paris Champs-Elysees, France, on Sunday 24 July 2022

The general classification is the oldest and most coveted classification in the Tour de France, and is led by the rider with the shortest cumulative time.

Each rider’s time is recorded on every stage and the GC ranks the entire field. The leader of the general classification after the final stage in Paris is the overall winner of the Tour de France.

Tour de France yellow jersey explained

The GC comes with the coveted yellow jersey – or maillot jaune in French – which is worn by the leader of the classification until their overall cumulative time is bettered by another rider at the end of a stage.

The yellow jersey then passes on to the new leader of the GC, and so on.

Previous Tour de France winners

Cycling : 99th Tour de France 2012 / Stage 20 Team Sky (Gbr)/ Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Yellow Jersey / Christopher Froome (GBr)/ Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor)/ Mark Cavendish (GBr)/ Bernhard Eisel (Aut)/ Christian Knees (Ger)/ Richie PORTE (Aus)/ Michael Rogers (Aus)/ Celebration Joie Vreugde / Rambouillet - Paris Champs-Elysees (120Km)/ Ronde van Frankrijk TDF / Rit Stage /(c)Tim De Waele

Jonas Vingegaard (Team Jumbo-Visma) won his first Tour de France in 2022, beating Tadej Pogačar (Team UAE Emirates), winner of the previous two editions of the Tour de France.

Egan Bernal's success in 2019 marked Team Ineos-Grenadiers' (formerly Team Sky) seventh Tour de France title in eight years.

Geraint Thomas won in 2018 and Chris Froome claimed four editions before that, after Bradley Wiggins had set the ball rolling in 2012.

Frenchman Bernard Hinault, the overall leader of the 72nd Tour de France displays during a day-off on July 12, 1985 in Villard-de-Lans, his four yellow jerseys won in previous years (1978, 1979, 1981, 1982). Hinault won the 1985 edition as well to tie the record set by his compatriot Jacques Anquetil and Belgian rider Eddy Merckx

Since the beginning of the Tour, four riders have won the general classification five times: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.

Meanwhile, Fabian Cancellara is the rider who has worn the yellow jersey for the most days without ever winning the Tour (29).

Julian Alaphilippe held the jersey for 14 days in 2019, but fell away in the general classification in the final few stages.

Tour de France mountains classification

What is the mountains classification.

Danish Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo-Visma celebrates on the podium in the red polka-dot jersey for best climber after stage 21, the final stage of the Tour de France cycling race, from Paris la Defense Arena to Paris Champs-Elysees, France, on Sunday 24 July 2022. This year's Tour de France takes place from 01 to 24 July 2022.

The mountains classification was introduced in 1933 as a secondary competition within the Tour de France.

The first riders to reach the top of categorised climbs in the Tour are awarded a certain number of points according to their position across the summit.

The climbs are categorised by a number, from 1 (difficult) to 4 (least difficult) based on factors such as the climb’s length and gradient.

Only the most gruelling ascents earn the HC label.

Climbs that are more difficult than category 1 are called h ors catégorie – "a class of their own" in French.

Hors catégorie climbs carry the most points. Summit finishes – stages that finish atop a climb – and category 1 climbs are the next most lucrative followed by category 2 and so on.

The first rider to reach the Col de la Loze, the highest peak of the 2023 Tour de France, on stage 17 will earn double points.

The rider with the highest cumulative points total leads the mountains classification and wears the polka dot jersey. The exception is if they are also leading another classification, such as the general. In that case, the second rider in the rankings wears the jersey.

At the end of the Tour, the overall winner of the classification is the King of the Mountains.

Tour de France polka dot jersey explained

From left: Felice Gimondi from Italy, Frenchman Bernard Thevenet, wearing the Yellow Jersey of the leader, Lucien Van Impe from Belgium, wearing the red and white Polka Dot Jersey of the best climber, Dutch Joop Zoetelmelk and Eddy Merckx from Belgium, ride side by side during the 62nd Tour de France from 26 June to 20 July 1975. AFP PHOTO (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo credit should read -/AFP via Getty Images)

The mountains classification is signified by a white jersey with red polka dots (known as the polka dot jersey or maillot à pois ).

Vicente Trueba was the first winner of the King of the Mountains competition in 1933. The polka dot design wasn't introduced until 1975 when Bernard Thévenet won the classification.

Previous Tour de France mountains classification winners

TOPSHOT - Jumbo-Visma team's Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey celebrates as he cycles to the finish line to win the 18th stage of the 109th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 143,2 km between Lourdes and Hautacam in the Pyrenees mountains in southwestern France, on July 21, 2022. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP) (Photo by ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Jonas Vingegaard added the King of the Mountains jersey to his maillot jaune in 2022.

Tadej Pogačar took the mountains classification in 2021 and 2020, following Romain Bardet in 2019 and Julian Alaphilippe in 2018.

Another Frenchman, Richard Virenque, won the title seven times in his career between 1994 and 2004, while both Federico Bahamontes and Lucien Van Impe have won it six times, from 1954 to 1964 and 1971 to 1983 respectively.

Eight cyclists have now won the mountains classification and general classification in the same year:

  • Gino Bartali
  • Sylvère Maes
  • Fausto Coppi
  • Federico Bahamontes
  • Eddy Merckx
  • Carlos Sastre
  • Chris Froome

Pogačar, Bartali, Coppi and Merckx have all done it twice.

