{"id":61739,"date":"2026-07-03T12:38:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T10:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.siroko.com\/blog\/c\/?p=61739"},"modified":"2026-07-08T13:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:03:13","slug":"a-guide-to-understanding-professional-road-cycling-the-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.siroko.com\/blog\/c\/a-guide-to-understanding-professional-road-cycling-the-tour-de-france\/","title":{"rendered":"A Guide to Understanding Professional Road Cycling: The Tour de France"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Tour de France can seem complicated: lots of cyclists, many days of racing, and so much happening at once. There are so many stories, so many key players, and so many competitions within the race itself that it can be overwhelming for someone new to the race who\u2019s trying to figure out what\u2019s going on. To make it as simple as possible, let\u2019s answer a few basic questions so you can enjoy it just like any other fan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the Tour de France?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It is the most important cycling race in the world. It lasts three weeks and consists of daily stages in which cyclists ride across different types of terrain: flat, mountain, medium-mountain, and time trials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winning a stage in the Tour or winning the Tour itself is the greatest possible achievement for a road cyclist. Although for a classics rider, the Monuments are usually more important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When and where is the Tour de France held?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Tour de France is held every year in July in France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t have fixed dates, but it usually starts in late June or early July and almost always ends on a Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It takes place mainly in France, passing through different regions of the country, but there is no fixed route; instead, it varies each year. There are areas and cities it almost always passes through, such as the Alps, the Pyrenees, and Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n

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In addition, some editions start in or pass through neighboring countries such as Spain, Italy, or Belgium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final stage traditionally ends on the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es in Paris with a very iconic final sprint, although in 2025 the route was modified to make it tougher and less geared toward sprinters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who organizes the Tour de France?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Tour de France is organized by the French company Amaury Sport Organisation, known as ASO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This company is one of the world\u2019s leading organizers of sporting events and is also behind other major competitions such as La Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a and the Dakar Rally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ASO is part of the Groupe Amaury media group, which owns the sports newspaper L\u2019\u00c9quipe. L\u2019\u00c9quipe has historically been closely tied to cycling and played a key role in the creation of the Tour in the early 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many teams and cyclists participate?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Through 2024, under the current team organizational structure, 22 teams participated, but in 2025 there were 23 teams with 8 cyclists each, for a total of 182 riders at the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are 18 teams that have guaranteed spots. These are the 18 WorldTeam-category teams<\/a>. In addition, there are 2 ProTeam teams that, based on points earned the previous season, also have guaranteed spots.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024 and previous years, the Tour\u2019s organizing body (ASO) had two additional invitations to award. In 2025, that number increased to three thanks to a new regulation from the UCI (International Cycling Union). The only condition for receiving an invitation is that the team must have finished in the top 30 the previous season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you win the Tour?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to the general classification, it\u2019s not the rider who wins the most stages who wins, but the one with the lowest total time after all the stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, winning a lot of stages doesn\u2019t matter\u2014what matters is being the most consistent over the three weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, in the 2023 Tour, Tadej Poga\u010dar won two stages and Jonas Vingegaard won one, but the Dane defeated the Slovenian and won the Tour with a lead of more than 7 minutes. His victory in the time trial and Tadej\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m gone. I\u2019m dead\u201d the next day sealed the race. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does the yellow jersey mean?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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The yellow jersey is worn by the leader of the general classification\u2014that is, the rider with the lowest cumulative time\u2014and can change hands as the days go by. The important thing is to be wearing it at the end of the final day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does the green jersey mean?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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It is awarded to the rider who accumulates the most points throughout the stages. These points are earned mainly through:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sprint finishes (the better the stage finish position, the more points) and intermediate sprints during the stage (fewer points than at the finish line).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s usually won by sprinters\u2014that is, riders who are very fast in more or less flat finishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does the red polka-dot jersey mean?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the Tour de France, the red polka-dot jersey (officially the \u201cmaillot \u00e0 pois\u201d) identifies the leader of the mountains classification. So it\u2019s worn by the cyclist who accumulates the most points on mountain passes.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Those points are awarded at the summit of the passes and depend on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The category of the pass (the toughest ones award more points)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The position in which you cross the summit (the first rider earns the most)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s usually won by climbers. These may be climbers who have earned many points by joining breakaways on the most important mountain stages, or cyclists competing for the general classification who, in that battle, summit the passes or win the mountain finishes that award the most points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does the white jersey mean?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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In the Tour de France, the white jersey distinguishes the leader of the young riders\u2019 classification and is worn by the best rider under 26 in the general classification (that is, the one with the least accumulated time among the young riders). It\u2019s like a \u201cparallel general classification.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many stages are there in the Tour de France?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are 21 stages, which can be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flat: for sprinters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mountain: for climbers and overall favorites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mid-mountain: unpredictable, with many attacks and a battle to break away\u2014because the breakaway riders usually compete for the stage victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time trials: These can be individual or team time trials. They\u2019re for time-trial specialists\u2014unless it\u2019s a mountain time trial, in which case climbers tend to shine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broadly speaking, these are the basics you need to enjoy the Tour. Now that you understand how La Grande Boucle<\/em> works, there\u2019s one key question left to answer: how and where can you watch professional cycling?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because understanding a race is one thing, but experiencing it live is another story entirely. In the next installment, we\u2019ll tell you where to watch professional cycling today, what options you have across TV, streaming platforms, and social media, and how to make sure you don\u2019t miss the moments that make this sport so unique.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Tour de France can seem complicated: lots of cyclists, many days of racing, and so much happening at once. There are so many stories, so many key players, and so many competitions within the race itself that it can be overwhelming for someone new to the race who\u2019s trying to figure out what\u2019s going… <\/p>\n

Read moreA Guide to Understanding Professional Road Cycling: The Tour de France<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","neve_meta_reading_time":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[189,150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cycling","category-road-cycling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siroko.com\/blog\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siroko.com\/blog\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siroko.com\/blog\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siroko.com\/blog\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siroko.com\/blog\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61739"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.siroko.com\/blog\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61746,"href":"https:\/\/www.siroko.com\/blog\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61739\/revisions\/61746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siroko.com\/blog\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siroko.com\/blog\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siroko.com\/blog\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siroko.com\/blog\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}