Tour De France: A Beginner’s Guide To The World’s Most Famous Bike Race!

The Tour De France. The biggest race in the world! Many of us know that it’s a bike race around France however, there’s a lot more than what meets the eye. We dive into the rules and the history of the race in this complete beginner’s guide! 🇫🇷

0:00 – Intro
1:02 – History
1:50 – Routes and rules
5:06 – Jerseys
6:29 – Stage types
7:48 – Breakaways
8:55 – Teams

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in this video I’m about to give you the full beginner’s guide to the Tour de France that will hopefully give you a full understanding on just how this race Works essentially the Tour of France is a race around France on bikes first one to finish is the winner but if you’ve been drawn into watching the action you’ll know that the battle for victory is a fascinating one most probably you’ll also have a few questions because the deeper you dig into the tour the more you’ll realize that it’s not just a case of riding your bike as hard as you can and crossing the line first star it’s worth saying that we’ll have every stage of the Tour de France and Tour de France fam a vexwift live and uninterrupted on GCM plus throughout July as well as daily highlights got replays available on demand we’ve got expert pre and postage analysis on our show the Breakaway and we have an exclusive world of cycling rest day show to get you into all the action of the Tour de France you can be sure that we can cover and show you every single angle of this incredible race now though let’s get on to a bit the men’s Tour de France began in 1903 and has run every year since despite a pause throughout world war one and two began as a way of promoting the French newspaper La Otto and its original format was around two and a half thousand kilometers long over only six stages since 1955 there have been various different formats of a women’s tour of France but the 2022 Edition known as the Tour de France fam of X zwift is thought to hopefully be the official women’s equivalent of the men’s race that will now run for years to come both men’s and women’s races are held in July each year the men’s race is three weeks long whilst the women’s is currently eight days long and starts immediately after the men’s Edition finishes the route around France changes each year but usually crosses the country’s main mountain ranges the Pyrenees and Alps sometimes the race May cross the border and go into neighboring countries the start of the race often starts abroad for example the UK Belgium Holland and Denmark have all hosted the start of the men’s race in recent years in 2023 The Men start in Spain the reason for this is that the start of the Tour de France is lucrative for the host City due to increased tourism and economic activity race organizers will start the race in the city or country that pays the most before heading back to France a bit like the football World Cup moving around the world but I won’t see my keycaps now Riders aren’t Racing for three solid weeks non-stop though the route is broken down into stages currently one through to 21 for the men and one through to eight for the women Riders start each stage together race to the end of that stage then the time stops when they finish that stage the cumulative time is added up as the race progresses and the one who finishes the Tour de France with the lowest cumulative time is declared the winner by the end of the race drafting is key to cycling’s tactics if you’re riding behind someone you get a massive Advantage as those in front of you are breaking the wind making it easier to Pedal so generally in the sport of cycling if you’re riding with someone on their wheel you’re considered to be in the same group as them if you ride hard enough to drop that person off your wheel get them out the back so to speak that’s when you start to accept that time gaps are developing and that’s when they’re counted at the Finish overall time is noted in a general classification or GC throughout the race the current leader or person who has that lowest cumulative time across all previous stages wears the yellow Jersey the rider who leads that General classification after the final stage keeps that yellow Jersey and is declared a winner of the race in 2023 22 different teams each made up of eight Riders start the men’s race that’s 176 riders in total there are also 22 teams in the women’s race but they have seven riders in each Squad 154 riders in total worth saying as well the Tour de France is one event in many in Pro cycling the average is like The Monuments Piru Bay Milan San Remo Vineyard Grand tours of Italy France and Spain which are generally considered the most prestigious the Tour de France being the race that is the one that Riders fans alike are all looking towards and if you win here that is the big win but if you’re at home are watching the tour and you’re thinking I’m enjoying Pro cycling I want to know a bit more then I definitely recommend checking out the complete fans guide to Pro cycling which you can buy in the gcn shop gives you a really great overview of all the intricacies of cycling the racing the tactics the bikes the teams everything you need to know about that Race Canada 2 which runs from January all the way through to October time and there is so much going on so much to watch and enjoy so definitely Feast your eyes in it and broaden your knowledge with a complete fans guide Pro cycling foreign ERS then is famous it’s recognizable as the jersey of the Tour de France it’s what about the the green the White and the polka dot jerseys well yellow is the main event the biggest prize but the others