Yellow Jersey for a Champion
The most prestigious jersey of the Tour de France and one of the most famous symbols in the world of sports. The yellow jersey is the dream of every professional cyclist and is proof that the racer has achieved legendary status. Géo Lefèvre, assistant of the organizer of the competition Henri Desgrange, holder of 12 world cycling records and the first organizer of the Tour de France in 1903, came up with the idea of a yellow jersey that would distinguish the leading rider from the others.
The idea for choosing the color was born thanks to the fact that the magazine L’Auto, the then organizer of the race, was printed on yellow colored paper. The first yellow jersey owner in 1919 was the French cyclist Eugene Christophe.
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| Henri Desgrange |
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Eugene Christophe |
The yellow jersey (so-called maillot jaune) is awarded to the winner of the overall and running classification - that is, to the rider who records the smallest sum of times from all 21 stages. In addition, after the end of each stage, the leading rider attends a solemn ceremony, during which he dresses in a yellow jersey and enters the next stage in it too.
Four riders in the history of the Tour de France managed to master the overall classification a total of five times are: Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquentil, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain. The legendary Belgian Merckx, known as Cannibal, is also a record holder in the number of days he spent in the yellow jersey. At the same time, it holds the first place in the number of won stages - it dominated a total of 34.
Become the champion of L’Etape Czech Republic by Tour de France and dress in yellow!
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| Miguel Indurain |
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Eddy Merckx |
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Foto: A.S.O. Library