Yellow jersey
Encyclopedia
The general classification in the Tour de France is the most important classification, the one by which the winner of the Tour de France
is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey ( majo ʒon).
, the rules were changed, and the general classification was no longer calculated by time, but by points. This points system was kept until 1912, after which it changed back into the time classification. At that time, the leader still did not wear a yellow jersey.
There is doubt over when the yellow jersey began. The Belgian rider Philippe Thys
, who won the Tour in 1913, 1914 and 1920, recalled in the Belgian magazine Champions et Vedettes when he was 67 that he was awarded a yellow jersey in 1913 when the organiser, Henri Desgrange
, asked him to wear a coloured jersey. Thys declined, saying making himself more visible in yellow would encourage other riders to ride against him.
He said:
He spoke of the next year's race, when "I won the first stage and was beaten by a tyre by Bossus in the second. On the following stage, the maillot jaune passed to Georget after a crash."
The Tour historian Jacques Augendre called Thys "a valorous rider... well-known for his intelligence" and said his claim "seems free from all suspicion". But: "No newspaper mentions a yellow jersey before the war. Being at a loss for witnesses, we can't solve this enigma."
The formal history, therefore, is that the first yellow jersey was worn by the Frenchman Eugène Christophe
in the stage from Grenoble
to Geneva
on July 18, 1919. The colour was chosen either to reflect the yellow
newsprint
of the organising newspaper, L'Auto
, or because yellow was an unpopular colour and therefore the only one available with which a manufacturer could create jerseys at late notice.
The two possibilities have been promoted equally but the idea of matching the colour of Desgrange's newspaper seems more probable because Desgrange wrote: "This morning I gave the valiant Christophe a superb yellow jersey. You already know that our director decided that the man leading the race [de tête du classement général] should wear a jersey in the colours of L'Auto. The battle to wear this jersey is going to be passionate." It is possible, of course, that the availability of only yellow in sufficient quantities proved a happy chance for L'Auto and that Desgrange was justifying a choice that he had never had to make.
Christophe disliked wearing it, anyway, and complained that spectators imitated canaries whenever he passed. It was a habit encouraged by his nickname of Cri-Cri (from "Christophe") which is French babytalk for a bird. Christophe remembered riders and spectators teasing: "Ah, the yellow jersey! Isn't he beautiful, the canary? What are you doing, Madame Cri-Cri", adding, "And that lasted the whole course."
There was no formal presentation when Christophe wore his first yellow jersey in Grenoble
, from where the race left at 2am for the 325 km to Geneva. He was given it the night before and tried it on later in his hotel.
In the next Tour de France in 1920, the yellow jersey was initially not awarded, but after the ninth stage, it was introduced again.
After Desgrange's death, his stylized initials were added to the yellow jersey, originally on the chest. They moved in 1969 to the sleeve to make way for a logo advertising Virlux. A further advertisement for the clothing company Le Coq Sportif
appeared at the bottom of the zip fastener at the neck, the first supplementary advertisement on the maillot jaune.
Desgrange's initials returned to the front of the jersey in 1972, some years on the left, others on the right. They were removed in 1984 to make way for a commercial logo but Nike
added them again in 2003
as part of the Tour's centenary celebrations. One set of initials is now worn on the upper right chest of the jersey.
The original yellow jerseys were of conventional style. Riders had to pull them over their head on the rostrum. For many years the jersey was made in only limited sizes and many riders found it a struggle to pull one on, especially when tired or wet. The presentation jersey is now made with a full-length zip at the back and the rider pulls it on from the front, sliding his hands through the sleeves rather like a strait-jacket. He then receives three further jerseys each day, plus money (referred to as the "rent") for each day he leads the race.
There is no copyright on the yellow jersey and it has been imitated by many other races, although not always for the best rider overall: in the Tour of Benelux yellow is worn by the best young rider.
The Lance Armstrong Foundation donated the yellow jersey from Armstrong's fourth Tour de France win (2002) to the National Museum of American History
, a branch of the Smithsonian.
In American English it is sometimes referred to as the mellow johnny, a mispronunciation of its French name originally by Lance Armstrong
, who wore it many times while winning the 1999-2005 races. Armstrong also uses the name "Mellow Johnny" for his Texas
-based bike shop.
The rider to receive the yellow jersey after the last stage in Paris, is the overall (or ultimate) winner of the Tour.
