Quote Originally Posted by Eden View Post
I think it may have been first coined at very early TDF's - a red lantern used to be displayed on the caboose of a train to indicate that it was the last car - so the last guy in the race got dubbed the lantern rouge.
Yes, it did evolve from the TdF.
They used to give out a jersey for it, and it was quite tricky to keep the red jersey... you had to ensure you were finished within the time restriction, but still be slow enough to keep the jersey.
The riders who consistently got the Lanterne Rouge had to be very skilled at pacing themselves "just so".
One of last years bike mags - it was either RIDE, CycleSport or Bicycling Aus - had a list of Lanterne Rouge "winners" - some of these guys were able to win it 2-3 years running!

Like the "yellow jersey" has become synonmous with winner, "lanterne rouge" has become part of cycling vocab.