[mrs bouquet]

I have always enjoyed watching anything to do with cycle racing, and I appreciate how much of it is down to tactics,    but can anybody give me a clue about the rules or tactics of this race, other than to win     Mrs Bouquet

[Yorkie]

Each team has a number of riders, of whom only a couple will have a decent chance to win the race - the rest are there either with specialist cycling skills, or to provide maximum support to the potential winners.  So it can be a tactical race between the teams.

There are different colour jumpers that are awarded daily to riders who meet certain criteria e.g. yellow jersey for the overall course leader (i.e. the person who has completed the course so far in the shortest time), the green jersey is worn by the best sprinter and time trialist, polka dot is the leader in the mountains, and while for best young rider.

And it's all in French; we had the Tour de France here in Yorkshire a few years ago (it can start in a country which is not France), and we still have a race every year which we now call the Tour de Yorkshire 

[JayG]

Like Mrs. B. I do struggle to understand the rules of any race where crossing the finishing line first doesn't necessarily mean you're going to win the overall race. 

It may help to remember the old biblical parable 'The first shall be last, and the last shall be first', although as Yorkie has commendably tried to explain I think it might be a bit more complicated than that!   

[Yorkie]

It's about cumulative time over many days' races, which dictates the final winner.  So someone who is second in every race is more likely to be the overall winner than someone who comes first in 10% of the races (e.g. the mountains) and is in the final quarter of finishers in the rest of the races.  It finds the best all-rounder.

[mrs bouquet]

Well thanks for your answers, the rues are just as I thought then      Mrs B