Similar leader's jerseys exist in other cycling races, but are not always yellow (the color being chosen by the individual race organizers). The Tour of California uses gold, the Giro d'Italia
uses pink and the Tour Down Under
uses an ochre
-coloured jersey, as ochre is a colour strongly associated with Australia
, particularly its desert regions. Until 2009 the Vuelta a España
used gold; since 2010 the leader's jersey is red.
and Jean Rossius
.
After the introduction of the yellow jersey in 1919, the situation occurred twice more. The first time was in 1929, when even three riders had the same time when the race reached Bordeaux
. Nicolas Frantz
of Luxembourg
and the Frenchmen Victor Fontan
and André Leducq
all rode in yellow, although none held it to the finish in Paris
.
In 1931, the situation occurred for the second time, when Charles Pélissier
and Rafaele di Paco were both leading with the same time.
The problem of joint leaders was resolved by giving the jersey to whichever rider had the best daily finishing places earlier in the race. The introduction of a short time trial at the start of the race in 1967 - the prologue time trial - meant riders have since been divided by fractions of seconds recorded in that race, excepting the 2008
and 2011
editions. According to the ASO rules
In 1950
, Ferdi Kubler of Switzerland
rode in his national jersey rather than yellow when the race leader, Fiorenze Magni abandoned the race along with the Italian team in protest at threats said to have been made by spectators.
Eddy Merckx
declined the jersey in 1971
after its previous wearer, Luis Ocaña
, crashed on the col de Mente in the Pyrenees
.
The Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk
did not wear the yellow jersey that passed to him in 1980
when his rival, Bernard Hinault
retired with a knee injury.
In 1991
, Greg LeMond
rode without the jersey after a crash eliminated Rolf Sørensen
of Denmark
.
In 2005
, Lance Armstrong
refused to start in the yellow jersey after the previous owner, David Zabriskie
, was eliminated by a crash, but put it on after the neutral zone on request of the race organizers.
The yellow jersey on the first day of the Tour is traditionally permitted to be worn by the winner of the previous year's race; however, wearing it is a choice left to the rider, and in recent years has gone out of fashion. If the winner does not ride, the jersey is not worn. The previous year's winner traditionally has race number "1" (with his teammates given the other single-digit racing numbers), with subsequent sets of numbers determined by the highest classified riders for that team in the previous Tour. The lead riders for a particular team will often wear the first number in the series (11, 21, 31 and so forth), but these riders are not necessarily contenders for the general classification - teams led by sprinters will often designate the maillot vert contender as their lead rider.
In 2007
there was neither a yellow jersey at the start of the race nor a number 1; the previous winner, Floyd Landis
of the United States
failed a doping control after the race and organisers declined to declare an official winner pending arbitration of the Landis case. On September 20, 2007, Landis was officially stripped of his title following the arbitration court's guilty verdict, and the 2006 title passed to Óscar Pereiro; in 2008
, the runner-up in 2007, Cadel Evans
was given the race number "1" when the 2007 winner, Alberto Contador
was unable to defend his title due to a dispute between the organisers ASO and his new team Astana barring that team from riding the Tour.
became race leader after attacking on the Alpe d'Huez
. He was disqualified the same day after trying to cheat a drugs test.
In 1988, Pedro Delgado
of Spain
won the Tour despite a drugs test which showed he had taken a drug which could be used to hide the use of steroids. News of the test was leaked to the press by the former organiser of the Tour, Jacques Goddet
. Delgado was allowed to continue because the drug, probenecid
, was not banned by the Union Cycliste Internationale
.
The 1996 winner, Bjarne Riis
of Denmark
said in 2007 that he had used drugs during the race. He was asked to stay away from that year's Tour. Riis, as directeur sportif
of the Danish Team CSC
(now called Team Saxo Bank), has implemented a stringent drug-testing regime for the team's riders, and has become an important voice against doping in the sport.
The 2006 winner, Floyd Landis
was disqualified more than a year after the race. After he failed a doping control after his stunning Stage 17 victory, an arbitration panel declared him guilty of doping in September 2007, after which the official title for the 2006 Tour passed to Óscar Pereiro. Landis appealed his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
but lost this appeal at the end of June 2008 allowing Oscar Pereiro to start the 2008 edition of Le Tour de France as the unqualified 2006 Tour champion.
In 2007, the Danish rider Michael Rasmussen
was withdrawn from the race by his team after complaints that he had not made himself available for drugs tests earlier in the year. Rasmussen said he had been in Mexico
but there were reports that he had been seen training in Italy
.
