Tour de France Terms

Deciphering the Language of Cycling’s Greatest Race

Jul 19, 2009 Steven Slater

Cycling has a language all its own. This article will translate just a few of the words that during the race tend to fly by like a domestique on a breakaway

While American interest in the Tour peaked during Lance Armstrong's unprecedented seven-year domination of the event, many still find this "European" sporting event mystifying in its particulars. Are cyclists riding individually or as part of a team? Why do most of the riders stay in one large group, while others try to leap away from the pack? And what's so important about that yellow jersey? Read on for some of the answers.

Stage

A stage is one single day of riding. The Tour de France is a "stage race" which is a multi-day affair as opposed to "classics" which are one-day races. Stages vary greatly in their characteristics and anticipating them is essential to victory in the Tour. A flat stage will favor heavier, more muscular riders and will often end with a furious dash to the finish line amongst the top sprinters, whereas particularly mountainous stages are the domain of lighter-bodied climbers. A stage victory in the Tour de France is a major accomplishment, but it is in fact possible – albeit rare – for a cyclist to win the overall race without winning any individual stages, as Greg Lemond did in 1990.

Peloton

This is the main group of riders moving down the road as distinguished from the single or multiple groups of riders who break away (and yes, they're called "breakaways") from the main pack over the course of a stage.

Attack

To attack on a bicycle is a seemingly backward term. Rather than an assault, it's really an escape from other riders in the group. Timing an attack is a major part of cycling strategy: attack too early and you won't have the energy to keep away from the pack until the finish line. Attack too late and... well, you'll be left in the dust by someone else who attacked first.

Maillot Jaune

For those who don't speak French, it's pronounced "mayo jaun." It means "yellow jersey" and it's the Tour's highest honor. The wearer of the yellow jersey is the man who ended the previous day's stage with the lowest overall time in the Tour. There's actually no symbolism behind the jersey's color and its origin is a bit of a mystery. At this point yellow is worn as a matter of tradition and also because it's very easy to spot amongst the multicolored crush of other jerseys shooting along the road.

GC

This stands for "general classification," also called the "overall classification," and you'll hear this term a lot over the course of the race. Riders who are "GC contenders" are those with real aspirations of winning the Tour de France. The leader in the GC competition is the rider with the lowest cumulative time overall at that point, and will be easily spotted as the cyclist wearing the aforementioned maillot jaune. Usually a cycling team comes to the Tour with one rider clearly favored to place highly, though things don't always work out the way they're supposed to. In the 2003 Tour de France, Andreas Klöden, a support rider with Team T-Mobile outpaced his captain, Jan Ullrich, finishing third overall to Ullrich's fourth. Exactly who will be the frontrunner and who will play support is largely a matter of who finds himself with the lower overall time as the end of the Tour nears. Deciding who the team should throw their support behind is an issue of diplomacy, practicality and protocol. Occasionally however, rifts do appear in teams when support riders find themselves with better legs than their captains.

Domestiques

Another French term meaning "servant." These are the support riders. It might come as a surprise, but the majority of riders in the Tour come with no expectation, or even intention, of standing on a podium at the Tour's end. The job of most riders on a team is to assist their most talented members – the GC contenders – into positions where they can do the most damage. They ferry food and water, and may even be called upon to sacrifice their bicycle should their captain's become too damaged to ride. Their main function however is to ride at the front, creating a slipstream within which other cyclists can keep the same pace, but expend less energy – a practice known as "drafting." Often a group of cyclists on opposing teams will work together in a breakaway, taking turns at the front so as to keep themselves ahead of the peloton, thereby increasing their individual chances at a stage victory.

Phil Liggett

Not a cycling term exactly, but ask any Tour fan who "The Voice of Cycling" is and you'll get a quick answer followed possibly by one or two colorful impressions. A perennial presence in the commentator box, Liggett, often alongside co-anchor Paul Sherwin, has covered the Tour for 34 years and is known for his expressive, almost poetic, descriptions of the race and its riders.

The copyright of the article Tour de France Terms in Cycling & Mountain Biking is owned by Steven Slater. Permission to republish Tour de France Terms in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Tour de France peloton