Jerseys: An Introduction

Cycling jerseys bring beautiful color to the sport. The team kits and race leader prizes enable spectators to track their favorites, while luring photographers to capture the brightly-adorned athletes. Here are some of the basics about jerseys and numbers at the Tour de France.

Who wears the yellow jersey at the Tour de France?

The most famous cycling attire is the yellow jersey at the Tour de France. Over the course of the three-week race, the rider with the lowest cumulative time dons yellow each day, making it easier for spectators to spot the best-placed cyclist. Time in yellow is the highlight of a professional cyclist’s career. While an honor to hold it just for one day, the more days in the yellow jersey, the more impressive. The overall winner of the Tour wins the yellow jersey, known as the maillot jaune in French. Cyclists are superstitious about the color yellow, as even Lance Armstrong was initially hesitant to wear the yellow Livestrong band at its launch in 2004.

What are the other jerseys?

A select few can wear the yellow jersey, and even fewer can win it. The other jerseys awarded at the Tour de France represent the other races within the race, recognizing riders with more specialized strengths.

The green jersey is worn by the rider with the most points, usually a sprinter. Points are awarded to the top ten to fifteen finishers of each stage, as well as the first fifteen to reach the intermediate sprint near the middle of the course. The most points are given on sprint stages (as opposed to mountain finishes or time trials). The race for the green jersey requires effort beyond winning the sprint stages, as it rewards cyclists riding at the front over the course of the Tour. Last year, Mark Cavendish won five stages, but Alessandro Petacchi brought home the green jersey by accumulating 9 more points. This time around, the intermediate sprints have been reduced to one per stage, amplifying their importance and prompting a mini-sprint each day so far.

The king of the mountains wins the polka dot jersey, which is earned from points at designated spots at steep portions of the race and was won by Anthony Charteau in 2010. This competition will heat up when the Tour gets to the Pyrenees next week. Finally, the best young rider dons the white jersey. He is the highest-placed cyclist age 25 and under. Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck are previous winners of the white jersey.

All race leader jerseys are modified to include the rider’s team sponsors. The four jerseys are worn by the leader each day. If one cyclist leads more than one category, he wears the highest ranking jersey, and then the second place cyclist in the next category wears that one.

Does every pro bike race follow these jersey colors?

While many races shadow the Tour de France and keep the race leader in yellow, there are some notable exceptions. At the Giro d’Italia, the winner is in pink, and a popular souvenir shirt at the Giro reads, “Real mean wear pink.” The leader wears red at the Vuelta a Espana, the third of the Grand Tours. Chris Horner captured the golden jersey as winner of the Tour of California in May, while Cameron Meyer brought home the ochre jersey from the Tour Down Under in January.

What about team jerseys? Why aren’t all members of the team wearing the same kit?

First, the current world champion wears the rainbow jersey, which is a white kit with a multi-colored band at the chest. This uniform belongs to Thor Hushovd, though as the current race leader he is wearing yellow. Next, national champions wear their country’s colors in a modified version of the team jersey. Examples include variations of red, white, and blue for champions Bradley Wiggins of the United Kingdom, Sylvain Chavanel of France, and Janez Brajkovic of Slovenia. While he lost the race by a tire width this year, three-time champ George Hincapie became known as Captain America for wearing the American jersey featuring stars and stripes. Also, national time trial champions wear their country’s colors for the time trial only, as that title is different than road race champion.

How are the rider numbers assigned?

Numbers are assigned by team. The defending champion’s team is first, and they are assigned numbers 1 through 9. A previous champion’s team would be assigned the next group of numbers, 11 through 19. Within each team, the leader is given the first number. As defending champ and Saxo Bank team leader, Alberto Contador is racing as number 1, and his teammates are 2 through 9. Andy Schleck finished second last year, and he is riding as number 11. His Leopard-Trek teammates are 12 through 19. Ivan Basso is number 91, and his Liquigas teammates are 92 through 99, and so on. On other teams, the leader is less clear, but someone is assigned the first number. This is the case on RadioShack, which had Janez Brajkovic, one of four possible team leaders, as number 71. However, Brajkovic crashed out of the race today with a possible head injury.

Why is a number in red or yellow?

Race organizers select the most aggressive cyclist for each stage, and he wears a red number the following day. These riders are often those who make bold moves to break off the front of the pack or who attack on the mountains. Further, the leaders of the team competition wear yellow numbers. Cumulative times for the three best-placed riders of each team are summed to determine the winner, which was Team RadioShack in 2010. As of Stage 5, the 2011 competition is led by Garmin-Cervelo, with a cumulative time of 52 hours, 1 minute, 31 seconds.

What would LeBron James do?

In cycling, victors wear their triumphs on their sleeves. With all the rankings and indicators of prestige displayed by cyclist jerseys, can you image… what would LeBron James do?