Enjoying Watching the Tour de France

Now that there isn't a standout American like disgraced Lance Armstrong competing in the annual Tour de France, the premier bicycle racing event in the world, interest in this championship has diminished in the United States.  Ironically, I have found that not having any particular bicyclist or country to root for has made it more interesting for me, as I have discovered that participating in the Tour involves a lot more than just being in good physical condition, jumping on a good bike, and pedaling your ass off...

For one thing, entrants in the Tour de France must be on one of the allotted 22 nine-bicyclist teams, making a total of 198.  Each team carries the banner of a country, but they are privately owned and sponsored...and countries can be represented by multiple teams.  Within a team, the roles of the various members are manifold: one, to support the "star" bicyclist in his quest for individual glory, two, work to maximize the team's score, and three, to aid individuals in the team to garner points or times for certain categories that the Tour awards...

As for the championships within the Tour de France, the most prestigious is the General, which is the title you usually hear going to the Tour's annual winner.  This is based on cumulative times spread out over the 21-stage, 2,200-mile course that winds its away across France.  There is also a Points championship competition that involves the top placers in each stage...as well as how well they do at each stage's halfway point.  A Mountains award goes to the bicyclist with the best overall time based on how they handle the climbing sections of the races.  A Young Rider prize goes to the entrant who is 25 or younger with the best cumulative time.  And the Team award...well, I suppose that one is self-evident...

I love how the Tour de France is covered on television, here on NBCSports (Gainesville's Cox Cable Channel 33).  I can either watch it live late in the morning (as I did today) or watch the day's racing replayed later at night.  The multiple camera angles of the race are amazing and give the viewer the sense of being there in the middle of it all.  And the almost virtual tour through France is stunningly beautiful as the contestants race through towns, country roads, and across mountains.  The most interesting thing I've been picking up about the Tour de France, though, is the "peloton"...the main group of bicyclists in the race, who ride excruciatingly close to each other and always seem to be on the verge of a domino-like multiple crash...like in one of the early scenes in the James Bond flick Goldeneye.  It gets even more scary when the road leads uphill or becomes much narrower.  The riders find refuge in the peloton in order to cut down on wind drag...by as much as 40%.  In each stage, there is always a small number of racers who go out in front, far ahead of the peloton.  As the race goes on and the end approaches, the leaders usually begin to fall back and the peloton gains on them.  Sometimes it catches up, but sometimes an early leader will gut it out to the end and win the stage.  And in order to avoid catastrophic collisions at the ends of races, all racers within the peloton group are given the same finishing time...as long as there is no intervening gap of a second or more between finishers...

At the start of each successive stage in the Tour de France, the competitor currently leading with the best cumulative time (General competition) wears a yellow jersey.  The one leading the Points competition wears a green jersey.  The leader in the Mountains competition gets a polka-dot jersey.  The Young Rider leader dons a white jersey, while the ongoing leaders in the Team competition get yellow helmets.  They seem to make a great deal about getting to wear these special jerseys and helmets: personally, I don't see the point in it other to cultivate fan interest and lend some temporary prestige to participants who may not stay at the top as the Tour progresses...

The Tour de France has just finished the 5th stage, which involved a more mountainous course than the previous ones.  This time around the peloton didn't catch up with the leaders, making me wonder whether the more challenging terrain had something to do with it.  Well, tomorrow is another day, and I'm confident the course will once again be interesting and distinctly different...