Maurice Garin
won the Tour de France before yellow jerseys were awarded but in 1904 he was disqualified as winner after complaints that he and other riders had cheated. The allegations disappeared along with the Tour de France's other archives when they were taken south in 1940 to avoid the German invasion. But a man who as a small boy knew Garin recalled that the old man had admitted catching a train part of the way.
While synthetic material didn't exist in a way to create whole jerseys, synthetic thread or blends were added in 1947, following the arrival of Sofil as a sponsor. Sofil made artificial yarn. Riders believed in the pureness of wool, and especially the Frenchman Louison Bobet
, or Louis Bobet as he was still known.
Bobet insisted that cyclists needed wool for their long days of sweating in the heat and dust. It was a matter of hygiene. Artificial fabrics made riders sweat too much. And, in his first Tour de France, he refused to wear the jersey with which he had been presented.
Goddet recalled:
No compromise was possible. Goddet had to get Sofil to produce another jersey overnight, its logo still visible but artificial fabric absent.
The advent of printing by flocking, a process in which cotton fluff is sprayed on to stencilled glue, and then of screen printing, combined with the domination of synthetic materials to increase the advertising on jerseys: the domination which Ollivier regrets. "All sorts of fantasies such as fluorescent jerseys or shorts," he said. Such was the quantity of advertising when Bernard Thévenet
accepted the yellow jersey when the Tour finished for the first time on the Champs Elysées in 1975 that the French sports minister counted all the logos and protested to broadcasters. Since then the number of people with access to the podium has been restricted.
, has sponsored the maillot jaune since 1987. The company has been a commercial partner of the Tour since 1981. It awards a toy lion - le lion en peluche - to each day's winner as a play on its name. In 2007, sponsorship of the jersey was credited to LCL, the new name for Crédit Lyonnais following its takeover by another bank, Crédit Agricole
.
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey ( majo ʒon).
History
The winner of the first Tour de France wore not a yellow jersey but a green armband. After the second Tour de France1904 Tour de France
The 1904 Tour de France was the second Tour de France, held from 2 July to 24 July. With a route similar to its previous edition, 1903 Tour de France winner Maurice Garin seemed to have repeated his win by a small margin over Lucien Pothier, while Hippolyte Aucouturier won four of the six stages...
, the rules were changed, and the general classification was no longer calculated by time, but by points. This points system was kept until 1912, after which it changed back into the time classification. At that time, the leader still did not wear a yellow jersey.
There is doubt over when the yellow jersey began. The Belgian rider Philippe Thys
Philippe Thys
Philippe Thys was a Belgian cyclist and three times winner of the Tour de France.-Professional career:...
, who won the Tour in 1913, 1914 and 1920, recalled in the Belgian magazine Champions et Vedettes when he was 67 that he was awarded a yellow jersey in 1913 when the organiser, Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange was a French bicycle racer and sports journalist. He set 12 world track cycling records, including the hour record of 35.325 kilometres on 11 May 1893. He was the first organiser of the Tour de France.-Origins:Henri Desgrange was one of two brothers, twins...
, asked him to wear a coloured jersey. Thys declined, saying making himself more visible in yellow would encourage other riders to ride against him.
He said:
- "He then made his argument from another direction. Several stages later, it was my team manager at PeugeotPeugeotPeugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...
, (Alphonse) Baugé, who urged me to give in. The yellow jersey would be an advertisement for the company and, that being the argument, I was obliged to concede. So a yellow jersey was bought in the first shop we came to. It was just the right size, although we had to cut a slightly larger hole for my head to go through."
He spoke of the next year's race, when "I won the first stage and was beaten by a tyre by Bossus in the second. On the following stage, the maillot jaune passed to Georget after a crash."
The Tour historian Jacques Augendre called Thys "a valorous rider... well-known for his intelligence" and said his claim "seems free from all suspicion". But: "No newspaper mentions a yellow jersey before the war. Being at a loss for witnesses, we can't solve this enigma."
The formal history, therefore, is that the first yellow jersey was worn by the Frenchman Eugène Christophe
Eugene Christophe
Eugène Christophe was a French road bicycle racer and pioneer of cyclo-cross. He was a professional from 1904 until 1926. In 1919 he became the first rider to wear the yellow jersey of the Tour de France .Eugène Christophe rode 11 Tours de France and finished eight...
in the stage from Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
to Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
on July 18, 1919. The colour was chosen either to reflect the yellow
Yellow
Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...
newsprint
Newsprint
Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper most commonly used to print newspapers, and other publications and advertising material. It usually has an off-white cast and distinctive feel. It is designed for use in printing presses that employ a long web of paper rather than individual sheets of...
of the organising newspaper, L'Auto
L'Équipe
L'Équipe is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sports, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of football , rugby, motorsports and cycling...
