What is the Tour De France All About?

The route of the Tour changes from year to year and, with it, the distance. Though, no matter the year, the total mileage is always massive. In 2023, the Tour is 2,215 miles in total – a number that is split between each of the 21 stages.

One of the unique aspects of bike racing is that there are multiple smaller races taking place simultaneously within the race as a whole. Not everyone in the peloton (this is the name used to refer to all of the riders in the race) has the same objective – this creates dynamic tactics and adds a layer of strategy beyond simply being the first to finish. At the Tour de France, there are four primary classifications that riders compete for. Throughout the race stages, the leader of each classification gets to wear a special jersey that identifies their position.

The rider who completes every stage of the race in the shortest amount of time (calculated by adding up the start-to-finish time of all 21 stages) is awarded the Yellow General Classification jersey. This is what is usually referred to as “winning the Tour de France.” To win the General Classification (or GC for short), a rider must be consistent throughout the entire 3-week race. They don’t necessarily have to ever be the first one across the finish line on a stage, but they do need to place ahead of other riders who are competing for GC.

The Red Polka Dot jersey is awarded to the rider who acquires the most points in the mountains competition. Mountain points are awarded to riders based on their final position on mountaintop stage finishes or when they summit various climbs along the course. Climbs along the course are given a difficulty rating which correlates with the number of points that are given out for that climb – more points are awarded for more difficult climbs. The categories of climbs start with category 4 being the easiest and category 1 being very difficult; however, for the most formidable climbs, there is another category known in French as Hors Catégorie (HC) or beyond categorization. When a course has an Hors Catégorie climb on it, you know it will be a challenging day for the riders.

Similar to the Mountains competition, the Green Points Classification jersey is awarded to the rider who collects the most points over the entire race, not just on the climbs. There are points available in a number of situations including flat stage finishes, mountain finishes, time trials, and intermediate sprints that are in the middle of stages.

While the aforementioned competitions take place over the entire 3 weeks of racing, there is still great prestige in winning any single day of the 21 stages. Many riders race the Tour with no intention of competing for a jersey, they simply aim to rack up as many one-day wins as they can.

Tour de France teams are comprised of the top riders in the world. It is an extremely elite selection. In professional cycling, there are two tiers of racing teams: there are continental-level teams (sort of like minor league baseball teams) and then there are UCI ProTeams (the big leagues). At the Tour de France, the UCI ProTeams will select eight of their best riders to enter the race.

Yes! Well, sort of. While it’s far from the size of the men’s tour, the Tour de France Femmes – which started in 2022 – is an eight-stage event that is raced the week after the men’s race concludes. From 2014 to 2021, Tour de France organizers ran La Course, a short one- or two-day race; however, after much criticism from the professional cycling community, Tour de France organizers finally expanded the race to a bigger scale event. If you enjoy following along with the men’s race, consider tuning into the women’s race too. Hopefully, in future years, we will see extended racing and expanded media coverage of the women’s tour.