If you are interested in sports, you will know all about the Tour de France. It’s the most iconic bicycle race on the planet that has been around for nearly one hundred twenty years. But, you could suggest there is more than meets the eye with the Tour de France, such as what the all-important yellow jersey means.
One of the critical things to remember is one of the greatest events in the sporting calendar, the Tour de France, is a bicycle race with multiple stages. In total, using the upcoming 2022 edition as an example, there will be twenty-one stages. They’re made up of flat, hilly and mountain routes, with two individual time trial runs included. So, as you will expect, the winner of one stage may not be the rider in the lead overall, which leads us to the importance of the fabled yellow jersey.
The yellow jersey, also known as the maillot jaune, is what the overall race leader will wear during the various stages of the Tour de France event. After each stage, the officials will do the time calculations to determine who is the current overall leader. Everything is worked out based on time rather than points, so the rider who has come out on top in any given day’s stage won’t automatically be the one claiming the yellow jersey for themselves to wear in the next round.
So, effectively, if you’re wearing the yellow jersey, it not only means you’re the current leader of the Tour de France overall, but it also means you’re the one to beat. You’re the rider that everyone is trying to make up time on because if you head into the final stage wearing the maillot jaune, you’re in pole position to join the likes of Tadej Pogacar, Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins and Miguel Indurain as winners. And in doing so, the riders will write their name in history, which is an excellent position to be in, as it’s the one bike race everyone dreams of winning.
There will only ever be a select few riders who are capable of being contenders for the yellow jersey, so what does it take? Well, if a competitor wants to win the iconic Tour de France title, they must be cyclists who can operate on all fronts. And what we mean by this is that they will have the mind for tactics and strategy, and they’ll combine that with the physical abilities across climbing, time trialling and so on.
The yellow jersey, which is worn by the overall leader of the Tour de France, and the tournament’s eventual winner, will remain iconic for decades and even centuries to come. It’s arguably the most famous yellow jersey in the world and is sporting royalty in itself. But it will always remain reserved for the very best that cycling has to offer.
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