Tour de France 101
It's July, and you know what that means?? That's right the Tour de France!! (You were probably not expecting that one). I am sure many of you know about the tour, but if you don't, it is essentially a race
around France. There are different aspects of the race, one being time trials, another flat stages, and finally mountain stages. They are all interspersed. There are about 20 stages for the race, and if you win one of the stages that is considered to be an enormous victory. To be the overall winner of the Tour de France means that you have the best time over the entire 3 weeks; you could have not won any stage, yet still be the winner of the Tour. The reason for this is because there are riders who specialize on the flat sections and then can't do the mountains, and then also vice-versa. So therefore, the rider who usually wins is typically very good at all aspects of the race.
Each rider belongs to a team and generally each team has a team leader who the team surrounds around to try and get them to win. On the days that aren't time trials (there are about 3 time trials per tour), the riders typically ride in what is known as the peloton (that's that big group of riders you always see if you have ever quickly flipped over OLN. Then there are usually a few (5-10) riders who make a sprint at the beginning of the day and try to finish the race before the peloton; however the peloton usually catches them before the end. The peloton is important because it allows riders to be in the slip stream of the riders in front of them, thus saving energy. In the more important stages, a specific team will get together and use some of the riders as what are called domestiques. These riders are the ones cutting the wind for the team leader; usually by the end of the stage all of the domestiques have been worn out and it is up to the team leader to take away and get the best time. So as much as cycling is an individual sport it is also a team sport.
On the time trials - every rider is by themselves and there is no slip-stream. Therefore it is solely up to each rider to ride the whole time.
As for the jersey's you see, I am sure many of you are aware that the Yellow Jersey ("Maillot Jaune") is the coveted one - it shows that that person is in the overall lead of the Tour de France. However, there are other jerseys. There is
the Green Jersey, which is the leader of the points. Briefly, there are different ways that you can earn points along the route: being the first one to crest a mountain, be the first across a miniature sprint that is on the race, and a few other ways. There is also a White Jersey, which belongs to the rookie rider who is the highest up in the standings. And finally there is the Polka-Dot Jersey which signifies the rider who is "King of the Mountains." This is the rider who has come across the mountains peaks in the best times.
There are lots of other intricacies involved in the race (for instance how much each sprint or mountain climb is actually worth) and the battling that goes in the peloton is much more significant than one would actually imagine. But I think that's enough explanation for now.
As for the specific Tour this year, there is one man that is noticeably missing (Lance Armstrong); so going into the race, it was completely wide open. Riders such as Jan Ullrich, Franscisco Mancebo, Oscar Sevilla, Ivan Basso and Alexandre Vinokourov ("Vino") all had such aspirations for winning the first Tour not featuring the Texan. However, on Friday, these 5 racers were declared ineligible for the race because of a doping scandal known as Operacion Puerta which is based around Dr. Fuentes who has been incriminated on doping charges. All of these riders except for Vino has been linked Dr. Fuentes and on Friday were withdrawn from Tour de France. Vino is known more as collateral damage because 5 of his team members were also taken off of the Tour for doping and therefore, he does not have enough team members to qualify for the Tour. Therefore on the eve of the Tour, his team, Astana Wuerth (formerly Liberty Seguros) was withdrawn. This is Vino's "just desserts" if you will as in the off season he switched teams for more money (and because his old team, T-Mobile, wouldn't commit to him or Jan Ullrich as team leader).
Therefore of the top 5 finishers in last year's Tour de France (1. Lance Armstrong 2. Basso 3. Ullrich 4. Mancebo and 5. Vino) did not even start this year's Tour de France. This Tour is thusly completely open as to who is going to win. New favorites have emerged, and there is a strong likelihood that an American is going to win the Tour again this year.
These new favorites are:
Floyd Landis (USA, (Team) Phonak)
Levi Leipheimer (USA, Gerolsteiner)
George Hincapie (USA, Discovery Channel)
Alejandro Valverde (Spain, Causse d'Epargne-Illes Balears),
David Zabriskie (USA, CSC)
Paolo Salvodelli (Italy, Discovery Channel, though really only if Hincapie falters)
Andreas Kloeden (Germany, T-Mobile)
Iban Mayo (Spain, Euskaltel - Euskadi) ... the google translation has his name as "Went May Ten" instead of Iban Mayo. It went a little far with the translation.
(Side note: if any of the companies see that I am linking their companies on my blog and you want to donate to me for advertising, drop me a comment. I'll respond. Don't worry.)
Of course, I could be completely off, but I would expect at least one of these guys to be in the top 5 when the race hits Paris. I do realize there are lots of American's in this group and it may be I have the American hope that an American will win; but these are some of the best riders out there (read: left) in the Tour. George Hincapie is the sentimental favorite (at least by me) as he has ridden in 11 Tours and was Lance's wingman for all of Lance's wins. To see him win would be nothing short of awesome. As of right now, he is the owner of the Yellow Jersey, and thus, if he keeps it for the next 3 weeks, he will be the winner. However, it could be that he loses the Yellow jersey, and then regains later in the race. Anything can happen.
still waiting,
-wait
Addendum: I noticed that there is no closed parentheses in the picture. I could go back and add that in, but it would take awhile, and let's be honest, I already spent 2 hours doing this, and I don't feel like changing the picture again... it took 2 times before I got it the way I wanted.
