Tour de France

Watching the live telecast of Tour de France being shown these days in Ten Sports every evening, I was curious to know how Lance Armstrong, who is not seen winning any race, eventually wins the tour. So many such questions pop up like what is the scoring system, how winner is decided, how jersey's are awarded, etc. The most coveted jersey is the Yellow Jersey, called the maillot jaune worn by the overall time leader, i.e., the rider with the lowest total race time upto that stage is considered the leader. The colour of this Yellow Jersey came from the yellow page named L'Auto, the original sponsor of the race. The tradion of awarding the Yellow Jersey on a daily basis came into practice from 1919. There are other jerseys for winners in different categories. There is the Green Jersey, called the malliot vert awarded to the rider who accumulates maximum points. Then there is the Polka Dot Jersey awarded to the King of the Mountains, the rider with highest mountain points. The last one is the White Jersey awarded to the best rider in under 25 category. Besides being an individual sport, it also is a team event, where teams of 9 pedalls over 3500 km in 3 weeks in this tough test of endurance and strength. The race was started in 1903 and this is the 92nd edition. Want to know more. Read on this excellent link Tour de France .

Here is another interesting link at The 2005 Tour de France which will give you graphical details of the tour and many things you may like to know.