, or because yellow was an unpopular colour and therefore the only one available with which a manufacturer could create jerseys at late notice.
The two possibilities have been promoted equally but the idea of matching the colour of Desgrange's newspaper seems more probable because Desgrange wrote: "This morning I gave the valiant Christophe a superb yellow jersey. You already know that our director decided that the man leading the race [de tête du classement général] should wear a jersey in the colours of L'Auto. The battle to wear this jersey is going to be passionate." It is possible, of course, that the availability of only yellow in sufficient quantities proved a happy chance for L'Auto and that Desgrange was justifying a choice that he had never had to make.
Christophe disliked wearing it, anyway, and complained that spectators imitated canaries whenever he passed. It was a habit encouraged by his nickname of Cri-Cri (from "Christophe") which is French babytalk for a bird. Christophe remembered riders and spectators teasing: "Ah, the yellow jersey! Isn't he beautiful, the canary? What are you doing, Madame Cri-Cri", adding, "And that lasted the whole course."
There was no formal presentation when Christophe wore his first yellow jersey in Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
, from where the race left at 2am for the 325 km to Geneva. He was given it the night before and tried it on later in his hotel.
In the next Tour de France in 1920, the yellow jersey was initially not awarded, but after the ninth stage, it was introduced again.
After Desgrange's death, his stylized initials were added to the yellow jersey, originally on the chest. They moved in 1969 to the sleeve to make way for a logo advertising Virlux. A further advertisement for the clothing company Le Coq Sportif
Le Coq Sportif
Le Coq Sportif is a French company producing sports equipment such as shoes, shorts, and T-shirts. It was founded in 1882 by Émile Camuset, but the first clothing items branded with the rooster appeared in 1948...
appeared at the bottom of the zip fastener at the neck, the first supplementary advertisement on the maillot jaune.
Desgrange's initials returned to the front of the jersey in 1972, some years on the left, others on the right. They were removed in 1984 to make way for a commercial logo but Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
added them again in 2003
2003 Tour de France
The 2003 Tour de France started and ended in Paris. Lasting from July 5 to July 27 the race covered 3,427.5 km , proceeding clockwise in twenty stages around France, including six major mountain stages...
as part of the Tour's centenary celebrations. One set of initials is now worn on the upper right chest of the jersey.
The original yellow jerseys were of conventional style. Riders had to pull them over their head on the rostrum. For many years the jersey was made in only limited sizes and many riders found it a struggle to pull one on, especially when tired or wet. The presentation jersey is now made with a full-length zip at the back and the rider pulls it on from the front, sliding his hands through the sleeves rather like a strait-jacket. He then receives three further jerseys each day, plus money (referred to as the "rent") for each day he leads the race.
There is no copyright on the yellow jersey and it has been imitated by many other races, although not always for the best rider overall: in the Tour of Benelux yellow is worn by the best young rider.
The Lance Armstrong Foundation donated the yellow jersey from Armstrong's fourth Tour de France win (2002) to the National Museum of American History
National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. Among the items on display are the original Star-Spangled Banner and Archie Bunker's...
, a branch of the Smithsonian.
In American English it is sometimes referred to as the mellow johnny, a mispronunciation of its French name originally by Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...
, who wore it many times while winning the 1999-2005 races. Armstrong also uses the name "Mellow Johnny" for his Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
-based bike shop.
Rules
The Tour de France, and other bicycle stage races, are decided by totalling the time each rider takes on the daily stages. Time can be added or subtracted from this total time as bonuses or penalties for winning individual stages or being first to the top of a climb or for infractions of the rules. The rider with the lowest overall time at the end of each stage receives a ceremonial yellow bicycling jersey and the right to start the next stage, usually the next day, of the Tour in the yellow jersey.The rider to receive the yellow jersey after the last stage in Paris, is the overall (or ultimate) winner of the Tour.
Similar leader's jerseys exist in other cycling races, but are not always yellow (the color being chosen by the individual race organizers). The Tour of California uses gold, the Giro d'Italia
Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...
uses pink and the Tour Down Under
Tour Down Under
The Tour Down Under is a cycling race in Adelaide, South Australia and surrounding area. The race starts on the third Tuesday of January each year and attracts riders from across Australia and the world. In 2005, the Tour Down Under was promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale to the...
uses an ochre
Ochre
Ochre is the term for both a golden-yellow or light yellow brown color and for a form of earth pigment which produces the color. The pigment can also be used to create a reddish tint known as "red ochre". The more rarely used terms "purple ochre" and "brown ochre" also exist for variant hues...
