An epic long distance cycling competition held over three weeks in and around France. It has been held annually since 1903 (with a couple of breaks for the two [World War]?s) usually in July/August?.
Divided into stages, each stage is a race held over one day. Most stages take place in France though it is very common to have a few stages in nearby countries (in 2001 there is one stage wholly outside France and two crossing a border). Not every day is a race day, some are rest days (so there are more days than stages).
Stages are varied: orindary road racing, mountain climbing, sprinting, time trial, team time trial.
The Jerseys
There are several prizes to be had, and generally a coloured jersey is associated with each prize. The current holder of the prize is entitled to wear the jersey when they are racing.
The yellow jersey is most prized. Awarded on the basis of overall time (time for all the stages raced so far added together).
The green jersey is awarded for sprint points. At certain points in a stage there might be a sprint checkpoint. The first few to cross the checkpoint are awarded sprint points, the person with the most sprint points so far can wear the green jersey. Often a group of cyclists approach a checkpoint together resulting in a furious sprint for the prized points, sometimes the whole peleton approaches a sprint checkpoint together and things can get very dangerous.
The mountain king wears the white jersey with red dots. Mountainous stages have checkpoints that award mountain points, the person with the most is the mountain king.
/2001 - an overview of the Tour de France of 2001
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