The race is complex. Each Stage is an unique race within the Tour held on each particular day. There are 21 stages, which cover a distance of over 3000 km, through hills, on the flat, and individual time trials. 171 riders started the bike race, and 148 remained this morning.

There are different jerseys because cyclists have different specialties: sprinters, climbers, time trialists and a rare group who have the winning combination of all three. Yesterday’s article had a little more on the time trial, which is a stage ridden by each rider without any team support, thus it is an ‘individual’ time trial. In a TT, riders leave the start line, staggered from lowest placed rider to Yellow Jersey holder. They are not allowed to ride in the slipstream of other riders, but must ride the total distance on their own, as fast as they can.

Each of the Jerseys is awarded to the rider who leads their specific classification in Paris. Each of the jerseys is awarded at the end of each Stage, but the prize money is awarded at the end of the Tour. Thus, the yellow jersey has been awarded to 7 different riders this year, but only 1 rider will wear the jersey in Paris and win the money, kiss beautiful girls, etc. It’s a bit like a Football ladder, where Team A is in 4th place at Week 3. At the end of the season, they hope to be in 1st place. Cadel Evans is currently in 4th place but at the end of the race, he wants to be in Yellow.

Cycling is almost as complex as the rules governing the playing of Rugby Union, AFL or Hockey. The best way to pick it up is to keep watching.

To answer the question of Why have so many jerseys, I think it makes it more interesting for the 170 riders that will not win the Overall Classification, and it makes for a more interesting race for spectators. For me, almost no sporting event has the excitement of a field of sprinters fighting, elbowing, willing themselves toward the line at speeds in excess of 65km/h. Without the points classification, there would be no incentive for the sprinters to ride.

C’mon Crikey this is really sub-par. You don’t have much credibility to attack politicians, etc if you can’t even publish a simple article on how a race works.