-coloured jersey, as ochre is a colour strongly associated with Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, particularly its desert regions. Until 2009 the Vuelta a España
Vuelta a España
The Vuelta a España is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages...
used gold; since 2010 the leader's jersey is red.
More than one rider leading the general classification
In the early years of the Tour de France, the time was measured in minutes. Although usually cyclists were seconds apart, sometimes several cyclists shared the same time. In 1913, before the introduction of the yellow jersey, this had happened with the two leaders, Philippe ThysPhilippe Thys
Philippe Thys was a Belgian cyclist and three times winner of the Tour de France.-Professional career:...
and Jean Rossius
Jean Rossius
Jean Rossius was a Belgian road racing cyclist who won five stages in total in the Tour de France. In the 1914 Tour de France he finished in fourth place in the overall classification, his best finishing.- Palmarès :1914...
.
After the introduction of the yellow jersey in 1919, the situation occurred twice more. The first time was in 1929, when even three riders had the same time when the race reached Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
. Nicolas Frantz
Nicolas Frantz
Nicolas Frantz , born in Mamer, Luxembourg, was a bicycle racer with 60 professional racing victories over his 12-year career . He rode for the Thomann team in 1923 and then for Alcyon-Dunlop from 1924 to 1931. He won the Tour de France in 1927 and 1928.Nicolas Frantz was the son of a prosperous...
of Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
and the Frenchmen Victor Fontan
Victor Fontan
Victor Fontan was a French cyclist who led the 1929 Tour de France but dropped out after knocking at doors at night to ask for another bicycle. His plight led to a change of rules to prevent its happening again...
and André Leducq
André Leducq
André Leducq was a French cyclist who won the 1930 and 1932 Tour de France.-Career:...
all rode in yellow, although none held it to the finish in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
In 1931, the situation occurred for the second time, when Charles Pélissier
Charles Pélissier
Charles Pélissier was a French racing cyclist, professional between 1922 and 1939, who won 16 stages in the Tour de France. The number of eight stages won in the 1930 Tour de France is still a record, shared with Eddy Merckx and Freddy Maertens...
and Rafaele di Paco were both leading with the same time.
The problem of joint leaders was resolved by giving the jersey to whichever rider had the best daily finishing places earlier in the race. The introduction of a short time trial at the start of the race in 1967 - the prologue time trial - meant riders have since been divided by fractions of seconds recorded in that race, excepting the 2008
2008 Tour de France
The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th Tour de France. The event took place from 5–27 July 2008. Starting in the French city of Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16th, heading for Paris, its regular final destination, which was reached in the 21st stage...
and 2011
2011 Tour de France
-Pre-race favourites:2010 winner Alberto Contador was suspended from cycling during a doping investigation from September 2010 to February 2011, during which time 2010 runner-up Andy Schleck was regarded as the favourite. When the suspension was lifted, Contador declared his desire to compete in...
editions. According to the ASO rules
- "In the event of a tie in the general ranking, the hundredth of a second recorded by the timekeepers during the individual time trial stages will be included in the total times in order to decide the overall winner and who takes the yellow jersey. If a tie should still result from this, then the places achieved for each stage are added up and, as a last resort, the place obtained in the final stage is counted."
No riders in yellow
Riders who became race leader through the misfortune of others have ridden next day without the yellow jersey.In 1950
1950 Tour de France
The 1950 Tour de France was the 37th Tour de France, taking place from 13 July to 7 August 1950. It consisted of 22 stages over 4775 km, ridden at an average speed of 32.788 km/h....
, Ferdi Kubler of Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
rode in his national jersey rather than yellow when the race leader, Fiorenze Magni abandoned the race along with the Italian team in protest at threats said to have been made by spectators.
Eddy Merckx
Eddy Merckx
Edouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx , better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional cyclist. The French magazine Vélo called him "the most accomplished rider that cycling has ever known." The American publication, VeloNews, called him the greatest and most successful cyclist of all...
declined the jersey in 1971
1971 Tour de France
The 1971 Tour de France was the 58th Tour de France, taking place June 26 to July 18, 1971. It consisted of 22 stages over , ridden at an average speed of ....
after its previous wearer, Luis Ocaña
Luis Ocaña
Jesús Luis Ocaña Pernía was a Spanish road bicycle racer who won the Tour de France in 1973 and the Vuelta a España in 1970.- Early professional career :...
