Everything you wanted to know about the toughest cycling race on the planet.
Q: What was the highest stage finish on the Tour?
The highest stage finish was in 1986, when the finish line was at the top of the Col du Grandon at 2,413 metres. The record will be surpassed in this Tour in the 18th stage at the top of the Galibier, at 2,645 metres. The stage marks the 100th anniversary of the first Galibier climb in 1911, when France’s Emile Georget was the first to reach the summit. Georget impressed at the time because he did not put a foot down.
Have there been deaths on the Tour?
The most talked-about fatality was the death of Briton Tom Simpson on the Mount Ventoux in 1967. Simpson was only the second rider to die on the Tour after Spain’s Francisco Cepeda in 1935. The third and most recent casualty was in 1995, when Italian Olympic champion Fabio Casartelli crashed to his death in the Pyrenees.
Do the cycles have engines?
This might have seemed a silly question before allegations last season that some professional riders might have used bikes equipped with miniature engines concealed in the frame. All those accused vigorously denied any wrongdoing but the International Cycling Union (UCI) took the issue seriously enough to announce that all bikes on the Tour would be scanned to detect engines. New rumours circulated this season but nothing could be proved.
Why is the Tour overall leader’s jersey yellow?
In 1919, Tour organisers decided the race leader should wear a special jersey making him easy for spectators to identify. They picked yellow as it was the colour of the paper on which L’Auto, the sports daily sponsoring the race, was printed.
What is the green jersey?
It is awarded for the points classification and a great consolation prize for sprinters as they usually win more stages, albeit by a slimmer margin. Points are awarded to the top finishers in each stage; the rider finishing with the most points wins the jersey. The record green jersey winner is German Erik Zabel, who won it six times.
What is the polka dot jersey?
It is the jersey awarded to the best climber of the Tour or ‘King of the Mountains.’ Points are awarded at the top of each hill or mountain, rated from fourth to first category depending on the difficulty. Some exceptionally tough climbs, such as L’Alpe d’Huez or Mont Ventoux, are rated ‘hors categorie’ (out of category). The polka dot design was chosen as it was the same as one of the jersey’s sponsors. The record winner of the King of the Mountains jersey is Frenchman Richard Virenque, who earned it seven times.
Why do riders often finish in the same time?
Because only whole seconds are taken into account in the overall standings and not fractions of seconds. It is the convention in road cycling that all the riders included in the same group are given the same time on the finish line regardless of whether they are at the front or the back.
Cycling is an individual sport, so why are there teams?
The Tour is raced by 20 teams of nine riders. Each team usually includes a leader — the man with the best chance for the final classification — sprinters, climbers and every type of rider who can help the team to win a stage, take a jersey and bring home prize money. When some 200 competitors ride in a bunch at around 50 kmph, the riders at the front waste much more energy than the ones immediately behind, who are sheltered from the headwind. This is why teammates are often seen riding ahead of their leader — they are protecting him from the wind. Teammates often act for their leaders in other ways, passing on one of their wheels if he punctures or picking up bottles and bags at the feeding zones.
What is a bordure?
Also called an echelon, it is one of the nightmares of the peloton. When the wind is strong and blowing sideways, it can split the bunch into little groups which are no longer sheltered inside the main bunch. They lose contact, find themselves on the most exposed side of the road and can lose considerable time. It happened to Contador two years ago in a stage finish in La Grande Motte.
What is the omnibus?
Also called the gruppetto (Italian for small group), it is the group formed by poor climbers in the mountain stages to help each other make it to the finish line at a reasonable pace, but inside time limits.
How do riders urinate?
Spending some five hours on the bike, riders sometimes have to urinate during a stage. If the race is raging at full speed, riders do so on their bikes but most of the time they stop early in the stage when the pace is leisurely. It is an unwritten rule of the peloton that you do not attack when a rider or a group has stopped to urinate.
How come Alberto Contador can take part in the Tour when he failed a dope test?
In September, the three-time Tour champion announced he had been informed that a urine sample tested during the 2010 Tour was positive for the banned drug clenbuterol. The traces were minute and Contador said they possibly came from contaminated meat. The Spanish cycling federation finally cleared the 28-year-old rider in February. Since then, both the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) have appealed against the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The Lausanne-based court said they would not reach a decision before the beginning of August, clearing the way for the Spaniard to defend his crown. Pending the decision, Contador won several races, including the Giro d’Italia.
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