around France. There are different aspects of the race, one being time trials, another flat stages, and finally mountain stages. They are all interspersed. There are about 20 stages for the race, and if you win one of the stages that is considered to be an enormous victory. To be the overall winner of the Tour de France means that you have the best time over the entire 3 weeks; you could have not won any stage, yet still be the winner of the Tour. The reason for this is because there are riders who specialize on the flat sections and then can't do the mountains, and then also vice-versa. So therefore, the rider who usually wins is typically very good at all aspects of the race.Each rider belongs to a team and generally each team has a team leader who the team surrounds around to try and get them to win. On the days that aren't time trials (there are about 3 time trials per tour), the riders typically ride in what is known as the peloton (that's that big group of riders you always see if you have ever quickly flipped over OLN. Then there are usually a few (5-10) riders who make a sprint at the beginning of the day and try to finish the race before the peloton; however the peloton usually catches them before the end. The peloton is important because it allows riders to be in the slip stream of the riders in front of them, thus saving energy. In the more important stages, a specific team will get together and use some of the riders as what are called domestiques. These riders are the ones cutting the wind for the team leader; usually by the end of the stage all of the domestiques have been worn out and it is up to the team leader to take away and get the best time. So as much as cycling is an individual sport it is also a team sport.
On the time trials - every rider is by themselves and there is no slip-stream. Therefore it is solely up to each rider to ride the whole time.
As for the jersey's you see, I am sure many of you are aware that the Yellow Jersey ("Maillot Jaune") is the coveted one - it shows that that person is in the overall lead of the Tour de France. However, there are other jerseys. There is
the Green Jersey, which is the leader of the points. Briefly, there are different ways that you can earn points along the route: being the first one to crest a mountain, be the first across a miniature sprint that is on the race, and a few other ways. There is also a White Jersey, which belongs to the rookie rider who is the highest up in the standings. And finally there is the Polka-Dot Jersey which signifies the rider who is "King of the Mountains." This is the rider who has come across the mountains peaks in the best times.There are lots of other intricacies involved in the race (for instance how much each sprint or mountain climb is actually worth) and the battling that goes in the peloton is much more significant than one would actually imagine. But I think that's enough explanation for now.
As for the specific Tour this year, there is one man that is noticeably missing (Lance Armstrong); so going into the race, it was completely wide open. Riders such as Jan Ullrich, Franscisco Mancebo, Oscar Sevilla, Ivan Basso and Alexandre Vinokourov ("Vino") all had such aspirations for winning the first Tour not featuring the Texan. However, on Friday, these 5 racers were declared ineligible for the race because of a doping scandal known as Operacion Puerta which is based around Dr. Fuentes who has been incriminated on doping charges. All of these riders except for Vino has been linked Dr. Fuentes and on Friday were withdrawn from Tour de France. Vino is known more as collateral damage because 5 of his team members were also taken off of the Tour for doping and therefore, he does not have enough team members to qualify for the Tour. Therefore on the eve of the Tour, his team, Astana Wuerth (formerly Liberty Seguros) was withdrawn. This is Vino's "just desserts" if you will as in the off season he switched teams for more money (and because his old team, T-Mobile, wouldn't commit to him or Jan Ullrich as team leader).
Therefore of the top 5 finishers in last year's Tour de France (1. Lance Armstrong 2. Basso 3. Ullrich 4. Mancebo and 5. Vino) did not even start this year's Tour de France. This Tour is thusly completely open as to who is going to win. New favorites have emerged, and there is a strong likelihood that an American is going to win the Tour again this year.These new favorites are:
Floyd Landis (USA, (Team) Phonak)
Levi Leipheimer (USA, Gerolsteiner)
George Hincapie (USA, Discovery Channel)
Alejandro Valverde (Spain, Causse d'Epargne-Illes Balears),
David Zabriskie (USA, CSC)
Paolo Salvodelli (Italy, Discovery Channel, though really only if Hincapie falters)
Andreas Kloeden (Germany, T-Mobile)
Iban Mayo (Spain, Euskaltel - Euskadi) ... the google translation has his name as "Went May Ten" instead of Iban Mayo. It went a little far with the translation.
(Side note: if any of the companies see that I am linking their companies on my blog and you want to donate to me for advertising, drop me a comment. I'll respond. Don't worry.)
Of course, I could be completely off, but I would expect at least one of these guys to be in the top 5 when the race hits Paris. I do realize there are lots of American's in this group and it may be I have the American hope that an American will win; but these are some of the best riders out there (read: left) in the Tour. George Hincapie is the sentimental favorite (at least by me) as he has ridden in 11 Tours and was Lance's wingman for all of Lance's wins. To see him win would be nothing short of awesome. As of right now, he is the owner of the Yellow Jersey, and thus, if he keeps it for the next 3 weeks, he will be the winner. However, it could be that he loses the Yellow jersey, and then regains later in the race. Anything can happen.
still waiting,
-wait
Addendum: I noticed that there is no closed parentheses in the picture. I could go back and add that in, but it would take awhile, and let's be honest, I already spent 2 hours doing this, and I don't feel like changing the picture again... it took 2 times before I got it the way I wanted.
mindless ramblings by wait at
6:10 PM
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