, crashed on the col de Mente in the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
.
The Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk
Joop Zoetemelk
Hendrik Gerardus Jozef "Joop" Zoetemelk is a retired professional racing cyclist from the Netherlands who has emigrated to France. He started the Tour de France 16 times and finished every time, a record. He won the race in 1980 and also came eighth, fifth, fourth and second...
did not wear the yellow jersey that passed to him in 1980
1980 Tour de France
The 1980 Tour de France was the 67th Tour de France. The total distance was 3945.5 km over 22 stages, the average speed of the riders was 35.317 km/h....
when his rival, Bernard Hinault
Bernard Hinault
Bernard Hinault is a former French cyclist known for five victories in the Tour de France. He is one of only five cyclists to have won all three Grand Tours, and the only cyclist to have won each more than once. He won the Tour de France in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985...
retired with a knee injury.
In 1991
1991 Tour de France
The 1991 Tour de France was the 78th Tour de France, taking place July 6 to July 28, 1991. The total race distance was 22 stages over 3914 km, with riders averaging 38.747 km/h.-Stages:-General classification:-External links:* *...
, Greg LeMond
Greg LeMond
Gregory James LeMond is a former professional road bicycle racer from the United States and a three-time winner of the Tour de France. He was born in Lakewood, California and raised in Reno, Nevada....
rode without the jersey after a crash eliminated Rolf Sørensen
Rolf Sørensen
Rolf Sørensen is a former Danish professional road bicycle racer. He is the most successful Danish bicycle racer ever, with his 53 victories over 17 seasons. He is currently working as a cycling commentator and agent. Born in Helsinge in Denmark, Sørensen moved to Italy at the age of 17, where he...
of Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
.
In 2005
2005 Tour de France
The 2005 Tour de France was the 92nd Tour de France, taking place from July 2 to July 24, 2005. It comprised 21 stages over 3592.5 km, the winner's average speed was 41.654 km/h. The first stages were held in the département of the Vendée, for the third time in 12 years. The 2005 Tour was...
, Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...
refused to start in the yellow jersey after the previous owner, David Zabriskie
David Zabriskie
David Zabriskie is a professional road bicycle racer from the United States who rides for . His main strength is individual time trials and his career highlights include stage wins in all three Grand Tour stage races and winning the US National Time Trial Championship six times...
, was eliminated by a crash, but put it on after the neutral zone on request of the race organizers.
The yellow jersey on the first day of the Tour is traditionally permitted to be worn by the winner of the previous year's race; however, wearing it is a choice left to the rider, and in recent years has gone out of fashion. If the winner does not ride, the jersey is not worn. The previous year's winner traditionally has race number "1" (with his teammates given the other single-digit racing numbers), with subsequent sets of numbers determined by the highest classified riders for that team in the previous Tour. The lead riders for a particular team will often wear the first number in the series (11, 21, 31 and so forth), but these riders are not necessarily contenders for the general classification - teams led by sprinters will often designate the maillot vert contender as their lead rider.
In 2007
2007 Tour de France
The 2007 Tour de France, the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 July to 29 July 2007. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain...
there was neither a yellow jersey at the start of the race nor a number 1; the previous winner, Floyd Landis
Floyd Landis
Floyd Landis is an American retired cyclist who after initially being awarded victory in the 2006 Tour de France was stripped of his title for a doping offense. He was an all-around rider, with special skills in climbing and time-trialing, and is also known to be a very fast descender.Landis...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
failed a doping control after the race and organisers declined to declare an official winner pending arbitration of the Landis case. On September 20, 2007, Landis was officially stripped of his title following the arbitration court's guilty verdict, and the 2006 title passed to Óscar Pereiro; in 2008
2008 Tour de France
The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th Tour de France. The event took place from 5–27 July 2008. Starting in the French city of Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16th, heading for Paris, its regular final destination, which was reached in the 21st stage...
, the runner-up in 2007, Cadel Evans
Cadel Evans
Cadel Lee Evans is an Australian professional racing cyclist and winner of the 2011 Tour de France. Early in his career, Evans was a champion mountain biker, winning the World Cup in 1998 and 1999 and placing seventh in the men's cross-country mountain bike race at the 2000 Summer Olympics in...
was given the race number "1" when the 2007 winner, Alberto Contador
Alberto Contador
Alberto Contador Velasco is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam . He was the winner of the 2007 Tour de France with the team. With the Astana team he has won the 2008 Giro d'Italia, the 2008 Vuelta a España, the 2009 Tour de France, the 2010 Tour de France and won 2011 Giro...
was unable to defend his title due to a dispute between the organisers ASO and his new team Astana barring that team from riding the Tour.
