If you are a fan of road cycle racing you will already know that you need to watch the colors of the riders' cycling shirts very intimately to find out who the race leaders are. Even if you just watch cycling on the television occasionally, you will probably know as a matter of general knowledge that in the Tour de France, the rider with the yellow jersey is the one who is in the lead.
However, the one wearing the yellow cycling shirt is not all the time the person to look out for across all stages of the race. Some stages of the Tour de France involve gruelling mountain ascents, and the leader in these types of race section has a jersey of his own. The mountain stage leader is often referred to as the King of the Mountains, and wears a white jersey with red polka dots. It is potential that the mountain experts are not great at sprint racing and other sections of the total Tour, so despite being leaders in the tough hillside climbs, they ordinarily will not threaten to overtake the yellow jersey holder.
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Many stages of the French Tour - and of other major cycle races - are designed for sprinting, and the first riders to faultless these sprints are awarded points, agreeing to their position in that section. Getting points is the goal in personal and team time trials, but these points are also awarded for the first riders past the finishing line in all other stages. The mountain stages award less points, as the climbing specialists often win these. The riders' points are added up, and the rider with the top tally wears the green jersey.
So it is not as uncomplicated as holding your eyes peeled for the yellow jersey when you watch televised cycling. There are some other colors available in the Tour de France, together with the white jersey which is for the young riders - currently for competitors under 26 years old. It is important to remember that these cycling shirt classifications only apply to the Tour de France, and the photograph becomes slightly confusing if you start watching a race and do not realise it is one of the other main Tours.
There are three major races, together called The Grand Tours, which comprise the Tour de France, the Vuelta a Espana and the Giro d'Italia. The Spanish Vuelta awards similar jerseys to the French Tour; the gold jersey for the total leader and green jersey for the points leader. However, the King of the Mountains in Spain wears red rather than polka dots.
In the Italian Giro, the cycling shirts law is entirely different, with the total race leader taking the pink jersey, while the points leader wears red and King of the Mountains has the green, confusingly opposite to the awards in the Vuelta!
Does a yellow cycling shirt all the time make you a winner then? Perhaps. It depends which race you are watching, but hopefully you will now be armed with the underground information you need, to understand whose progress you should be concentrating on next time you sit down to an evening of cycling on Tv.
Does a Yellow Cycling Shirt all the time Make You a Winner?
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