TdF questions

[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.

[HappyAnika]

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).

[mekira]

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).

I'm French canadian

Peloton is a group (of riders, also a military term)

Pelote is a ball (of yarn, of thread etc)

[margo49]

There are also yellow numbers for the riders in the leading team.

Riders who are national Road Race champions wear their national jerseys (Julian Dean, Christophe Moreau, Fabian Wegmanns, Big George etc.) National TT champions wear their national jerseys in the ITT's.
And the current world champion wears the Rainbow Jersey of that.
You can also see on the sleeves stripes of past national and world champions.