For those of you who have never heard of Lance Armstrong, here is a little Tour primer. The Tour is a three-week bike race around France. No, it's not a consecutive circle around the country, but distinct stages that take place throughout different cities. Sometimes the riders leave from the city they raced into the previous day, sometimes they don't. It just depends on how the race organizers set up the race.
There are 22 teams in the Tour, each with 9 riders. Every team is made of different specialists including sprinters, climbers, an all-arounder (also known as a general classification rider, or GC), and various other helpers called domestiques. The GC rider is a team's main rider and the one who has the best chance to win the famed maillot jaune (yellow jersey) in Paris, which is given to the man who completes the Tour de France in the least amount of time. All other team members ride in support of their GC guy. Riding "in support" could mean anything from getting water bottles to surrounding their rider to protect him from crashes to thrashing their legs while leading their GC rider up a mountain pass. This is why cycling is considered a team sport. Even the best GC rider wouldn't be able to win the Tour without a strong team helping him along the way.
While the teams do ride in support of their GC rider, that doesn't mean there aren't other accolades for the other riders. The sprinters target certain stages with flat finishes where they can win that day's stage. The same goes for the climbers, as there are trips through both the Pyrenees and Alps. As with the best GC rider, the best sprinter and climber will also receive special jerseys at the end of the Tour (along with bonus money).
So the viewers at home know who is leading the race on any given day, and also for the benefit of the jersey sponsors, the person leading a specific category will wear the jersey while racing. For example, Thor Hushvold is the current wearer of the yellow jersey. But if he loses too much time today, he'll have to give to whoever is leading after today. (Yes, there is more than one jersey - it's not like the Stanley Cup. They create new jerseys daily.)
There are also two races against the clock, known as time trials (TT). The individual time trial is exactly that, one man going as fast as he can for the length of the course. This year's Tour also featured a team time trial (TTT), which in my opinion is one of the most beautiful things in sports. All nine men working together as a unit to finish the course in the least amount of time. When done properly, it's a really cool site to see.
So far this year, the Americans are doing REALLY well. Granted, we're only three days into the Tour, but the American team Garmin-Cervelo won the TTT on the second day, and American sprinter Tyler Farrar (from team Garmin-Cervelo) won yesterday's stage on the 4th of July. Pretty cool, I think!
If you've never checked it out, try to watch some of the Tour this year. There is a lot more to American cycling than Lance. We have 10 Americans riding this year, which ties the record for most Americans riding in a Tour. There are also four VERY strong American-based teams. The Tour is on Versus pretty much 24/7 over the next three weeks, plus some on NBC as well. Take a look!
No comments:
Post a Comment