The Explainer - Tour FAQs
Dear readers,
It’s Tour time and that means that for many of you, you’re first dose of VeloNews.com comes in the form of a visit to our Live Update page.
As many of you know, we’ve switched formats since last year and that allows us to read many of your questions directly in our update editing tool. Over the course of the last 11 stages, we’ve had quite a few repeat questions pop up, so I thought I’d try to turn this edition of the Explainer into a sort of FAQ page for folks who stop in to check up on the Tour.
Who is the oldest rider to ever win the Tour? If he wins, would Lance Armstrong take that record, too?
Indeed, he would. At age 37, Armstrong would become the oldest rider in history to win the Tour, a distinction that has been held by Belgian Firmin Lambot, who was 36 when he won the 1922 Tour. He would, of course, also break his own record of Tour wins, bringing his total to eight.
By the way, it may take some time before we see the record at the other end of the spectrum fall. The 1904 Tour 1904 Tour was officially won by 19-year-old Henri Cornet, but he earned the distinction of being the youngest winner in the history of the race only after the top four finishers were DQ-ed for cheating. If you’re really picky, by the way, Cornet was 20 by the time he was awarded the win, but he still would have the record, given that Romain Maes, the next youngest, was 21 when he won the tour – outright – in 1935.
Why is Ivan Basso not at the Tour? Isn’t his suspension over?
Basso, whose suspension for his involvement in Operaćion Puerto expired last fall, was hired by Liquigas. While the team was able to bring him to this year’s Giro d’Italia, it was pretty clear that he would not be welcome at this year’s Tour.
Do recall that Basso’s troubles began on the eve of the 2006 Tour and he was ejected – along with Jan Ullrich and several other riders – based solely on Puerto allegations. He denied his involvement until a DNA test linked blood bags seized in the investigation to Basso. The Tour really didn’t want him around … at least this year.
You might also recall that there was some speculation that Basso wouldn’t even be able to sign with a ProTour team, because the Code of Conduct of the Association of ProTour Teams (ICPT) bars suspended riders from doing so for a period equal to twice the intial suspension. Liquigas decided to thumb its nose at that rule … largely because it’s not really a rule, merely a policy statement by the ICPT. Doing so, however, got the attention of the Tour and Liquigas probably thought insisting on bringing Basso was not worth losing an invitation.
With four riders in the top five spots at the Tour, how is not possible for Astana to be leading the overall team standings?
That’s because overall team standings are not based on individual riders’ positions on GC, but on the finishing times of each team’s top three riders every day.
Those times are then added to the team GC position. So, in theory, you could have a rider who might be two hours down on GC win a stage out of a break away that includes a teammate or two and suddenly vault that team into first place in the team standings. That’s pretty much what happened to Ag2r … except that Rinaldo Nocentini was also high enough in the overall standings to move into the yellow jersey for a few days.
Who provides the color jersey at the end of each stage (Tour organizer or Team)? If the organizers are providing it, does that mean they have pre-order a color jersey for all teams in different sizes?
Given the variety of sizes and team names, it’s actually easier for organizers to simply have a portable sublimation facility on site at the Tour. The jersey sponsors supply the jerseys with blank spaces that get filled just before that day’s leader hits the podium. Like a lot of things at the Tour, it’s just one of things that shows they run a tight ship there.
I read that there is a minimum weight for bikes set by the UCI of 6.8kg (15 pounds). Why is there a limit on this and what is the history behind the weight of road bikes used by the pros?
Oh don’t get me started ….
Oh what the heck, I’m already started, so I will continue. The rule was, like many UCI rules, intended to address a valid safety issue, namely the race by some manufacturers to produce lighter and lighter equipment, without complete consideration of safety issues. Like many UCI rules, however, the rule takes a rather broad approach to the question and simply establishes a universal limit that applies equally to all bikes, be they track, road, cyclocross or even downhill mountain bikes.
With the development of new manufacturing techniques, that limit could certainly be dropped when it comes to track bikes. It could also be adjusted when it comes to road bikes to accommodate size differences. The safety benefits derived by a bike made for Samuel Dumoulin (the smallest rider in this year’s Tour) wouldn’t necessarily apply to a 15-pound bike built for a six-foot-three, 95kg rider like Magnus Bäckstedt.
The UCI did the same thing when it came up with a rule intended to constrain the amount of extension riders could have on a time trial bike. A single measurement – based on the distance between the nose of the saddle and the end of the aero bars – has a radically different impact on riders whose height differences range from five-foot-two up to six-four.
Who has the most stage wins in Tour history?
Usually, if there’s a question like that, the easiest thing to do is to drop Eddy Merckx’s name into the mix. That works here, too. Merckx has the greatest number of stage wins at 34. He’s followed by Bernard Hinault at 28.
In case you’re wondering, seven-time winner Lance Armstrong is fifth on that list, with 22 stage wins.
Merckx also has the record for most stage wins in a single Tour. He won eight stages in both the 1970 and 1974 Tours. His fellow Belgian, Freddy Maertens did the same thing in 1976. The first rider to hit that mark was Charles Pélissier, who did it in 1930.
There are three major jerseys available at the Tour – yellow, green and polka dot. Has any rider won all three?
Well, it’s another question where the answer is Eddy Merckx. He remains the only rider to have done that and he did it in 1969. He would have won the other jersey – the white jersey of best young rider – but they hadn’t thought that one up yet.
You often use terms like “peloton,” “caravan” and “echelon” during Live Updates. What’s the difference?
The peloton is a term applied to a large group of cyclists moving down the road as a single unit. We generally apply the term to the main field, the largest group of riders on the road at a given point in a stage.
The term “caravan” - the race caravan - is just that, the collection of team cars and other vehicles following the peloton down the road. The caravan is often mentioned because dropped riders have to work their way through the caravan in order to regain contact with the peloton. That's not to be confused with that daily parade of weirdness, the caravane publicitaire, which travels the same route an hour or two before the peloton rolls through.
“Echelons” are formed when the peloton hits a stretch of road buffeted by strong crosswinds. Riders will form up to gain maximum protection against the wind by lining up in diagonal lines across the road. At some point, space runs out and riders lose contact, forcing the creation of a second echelon. The real danger is that the time gaps between those echelons can grow quite quickly and riders unable to make contact with the first echelon may lose significant time if the group they’re with doesn’t stay close to the group ahead.
While mountains are a big factor in any stage race, strong crosswinds can do unexpected damage to a rider’s GC hopes.
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