Most of you are probably familiar with the bicycle, and it is likely that you have tried cycling at least once in your life, or even use a bicycle as your daily means of transportation. What you may or may not know, however, is that right now the 108th edition of the Tour de France is on its final few stages before the tour finishes this coming Sunday. 

The sport of cycling

As a competitive sport, cycling has been around since the 19th century, with the first officially recorded race dating back to 31 May 1868. The 1200 metre race was held in Saint-Cloud, Paris, and was won by Englishman James Moore. Moore also won the very first cycling race covering a distance between two cities, which was the 123km Paris - Rouen race in November 1869. Cycling was also a part of the first modern Olympic games held in Athens in 1896, and the sport has since evolved to include five disciplines in the Olympic programme and two in the Paralympic Games.

But before we continue, let’s have a look at the origins of the bicycle itself. The design of the bicycle we know today, or at least the beginning of the more practical, modern design, can be dated back to 1817, when the first such bicycle was created by the German inventor Karl von Drais. Drais invented the bicycle out of necessity because he needed something to replace his horses after so many were slaughtered due to the world-wide famine following the 1815 Mount Tambora eruption. Drais’ bicycle is what many consider the origins of today's bicycle, however other bicycle designs can be traced all the way back to the 1400s. 

Founded in 1900 in Paris, the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale / The international Cycling Federation) is the governing body for all cycling today. The Federation represents all the two billion (number estimated by the UCI) bicycle users across the globe, whether they use the bicycle as a means of transportation, leisure activity, or compete in professional races. Within competitive cycling, there are a total of eight disciplines under the UCI, which are track, mountain bike, BMX racing and freestyle, cyclo-cross, trials, indoor-cycling and, what we are focusing on for this article, road cycling. 

Under the umbrella of road cycling we have four types of events. The first two are the individual and team time trials, which are shorter races where they set off individually or as a team and each race is timed, making the fastest time the winning rider/team. In addition, we have the mixed relay team time trial race, consisting of three men and three women all cycling the same circuit. Lastly, there is the road race, where all the competing riders start together. Here, they work in teams helping the one or two main rider(s) of the team cover the extreme distances in order to cross the finish line first and win the race. Road races vary in length and can be competed as a one-day race either going from one point to another or on a circuit, or as a stage race, such as what we are talking about today - le Tour de France. 

Early history of the tour

Le Tour de France is one of the most prestigious races out of the major men’s road cycling stage races. During the three-week tour, the riders cycle through cities and countryside and climb the French Alps and Pyrenees, sometimes also visiting neighbouring countries such as Switzerland and Italy, before finishing the tour with the last stage on Champs-Élysée in the heart of Paris. 

The tour was first introduced in 1903, when Henri Desgrange, the editor of the French sports newspaper L’Auto, was in desperate search of a way to win a circulation war against the rivaling Le Véto. Desgrange already knew that long-distance cycle races were a means to sell newspapers, and thus the idea of a multiple stage race came to light. 

The first tour, organised in July 1903, covered a distance of 2 428km divided into six staggeringly long stages. Each stage could take as long as 17 hours for the cyclists to complete, forcing the races to start before the crack of dawn. Even though more than half of the event’s starters had to drop out due to the extreme physical challenge of the tour, the formidable idea became a huge success, and Desgrange has gone into the history books as the father of one of the toughest sports events in the world.

The women’s version of Tour de France originated much later, with the first women’s multi-day race being a one-off hosted in 1955. The first women’s tour was introduced in 1984, and hosted annually until 1989 when the hosting organisation, Amaury Sports Events, went on to prioritising one-day races for women instead. A women’s version of the Tour the France has not yet been attempted again, but that may be about to change. 

La Course & Tour de France Femmes

Currently, there are no major weeks-long tours for women, and the UCI Women’s World Tour thus consists mostly of one to three-day events, stretching over the entire season. One of such races is La Course by Le Tour de France, and this is what is now considered the female equivalent to the Tour de France. La Course started up in 2014, and has been organised every year since. The 2021 event, however, will be the last of its kind as it will be replaced by Tour de France Femmes in 2022. 

Ahead of this year’s La Course, it was confirmed that a multi-day stage race in France will again be hosted for women which will commence next year. The race is, at this moment, expected to consist of eight stages running from 24th to 31st July 2022, and will begin on Champs-Élysée in conjunction with the final stage of the men’s Grand Tour. 

The 2021 Grand Tour

The 2021 men’s Tour de France began on 26th June in the city of Brest in western France. As you can see on the map to the right (click here for a bigger image), the tour has over the past almost three weeks travelled from its starting region towards the east, then through the Alps before travelling south to the Pyrenees where they will finish the demanding stages with a 200km race tomorrow (Friday, 16th) going north towards Libourne. The two last stages will be an individual time trial on Saturday before the grand finale of the tour finishing on Champs-Élysée on Sunday. 

If you have ever watched a stage of the tour on TV, you may have recognised the different jerseys the bikers wear, but do you know what it all means? Let’s finish this article with a quick jersey 101!

First, we need to remember that the cyclists form teams, which all have their distinct colours and patterns, and do not cycle for their nations. However, if the rider is the reigning national champion, they may wear the nation’s colours around the edges of their team jersey. The rider with the rainbow stripes is the reigning world champion. Now, let’s move on to the tour specific jerseys!

The polka dot jersey represents the mountains and is awarded to the leader of the best climber classification. To obtain the jersey, a rider has to gain the most points from climbing stages, by being the first to reach mountain summits. 

The green jersey is awarded to the rider who is leading the points classification. Points in this classification are given at stage finishes and intermediate sprints. 

The white jersey is awarded to the best placed rider in the overall standings under the age of 26. It represents the future of the sport and the youth of the tour peloton. 

And lastly we have the yellow jersey which is worn by the leader of the general individual classification, which tracks the overall time. The overall winner of the tour will be awarded this jersey at the final award ceremony, which is the rider with the fastest time across all the stages. 

References:

letour.fr

uci.org

cyclingnews.com

bikeraceinfo.com

roadbikerider.com