A Rookie’s Guide to the Tour de France – Races Within the Race

As I mentioned in part 1 of my Tour de France preview, which you can read here, the Tour de France is composed of many different races all occurring simultaneously. Although some are more valuable than others, there are many special prizes and jerseys being sought out and fought for on any given day, and in this post I will quickly take you through each of them, in rough order of importance.

First and foremost is the yellow jersey, or the maillot jaune, which is the most important prize on the Tour. The yellow jersey is awarded to the top overall rider in the general classification (GC), or the rider with the lowest total time across all stages. Each day the jersey is given to the GC leader for the next day, but only the rider who arrives in Paris with the jersey is said to be the winner of the yellow jersey.

The next most prestigious prize in the race is a stage win, which is pretty self-explanatory. For riders and teams who are not capable of winning the yellow jersey, stage wins are often top priority. A stages’ winner depends on many things including the terrain the race is on and the situation in the yellow jersey competition. Although a stage win requires immense strength, oftentimes a crafty rider can snatch a stage win without being the strongest on the day.

Next up is the green jersey, also called the points jersey. This is given to the rider with the most points, which are awarded at stage finishes and at intermediate sprints along the way. On a given stage, the first rider across the line receives a certain number of points, and the ensuing riders get less and less points. For the most part the riders that are in the green jersey competition are not highly placed in the yellow jersey competition, because consistent stage placings lead to a lot of points but can cost the riders valuable energy for the remaining stages.

Next in importance is the polka dot jersey, which is awarded to the leader in the King of the Mountains (KOM) competition. This award is calculated much like the green jersey, except points are awarded atop climbs instead of at sprints and finishes. Climbs in the tour are categorized based on difficulty with the HC (uncategorized) climbs being the most difficult, followed by cat 1, 2, 3, and 4. HC climbs offer the most points, while category 4 slopes offer very few. The winner of the polka dotted jersey may be high up on GC as well, because the best climbers often take the lowest amount of time. However, an opportunist can also take this prize, as it rewards daring riders who are willing to expend a lot of energy to gobble up points early on in stages, sacrificing their overall ambitions.

The white jersey is awarded to the best young rider in the race, which is the best rider on GC who is under the age of 25. Riders who can win the white jersey are usually in the mix for the yellow jersey as well, and are often considered yellow jersey candidates for the future.

There is also a team competition, which is scored by adding the times of the 3 fastest riders from each team on each stage. This prize is often won by a team with a top yellow jersey candidate, and is seen as a nice bonus but is rarely targeted by teams. The leading team in this classification, sometimes called team GC, wears yellow numbers for the following stage.

Finally the Tour awards a most aggressive rider prize to the rider who spent the most time on the front each day. Oftentimes this rider’s efforts on the day were futile, but they get some recognition for their work. The leader in this category wears red numbers.

So there you have it, the many races within the race at the Tour de France. Be sure to pay attention to each of them as you follow the Tour this July. Check back tomorrow for an overview of basic strategy at the Tour de France.