are still hotly contested polka dot is for the winner of the mountains classification so on each stage as the route crosses climbs there will be a line across the top of each official Hill or Mountain depending on the difficulty of that climb there will be points on offer for the first few Riders across the top big high mountains are worth more points than smaller Hills the rider with the most overall points as the race progresses gets to where the polka dot Jersey winner keeps it at the Finish green jersey is very similar to polka dots but instead of mountains points are one on Sprints throughout each stage and at the finish line so in certain towns on Route during the stage there will be a line and rather Sprint to each one to earn points usually there be one of these intermediate sprints on Route each stage the bulk of points are won at the Finish which is why the green jersey is usually worn and won by a rider that is best suited to sprinting white jersey is the exact same scenario as the yellow Jersey but it’s only for Riders less than 26 years in age the root of the Tour de France is varied so you have the big high mountains of the Alps and Pyrenees shorter steeper climbs you may find in the likes of Brittany or the Pan flat roads around Bordeaux for example this means that certain stages are suited to different sorts of riders and winning those individual stages is a huge Accolade within the sports of cycling itself generally flatter stages are one by sprinters who have fast explosive strength that they use to produce a quick turn of speed right at the finish of the race whereas more mountainous stages are usually won by Riders who can sustain longer efforts on climbs with high power relative to their body weight think of it like comparing a 100 meter Sprinter to a marathon runner in the Tour de France everyone is in the same race but depending on the stage different Riders get their opportunity to shine time gaps are usually greater in the mountains so that’s why the winner of the Tour de France is normally someone who can climb well but also be well-rounded enough to successfully get through all the different stages that make up the race sprinters as well they have more opportunities to go for the win another reason why that green Jersey often Falls to a sprinter type Rider often if you start watching a stage of the Tour de France live you’ll notice that a group of riders are ahead and followed by the main Bunch or Peloton with a gap between them staying pretty consistent that group at the front is called a breakaway sages are long anywhere between 120 and 250 kilometers Riders don’t race hard from the start all the way to the Finish it’d be virtually impossible to sustain that for three weeks let alone one day instead you’ll see a number of riders trying to break clear early on and build an advantage the bunch behind them will then settle into a pace and chase them down this usually falls to the team of the yellow Jersey wearer or the team who think they have the best chance of winning that stage it’s tough out front and more often than not the Breakaway is caught before the Finish but every now and again they managed to stay away and batter it out for the win that’s why you often see a really ferocious fight at the start of each stage to get into that Breakaway plus any Rider that does manage to get there is a whole load of live TV time which is absolutely brilliant for the sponsors of each Squad riders in the race receive support from their team during and around each stage in the race there’ll be a number of Team casts following the riders with spare bikes wheels and the team’s manager who can communicate with each of their Riders via a radio a rider is allowed to also drop back whenever they want to talk to their manager in the car about tactics the weather get some more food or ask for a change of equipment this is relatively easy to do but it’s not possible all the time especially when the pace is high remember there are 22 teams so that’s a whole load of cars behind in what you call the Convoy and if you’re going to go back you need to be sure that no one’s going to launch an important attack in the race because if they do and you’re caught back chatting to your team boss about the weather it’s not the best look and it’s not really going to help you in the GC battle that’s why feed zones are set up on Route Surf Riders don’t want to go to their car they can grab more water food from a team helper on the roadside and I think a team is really key to performance at the tour not just in equipment but also in supporting one main Rider to try and win the race overall domestics are riders in the squad whose role is to look after their main Rider keep them out of the wind fetch some bottles chase down attacks and generally support their bid for yellow Glory not everyone can win and a good domestic or super domestic who can support a potential yellow Jersey winner is a lucrative and respective role one person wins in cycling but behind that person it’s a real team sport with no team or a weak Squad it is extremely hard to be successful at the Tour de France there you go then the Tour de France the greatest race on Earth and for the month of July the reason that cycling fever grips France and the cycling world I hope this video has added you to understand it a little bit more and if it did please give it a big thumbs up and let us know in the comments when you first started watching cycling what did you find most confusing and be sure to check out the action on GCM plus because this year’s Edition is going to be an absolute cracker thanks all for watching everyone we’ll see you on the next video