TdF questions

[Eden]

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.

[margo49]

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.

[NJBikeGal]

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!

[mekira]

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

[margo49]

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!

[SadieKate]

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?

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.

[maillotpois]

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

[SadieKate]

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

I like cheeky-boo much better.

[Kano]

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)

Interesting!!! Now if it was related to what gear the guys used to bike up, then ALL of mine would be hors!

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

Green, speed/go, makes sense!

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.

ooooo, I hadn't noticed THAT! Don't recall hearing about that either...

Karen in Boise

[Kano]

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.

I kinda thought some sort of woop-de-doo too, Eden -- cute little bit of color commentary, though! It was in reference to something geographic toward the end of the race, I think. While they were distracted from talking about Vino's cheeky boo-boo!

Karen in Boise