Tour de France points classification

What is the points classification.

Jumbo-Visma team's Belgian rider Wout Van Aert celebrates on the podium with the sprinter's green jersey after the 21st and final stage of the 109th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 115,6 km between La Defense Arena in Nanterre, outside Paris, and the Champs-Elysees in Paris, France, on July 24, 2022. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP) (Photo by THOMAS SAMSON/AFP via Getty Images)

The points classification was introduced in 1953 as an incentive for sprinters, with Fritz Schär being the first rider to win it.

The first 15 riders to complete each stage are awarded points, with the most points going to the first rider and the following 14 receiving successively fewer points.

More points are on offer for flat stages, again as an incentive to the sprinters. Riders can also gain points by winning intermediate sprints (sprints that take place at designated points part-way through a stage).

Tour de France green jersey explained

The leader of the points classification is indicated by a green jersey ( maillot vert ). Green matched the logo of the first jersey sponsor, La Belle Jardinière clothing store.

The overall prize is awarded to the rider with the most points at the end of the Tour.

Previous Tour de France points classification winners

The green jersey went to Wout van Aert in 2022 and Mark Cavendish in 2021.

In previous years the award had become synonymous with one man: Slovakian superstar Peter Sagan. He claimed the prize for a record-breaking seventh time in 2019.

Tour de France young rider classification

What is the young rider classification.

Slovenian Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates celebrates on the podium in the white jersey for best young rider after stage 21, the final stage of the Tour de France cycling race, from Paris la Defense Arena to Paris Champs-Elysees, France, on Sunday 24 July 2022. This year's Tour de France takes place from 01 to 24 July 2022.

The young rider classification was introduced to the Tour in 1975. Classics great Francesco Moser was its first winner.

This year it applies only to cyclists born on or after January 1, 1998 (under the age of 26).

Just like the general classification, it’s calculated using each rider's cumulative overall time but is aimed at rewarding young riders in the early stages of their careers.

Tour de France white jersey explained

The youth classification is signified by a white jersey, and much in the same way as the other categories, the rider currently topping the classification wears it until someone else overtakes their lead.

Previous Tour de France young rider classification winners

HAUTACAM, FRANCE - JULY 21: Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia and UAE Team Emirates - White Best Young Rider Jersey competes in the chase while fans cheer during the 109th Tour de France 2022, Stage 18 a 143,2km stage from Lourdes to Hautacam 1520m / #TDF2022 / #WorldTour / on July 21, 2022 in Hautacam, France. (Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Beaten into second in the GC, Tadej Pogačar was still the fastest young rider in 2022.

The Slovenian had become the sixth man to win both the white and yellow jersey in the same year when he rode to victory at the 2020 Tour de France, joining Egan Bernal (2019), Laurent Fignon (1983), Jan Ullrich (1997), Alberto Contador (2007) and Andy Schleck (2010). He then repeated the feat in 2021.

Pierre Latour won the young rider classification in 2018, while British twins Adam and Simon Yates were triumphant in the previous two years.

What is the Tour de France team classification?

PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 24: A general view of Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas of Spain, Filippo Ganna of Italy, Daniel Felipe Martinez Poveda of Colombia, Thomas Pidcock of United Kingdom, Luke Rowe of United Kingdom, Geraint Thomas of The United Kingdom, Dylan Van Baarle of Netherlands, Adam Yates of United Kingdom and Team INEOS Grenadiers celebrate winning the best team trophy on the podium ceremony after the 109th Tour de France 2022, Stage 21 a 115,6km stage from Paris La Défense to Paris - Champs-Élysées / #TDF2022 / #WorldTour / on July 24, 2022 in Paris, France. (Photo by Antonio Borga/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

The team classification has been part of the Tour de France since 1930 but awards no coloured jersey. Instead, the team is given race numbers with a yellow background, rather than white.

It’s not considered to be as important as the individual classifications. Teams don’t normally set out with an ambition to win it. But they may change their tactics during the race if they are in a good position to do so.

The team classification takes the time of each squad's top three finishers on every stage. The team with the lowest cumulative time leads the classification.

Previous Tour de France team classification winners

PARIS, FRANCE - SEPTEMBER 20: Podium / Dario Cataldo of Italy, Imanol Erviti of Spain, Enric Mas Nicolau of Spain, Nelson Oliveira of Portugal, Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil of Spain, Marc Soler Gimenez of Spain, Alejandro Valverde Belmonte of Spain, Carlos Verona Quintanilla of Spain and Movistar Team / Jose Luis Arrieta of Spain Sports director of Movistar Team / Pablo Lastras of Spain Sports director of Movistar Team / Best Team / Celebration / Trophy / Flowers / Mask / Covid safety measures / during the 107th Tour de France 2020, Stage 21 a 122km stage from Mantes-La-Jolie to Paris Champs-Élysées / #TDF2020 / @LeTour / on September 20, 2020 in Paris, France. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images,)

Movistar Team has dominated the classification in recent years, topping the team rankings in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020. This is despite none of its riders winning the Tour in those years.

Generally, the team with the rider leading the Tour will be more inclined to sacrifice teammates to protect the individual's lead, making winning both the individual and team classification – as Team Sky did in 2017 – a rare feat.

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