The 104th Tour de France is well underway and now about to enter its final stages.  This week the riders have had the second of two rest days and will be completing the last stage (#21) on Sunday July 23rd .

A key tradition of the tour are the coveted jerseys that riders get to wear throughout the race, signifying the leaders in various categories.  Over the years the jerseys and categories have evolved a bit but we thought it relevant to know some history behind the most important three jerseys.

The overall leader of the multistage race wears a yellow jersey signifying the lowest cumulative time among the general classification.  Earned by collecting points for sprinting sections within a given course and for the final stretch to the finish line, the fastest sprinter wears green. 

They say that the Tour de France is often won or lost in the mountains because the stages in the Pyrenees and Alps are among the most difficult and allow for big chunks of time to be gained or lost.  The overall leader certainly needs to be a strong climber but the strongest climber gets to wear the The King of the Mountain jersey, white jersey with red polka-dots.

Where did these come from?

The tour has been around since 1903 and was originally hosted by the French news paper, L’Auto.  As a way to publicise their newspaper, which was printed on yellow paper, they chose to award the general classification leader the maillot jaune (french for ‘yellow jersey’).

The overall points category started in 1953 to bring more interested for the tour’s 50th anniversary. It is worn by the leader of the points classification. Points are being awarded in the intermediate sprints and the stage finishes.  The jersey is green because the original sponsor for this category was a company that manufactured garden equipment, particularly lawn mowers.

 KOM or King of the Mountain started as a category as early as 1933 but the category leader didn’t start wearing a special jersey until much later.  The colours were decided by the then sponsor, a Swiss chocolate maker by the brand name Chocolat Poulain.  Their chocolate bars were packaged in a very unique wrapper covered in a polka dots.

Ubiquity

These traditions from the longest running cycling race in history have become the standard for most professional cycling races around the world. But there are some differences in the details, like the special jersey worn by the overall leader is pink.