Scandal in yellow
In 1978 the Belgian rider Michel PollentierMichel Pollentier
Michel Pollentier is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer. He became professional in 1973. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1977 Giro d'Italia....
became race leader after attacking on the Alpe d'Huez
Alpe d'Huez
L'Alpe d'Huez is a ski resort at . It is a mountain pasture in the Central French Alps, in the commune of Huez, in the Isère département in the Rhône-Alpes region.-Tour de France:L'Alpe d'Huez is one of the main mountains in the Tour de France...
. He was disqualified the same day after trying to cheat a drugs test.
In 1988, Pedro Delgado
Pedro Delgado
Pedro Delgado Robledo , also known as Perico, is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. He won the 1988 Tour de France, as well as the Vuelta a España in 1985 and 1989....
of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
won the Tour despite a drugs test which showed he had taken a drug which could be used to hide the use of steroids. News of the test was leaked to the press by the former organiser of the Tour, Jacques Goddet
Jacques Goddet
Jacques Goddet was a French sports journalist and director of the Tour de France from 1936 to 1986....
. Delgado was allowed to continue because the drug, probenecid
Probenecid
Probenecid is a uricosuric drug that increases uric acid excretion in the urine. It is primarily used in treating gout and hyperuricemia.Probenecid was developed as an alternative to caronamide...
, was not banned by the Union Cycliste Internationale
Union Cycliste Internationale
Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland....
.
The 1996 winner, Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Lykkegård Riis , nicknamed The Eagle from Herning , is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer who placed first in the 1996 Tour de France, and is now the team owner and manager of Danish UCI ProTour outfit Team Saxo Bank Sungard...
of Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
said in 2007 that he had used drugs during the race. He was asked to stay away from that year's Tour. Riis, as directeur sportif
Directeur sportif
A directeur sportif is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event...
of the Danish Team CSC
Team CSC
Team Saxo Bank-SunGard is a professional cycling team from Denmark. It competes in the UCI ProTour. The team is owned and managed by former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis, under the management of his company Riis Cycling. The sponsor is a Danish investment bank.Founded for 1998 Team home – Jack...
(now called Team Saxo Bank), has implemented a stringent drug-testing regime for the team's riders, and has become an important voice against doping in the sport.
The 2006 winner, Floyd Landis
Floyd Landis
Floyd Landis is an American retired cyclist who after initially being awarded victory in the 2006 Tour de France was stripped of his title for a doping offense. He was an all-around rider, with special skills in climbing and time-trialing, and is also known to be a very fast descender.Landis...
was disqualified more than a year after the race. After he failed a doping control after his stunning Stage 17 victory, an arbitration panel declared him guilty of doping in September 2007, after which the official title for the 2006 Tour passed to Óscar Pereiro. Landis appealed his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is an international arbitration body set up to settle disputes related to sport. Its headquarters are in Lausanne and its courts are located in New York, Sydney and Lausanne, Switzerland...
but lost this appeal at the end of June 2008 allowing Oscar Pereiro to start the 2008 edition of Le Tour de France as the unqualified 2006 Tour champion.
In 2007, the Danish rider Michael Rasmussen
Michael Rasmussen
Michael Rasmussen is a Danish professional road bicycle racer who rides for the Danish team Christina Watches-Onfone. In the 2007 Tour de France, Rasmussen, while in the yellow jersey, had his contract terminated by his team and was removed from the Tour...
was withdrawn from the race by his team after complaints that he had not made himself available for drugs tests earlier in the year. Rasmussen said he had been in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
but there were reports that he had been seen training in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Maurice Garin
Maurice Garin
Maurice-Francois Garin was a road bicycle racer best known for winning the inaugural Tour de France in 1903, and for being stripped of his title in the second Tour in 1904 along with eight others, for cheating.-Origins:Garin was born the son of Maurice Clément Garin and Maria Teresa...
won the Tour de France before yellow jerseys were awarded but in 1904 he was disqualified as winner after complaints that he and other riders had cheated. The allegations disappeared along with the Tour de France's other archives when they were taken south in 1940 to avoid the German invasion. But a man who as a small boy knew Garin recalled that the old man had admitted catching a train part of the way.
