TdF questions

Peloton -- undulating wave of color. A beautiful sight. Don't know why they named it that, but it'll do.

Feeling really new again, this is my educational tv show for the month.

What the heck is a "cheeky-boo?" That dude mentioned that something would be a "cheeky-boo" at around 9k to go.

Yellow shirt, guy who's wining
White shirt, best newbie (I could have one of those!)
dot shirt, king of the hill

green shirt???????????


Today there was new stuff for me: the climbs. And what was new about it was that the hills were "graded" -- so what's a class 5, etc. hill? It looks to me like smaller number, bigger climb, but there must be some definition to those classifications? I want to know how much of a hill they're climbing when it's called a 2 or 3, or whatever...


Karen in Boise

Green jersey - sprinter

Climbs are rated based on length and steepness Hors categorie (outside category) being the toughest, then 1 through 4, four being the easiest.

ETA - I just found this:
4th Category - the lowest category, climbs of 200-500 feet(70-150m).

3rd Category - climbs of 500-1600 feet(150-500m).

2nd Category - climbs of 1600-2700 ft.(500-800m)

1st Category - climbs of 2700-5000ft(800-1500m)

Hors Category - the hardest, climbs of 5000ft+(1500m+)

or Green jersey ... Credit Agricole team member. But then I guess that goes for any color jersey, since the teams can't have colorless ones.

Here's a little guide that will help.

http://www.sportspectator.com/fancen...rdefrance.html

Don't think of the white jersey as the best newbie. It's for the best young rider, those under 26. Some can be in the competition for this jersey for a couple years depending on when they ride their first tour. So you can be young but not a newbie.

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Originally Posted by Kano

Peloton -- undulating wave of color. A beautiful sight. Don't know why they named it that, but it'll do.
Today there was new stuff for me: the climbs. And what was new about it was that the hills were "graded" -- so what's a class 5, etc. hill? It looks to me like smaller number, bigger climb, but there must be some definition to those classifications? I want to know how much of a hill they're climbing when it's called a 2 or 3, or whatever...

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Peloton = "pack" or "group", similar in meaning to "platoon" in English.

Climb/hill categories: 4, 3, 2, 1, plus "hors categorie". Cat 4 being the easiest, Cat 1 being very difficult. The toughest of all, the "hors categorie" (above category), a climb so long and/or steep it is beyond the regular classifications.

I'm going to have to guess that a "cheeky-boo" was a Britishism describing a nasty bit of twisty, turny or other wise dangerous bit of roadway coming into the finish or perhaps it was a small crash. An American might say something like a whoopsy doo? maybe

The climbs are classified so that the polka dot jersey can be awarded - they are classed from 4 to HC (hors categorie - or beyond catagorization in French) 4 is the easiest climb that a rider can score points on, 3,2,1 they get harder and HC is the hardest of all. Now how they are classified is a bit of a dark art. A lot of it has to do with the length and gradient of the climb, but then again the same climb might actually be catagorized differently depending on where it falls in the race. At the beginning of a stage a hard climb might be called a 1, but if it falls at the end of the race the same climb might be an HC.

History lesson:
Quite right the Categorisation of the climbs is based on all those things.
But originally, when they would scout out a new climb they gave the gear the organisers' "Voiture" had to use to get to the top. Hence 4th category was fourth gear and 3rd category was a hill that they got to the summit in 3rd gear and so on. When the car couldn't make it to the top at all it was HC (hors categorie = out of category)

The Green Jersey , btw, is for points . Each day there are intermediate sprints with points for the winners, points for first over the top of some climbs, and at the arrivee itself points are given on down to 20th place (iirc). Sometimes referred to as the Sprinters' Jersey
Not to be confused with Credit Agricole (Thor and Julian's team). Usually they wear it with team shorts and that is how you can differentiate it from the CA strip

There is also the Combativite' which is a red number for the rider judged by a panel to have been the most agressive (eg done a breakaway) each day. it is awarded much later since it is a matter for deliberation. Thus we generally only see that in the evening on the round-up show or the preview the next day.

Nice explanation of "cheeky-boo"...and here I thought it might be referring to Vino's "cheeky-boo" sticking out of his shorts for the last 20K of the race yesterday! :p

I'm a tour newbie too... got interested after reading all the books that exist on Lance. (now I'm reading Floyd's)

I bought a book called 'Tour Fever - The armchair cyclist's guide to the Tour de France' by J.P. Partland. It was very helpful.

Can you tell I love to read ;)

What I have trouble understanding though is why do these guys attack early, stay in front the whole race and then get back in the peloton at the end and others win? What I think I understand after 5 stages is that they collect the points and let the leaders win the stage? They attack to get others to follow and so the teams get tired and can't sprint at the end?

Anyway I love it :D

First of all they just might stay there till the finish. I have seen it occasionally but it is definitely rare. Usually the peloton wont let a rider get too far ahead.
Second it is about visibility for the sponsors and teams.
Third a rider who is riding through his home region or town will often be allowed to do a bit of a breakaway. Or like today Bradley Wiggins off the front partly for his own presence and confidence but also a little bit to honour another British cyclist Tom Simpson who died 40 years ago today on the Ventoux (reportedly his last words were "get me back on the bike")
When it is a break of quite a few riders it is often so there is "somebody up there" for when the team's favourite(s) come up towards the finish.
Some riders are even known for mad breakaways. The Frenchman Jacky Durand springs to mind. Used to go off into the distance for 150 km stretches stage after stage (well not the mountains obviously). A rider like this usually wins the Combativite' of that day.

Whatever they do they have to have the permission of the Directeur Sportif.
Chess on wheels!

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Originally Posted by SadieKate

Here's a little guide that will help.

http://www.sportspectator.com/fancen...rdefrance.html

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Thank you for posting this link; I was clueless about the scoring and sub-races and couldn't find this info!

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Originally Posted by mekira

What I have trouble understanding though is why do these guys attack early, stay in front the whole race and then get back in the peloton at the end and others win? What I think I understand after 5 stages is that they collect the points and let the leaders win the stage? They attack to get others to follow and so the teams get tired and can't sprint at the end?

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They also get money. If you're a domestique with no real chance of winning a stage, here's a nice opporunity to bring in money and make your sponsors really happy with all the time in front of the cameras.

Vino's cheeky-boo. Good one! Though it looked more like a cheeky-OW!

I'm thinking that I need to send a DVD of this year's race to Serena Williams. She could use some role models for dealing with injury during an event.

I think you misunderstood and it was actually a "cheeky move" as in a daring or audacious maneuver.

It was probably Phil. Who knows what he says half the time.

I like cheeky-boo much better.

Hmmm, last year's tour coverage said peloton was French for "ball". Google translate says its French for "group". Now I will have to look this up in my French dictionary tonight. DH and I liked "ball", we started calling our lab's tennis balls "pelotons" when we didn't want to say the word "ball" (since she knows the word "ball", and then you're in trouble).