The 101th edition of the toughest race on earth is up and running. The Grand Depart started in Yorkshire, naturally, and the North of England saw a stunning end to the first stage of the Tour in the usual mad circumstances one would expect from a sprint finish.
However, let’s hold the talk about the present for now and look forwards and backwards to the great times of Tours past and the great times which, hopefully, lie ahead.
Tour de France 101
The Tour de France is one of the most grueling races of the lot. Last year the riders had to complete over 4000km of endless mountain climbs and death-defying cycles as the organisers went just a little bit over the top with their setting up of the 100th Tour stages. The riders had to go over just about every single big mountain stage there has ever been in Tour de France history, with Great Britain’s Chris Froome winning his first ever Tour title in style, including one of the all-time great stage wins on Mont Ventoux on Bastille Day.
Now, I appreciate that what I have just gone through might as well be Ancient Swahili to some of the less Tour-familiar readers. I ask the veteran Cycling fans reading this to bear with me as I go through the inevitable recap of the Tour de France basics which have to be explained all too often to the many new fans who have come into the sport in the last few years.
Jersey Colours
The Tour de France has been running since 1903, barring a few missed Tours due to World Wars, and has become one of the most watched sporting events in the world and particularly Western Europe, excluding Great Britain up until recent years, where Cycling is one of the most popular sports of all. Technically speaking, all riders are competing for the Yellow Jersey, the prize awarded to the man who completes the whole Tour in the shortest overall amount of time-the winner of the “General Classification”- though it does not quite work like that.
Very few riders indeed actually compete for the Yellow Jersey and another select few compete for the Green Jersey: The “Points Classification”, awarded to the rider who accumulates the most points which can be obtained in every stage, and the Polka-Dot Jersey: The “Mountains Classification”, awarded to the rider who accumulates the most points which can be won in the Mountains. The vast majority either try to survive to the bitter end, a large number don’t, or help out their teammates who are trying to win any of the three respective jerseys. It is worth mentioning that the rider under the age of 25 who does the best in the General Classification is awarded a White Jersey.
History
Onto the history. The Tour de France has seen a never ending supply of truly incredible moments in its time. So many in fact that I wouldn’t be able to do them justice by listing out a handful right now. To do the history of Le Tour justice would take a book of Tolstoy-esque proportions and I appreciate that most of you want to finish this article before the Tour de France does.
However, one of area of The Tour de France’s and all of Cycling’s history which is very difficult to skip over is that of doping. The sport went through a very dark period in the 1990s and early 2000s where nearly all riders were taking drugs and keeping very quiet indeed about it. More and more cyclists are being punished for it however and let us hope that our beloved sport is past that stage. On the face of it it would seem that much less doping is going on in Cycling: riders are much slower now than the time of Lance Armstrong’s dominance; drugs tests are harder to fake; riders are becoming more and more outspoken on the topic which is a good sign lest they be bluffing. Who knows? I could be wrong and all my heroes of today could be just another generation of cheats, which would sadden me deeply.
Anyway, the first stage saw chaos with German sprinter Marcel Kittel eventually claiming glory and his Green Jersey rival Mark Cavendish crashing out, injuring himself badly I’m the process. Let’s hope for the good of the excitement of the Tour that he’s ok and will be able to continue and may the next three weeks or so be some of the most enjoyable ever.
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