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Tour de France is on TV now - easy guide to watching
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Tour de France is on TV now - easy guide to watching Tour de France is on TV now - easy guide to watching For the folks who do not know much about the Tour de France, this is easy short guide to understanding the race. But first, though I am an avid cyclist sometimes 3 times a day and sometimes 100 miles on one ride. In addition, one of my skills is as a very knowledgeable bike mechanic, ride leader, trainer, and educator. I do not watch the Tour de France, I DVR the race and watch only the last 5-8 miles paying particular attention to the last 2-3 miles, not only to see who wins but more things are happening in the last few miles. It gets more dangerous, they are racing faster, closer, sometimes in less control. Then I watch the recap as it shows the highlights of the race and if there are any accidents, I may want to see how they come about, the cause of them, so I then restart and fast forward to those spots. The Tour de France is a 2,200 mile, 3 week race with 21 days of racing and 2 rest days. This year there are 22 teams with 9 riders on a team. The first day is a sprint day of which there are 2 sprint days, one being a team sprint. Each day’s race is 100-125 miles and can be flat, can be hilly, and can be mountainous at speeds downhill with the sprint at the finish line reaching speeds of close to 60mph and generally has less than 5 riders fighting for the finish, all from different teams. At least one day of the race is several miles riding a cobblestone road, could be as many as 25 miles but generally at least 7 miles, and 15 miles is not unheard. The average riding speeds is 25-30 mph for the entire ride, 12-18mph in the mountains, and they can ride 35-40mph for the last 20 miles or more. Though a team has 9 riders, only 1<b> rider </font></b>is designated by the team to win the race, the other 8 members are “servants” with 1<b> rider </font></b>designated as the 2nd best, and either him or another<b> rider </font></b>designated as the lead out man to clear away for their #1<b> rider </font></b>for the sprints or the finish lines. The servants carry the extra water bottles and snacks for the #1<b> rider </font></b>of that time. The servants also surround their #1<b> rider </font></b>to protect him from being bumped by riders from other teams, and ride in front and on the sides of him blocking the wind thus conserving his energy for the finish. During the race solid food, sandwiches, snack, energy drinks, are delivered to all the riders at the same time at a specified location. They are handed to the riders while cycling by other members of the team in bags with a strap worn over the neck, then discarded when finished. And if you want to know when they go to the bathroom? On a very rare occasion the entire group of riders will stop in an isolated location but for the most part, they pee while they are riding! Each team of riders has 1 or 2 cars following them with extra bikes for the best riders and wheels to exchange in case of flats. There also are at least 2 neutral cars that carry wheels, generally by the wheel and bike accessories manufacturer, Mavic. There also are cars filled with the ride officials and two cars that carry medical personnel. Last week for the first time in the 100+ history of the Tour de France, they stopped the race for 18 minutes because of 2 major accidents. They stopped the race because all the doctors and paramedics were busy at the 2 accidents and they did not want to chance another accident and have no doctors available. One accident included 30-50 cyclists and the second included 20-30 cyclists. One<b> rider </font></b>had a broken vertebrae and another<b> rider </font></b>had a broken collarbone. The riders could easily be going at 35-40 mph when these accidents occurred. Each day there are several “winners” of jerseys but only 1 yellow jersey. The leader of the race with the lowest overall time is the current leader and wearer of the yellow jersey. Today the leader is Chris Froom and he’s been the leader from maybe the third day currently being 3 minutes ahead of the second<b> rider. </font></b>Though at the end there is only one winner, each day is called a stage and has it’s own winner. A<b> rider </font></b>can win the race and never win a stage, just as long at the end of the race he has the lowest overall time. If the sprint at the finish line is on flat ground, the speeds can reach close to 60mph but if the<b> rider </font></b>starts too early, he will run out of energybefore he makes it to the finish line. There are several other jersey’s given out each day, either for that day, or for the overall race, the winner of the race, the winner of the stage, the fastest sprinter as many times there are 2-4 sprints during the race, a jersey given for the KOM King of the Mountain for scoring the most points in the mountains, a jersey for riders under age 26, and daily yellow helmets for the team whose 3 fastest riders have the lowest overall time. The last week of the race the winner is generally determined as many times the time span can not be made up, and for the last 2 or 3 days, that’s it, unless the leader gets injured. The last day of the race is a very casual riding day until they get to Paris then the speed increases and there is a final sprint. The race leader is very well protected and rides in at the front of the pack or near the front. The winner of the race gets $500,000 plus millions in endorsements. Whether or not he gets to keep the $500,000, I don’t know as he gets a salary from the team’s owner, and during riding and training seasons, his meals, housing, equipment, nutritionists, doctors, and equipment, are all paid for. |
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Thanks for the behind the scenes additional information to better appreciate how the "Tour" logistics is handled.
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