From Tour de France to Tour de Hilton Head

While we were celebrating the Fourth of July on this side of the pond, the 113th Tour de France got underway in … Barcelona, Spain. The route quickly took the riders into the Pyrenees and has been winding through France ever since. Riders will bring it home to Paris on July 26.

If you’ve been watching, you have been witnessing major climbs, breakaways, and some chaos at the finishes. You may be wondering whether Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar is going to win it all and even whether he could be the greatest cyclist of all time. If you’re new to the race, you are probably also asking what is behind the different colored jerseys.

The yellow jersey – or maillot jaune – is awarded at the end of each stage to the rider who currently has the lowest overall time. That means, it can change riders, although this race, it has mostly been Tadej Pogačar with Norwegian Torstein Træen wearing it early on.

The green jersey gets awarded to the rider with the most points for being fast in certain parts of the race, so it’s also known as the sprinter’s jersey. The “King of the Mountains,” or the first rider to make it up specific summits will get to wear the polka dot jersey. There is also a white one for the best young rider – young in this case being under 26.

If the same rider earns multiple jerseys, he (yes, he – the women’s Tour de France is in August) will wear the most important one, and the riders second in line for the others will wear those.

All this focus on jerseys has us excited because we recently launched our own Bike Doctor jersey, and we think it ranks up there with what the Tour de France offers. With a white background and bold stripes of red, yellow, and black complemented by our logo and the symbolic South Carolina palmetto and crescent moon, it’s sure to turn heads. And you don’t need to be the fastest or the best climber to get one!

This jersey swapping and the tour itself, continue for 21 days across 3,320 kilometers (2,062 miles) through seven regions of France. There are seven flat stages, four hilly stages, and eight mountain stages with two rest days. Competitors ride for four to six hours a day on carbon fiber bikes, no lighter than 6.8 kg.

In all, 23 teams with 184 total riders joined the Tour de France this year. And records are already being broken. On stage 11, Norwegian cyclist Søren Wærenskjold clocked an average speed of 50.91kph (31.63 mph). Downhill, riders might go 100 to 104 kph, and even on flats, they can get up to around 75 kph during sprints.

It’s no wonder that when they go by on a nice smooth road, like this year’s finish in Bordeaux, they are mostly a blur.

If this quick tour of the Tour de France has you inspired, grab a Bike Doctor jersey and your bike (or rent one from us), and hit the road!