Champion Cyclists' Coloured Jerseys

Before you buy your next coloured T-shirt for cycling in your neighbourhood, you should know what some colours mean to the world champion road-cyclists:

§ the yellow jersey (or maillot jaune) in the Tour de France is probably the greatest prize in the world of cycling. It was introduced in 1919 by Henri Desgrange to allow spectators and journalists to identify the race leader. It is yellow because that was the colour of the pages of L'Auto - a newspaper that sponsored the race. After each stage, the yellow jersey is awarded to the person who is top of the overall classification; he wears this on the road the next day. The winner of the Tour de France is the yellow jersey holder after the final stage. He also wears the jersey on the first stage of the next tour. Eddy Merckx holds the record for most yellow jerseys worn.

§ The green jersey is worn by the winner of the secondary competition that is for the most consistent finisher: it generally goes to a sprint specialist.

§ The King of the Mountains is the third of the major competitions, the leader of which wears a red polka-dot on white jersey.

§ The Young Rider competition is fairly self-explanatory: the winner is the leading rider under the age of 26 in general classification. The Young Rider wears the white jersey.

§ The rainbow jersey is not a Tour de France award. The reigning World Road Race champion is entitled to wear the rainbow jersey.

The above notes are extracted from bbc.co.uk website.

Coloured jerseys are awarded at the end of each stage with different colours signifying different awards. A yellow jersey is worn by the overall leader of the tour, which means the rider with the fastest overall time. A green jersey is awarded to the cyclist with the most sprint points gained during that stage. Points are won by finishing in the top three at the end of the stage as well as some intermediate points during each stage. A white jersey with red dots is known as the hill climber jersey or polka dot jersey and is awarded to the cyclist who gained the most climbing points. Points are awarded to the first few cyclists to reach the summit of each climb section in a stage, with more points awarded to more difficult climbs. There is also a white jersey for the fastest young cyclist (under 25). Quoted from pubquiz