Record days in yellow
The rider who has most worn the yellow jersey is the Belgian Eddy Merckx, who wore it 96 days. The greatest number of riders to wear the jersey in a single edition of Le Tour de France is eight, which happened in 1958 and 1987. The 2008 edition of Le Tour witnessed seven wearers (Alejandro Valverde, Roman Feillu, Stefan Schumacher, Kim Kirchen, Cadel Evans, Frank Schleck, Carlos Sastre), leaving the record unbroken.The man who refused the yellow jersey
The yellow jersey was made for decades, like all other cycling jerseys, from wool. No synthetic fibres existed which had both the warmth and the absorption of wool. Embroidery was expensive and so the only lettering to appear on the jersey was the H.D. of Desgrange's initials. Riders added the name of the team for which they were riding or the professional team for which they normally rode (in the years when the Tour was for national rather than sponsored teams) by attaching a panel of printed cloth to the front of the jersey by pins.While synthetic material didn't exist in a way to create whole jerseys, synthetic thread or blends were added in 1947, following the arrival of Sofil as a sponsor. Sofil made artificial yarn. Riders believed in the pureness of wool, and especially the Frenchman Louison Bobet
Louison Bobet
Louis 'Louison' Bobet was a French professional road racing cyclist. He was the first great French rider of the post-war period and the first rider to win the Tour de France in three successive years, from 1953 to 1955...
, or Louis Bobet as he was still known.
Bobet insisted that cyclists needed wool for their long days of sweating in the heat and dust. It was a matter of hygiene. Artificial fabrics made riders sweat too much. And, in his first Tour de France, he refused to wear the jersey with which he had been presented.
Goddet recalled:
- "It produced a real drama. Our contract with Sofil was crumbling away. If the news had got out, the commercial effect would have been disastrous for the manufacturer. I remember debating it with him a good part of the night. Louison was always exquisitely courteous but his principles were as hard as the granite blocks of his native Brittany coast."
No compromise was possible. Goddet had to get Sofil to produce another jersey overnight, its logo still visible but artificial fabric absent.
"Elegance in yellow"
For the veteran writer and television broadcaster Jean-Paul Ollivier, the woollen yellow jersey...- "...gave the riders a rare elegance, even if the way it caught the air left something to be desired. In wool, then in Rovyl - a material used for making underwear - it entered into legend for the quality of those who wore it. Those were the years of national teams. In 1930 Henri Desgrange, the organiser, decided that commercially-sponsored teams were contriving to spoil his race and opted instead for teams representing countries. The Tour de France stayed that way until 1962, when it reverted to commercial teams with the exception of 1967 and 1968 and the riders knotted on their jerseys a spare tyre [across the shoulders] A narrow slip of white cotton placed on the chest showed discreetly the name of the sponsor outside the Tour: La Perle, MercierMercierMercier is a common family name in France, in French-speaking regions of Belgium, Canada and Switzerland, and is found elsewhere where French-speaking people have settled.-List of persons with the surname:...
, Helyett..."
The advent of printing by flocking, a process in which cotton fluff is sprayed on to stencilled glue, and then of screen printing, combined with the domination of synthetic materials to increase the advertising on jerseys: the domination which Ollivier regrets. "All sorts of fantasies such as fluorescent jerseys or shorts," he said. Such was the quantity of advertising when Bernard Thévenet
Bernard Thévenet
Bernard Thévenet, born 10 January 1948, in Saint-Julien-de-Civry, Saône-et-Loire, is a retired French bicycle racer. He is a two-time winner of the Tour de France and known for ending the reign of five-time Tour champion Eddy Merckx...
accepted the yellow jersey when the Tour finished for the first time on the Champs Elysées in 1975 that the French sports minister counted all the logos and protested to broadcasters. Since then the number of people with access to the podium has been restricted.
Sponsorship
The French bank, Crédit LyonnaisCrédit Lyonnais
Crédit Lyonnais is a historic French bank. In the early 1990s it was the largest French bank, majority state-owned at that point. Crédit Lyonnais was the subject of poor management during that period which almost led to its bankruptcy in 1993...
, has sponsored the maillot jaune since 1987. The company has been a commercial partner of the Tour since 1981. It awards a toy lion - le lion en peluche - to each day's winner as a play on its name. In 2007, sponsorship of the jersey was credited to LCL, the new name for Crédit Lyonnais following its takeover by another bank, Crédit Agricole
Crédit Agricole
Crédit Agricole S.A. is the largest retail banking group in France, second largest in Europe and the eighth largest in the world by Tier 1 capital according to The Banker magazine. It is also part of the CAC 40 stock market index....
.
External links
- Velo News: "The legend of the maillot jaune"