Tour De France Questions
The tour is one of the biggest sporting spectacles in the world. No matter how many scandals and allegations of doping, we can’t resist the allure of watching 180 Lycra clad men, cycling their lightweight bikes around France.But, if you’ve ever wondered at the range of seemingly strange tour vocab, hopefully, this will explain the mysteries of echelons, bidons and the white jersey with red polka dots. How Long is the Tour? Modern versions are roughly about 3,600 kilometres (2,200 mi) spread out over three weeks. Early Tours were longer. In 1926, riders had to cover 5,745 km over 17 stages. How Fast do the Riders Go? In 1926, the tour winner averaged 24Kmph over the whole 5,745Km. By comparison in 2010, the average speed was just under 40Kmph for the 3,642Km What Does the Yellow Jersey Mean? The yellow jersey is worn by rider at the top of the overall classification. (the quickest time over combined stages so far). The yellow jersey was introduced in 1919 several years after the Tour started. It was chosen it was felt the yellow jersey would help identify the leader to spectators on the road. Yellow was chosen because the newspaper L’Equipe which [...]
Source: http://cyclinginfo.co.uk/blog/cycling/tour-de-france-questions/