Tour Tidbit du Jour - 7/5/2009

Yesterday, I wrote a little bit about the different jerseys in the Tour, and who gets to wear them at the start of Stage 2. However, missing from the discussion was who gets to wear any of the jerseys on the first stage, or the prologue. Tradition at the Tour has been that last year's winner gets to wear the yellow jersey during the first stage. But yesterday, Carlos Sastre, who wore number 1 and started last at the time trial, both events subject to Sastre being last year's winner, wore his regular time trial kit. It seems it was just a little bit more disrespect heaped on to the unassuming Spaniard: the Tour organizers refused to let him wear yellow.

As the VeloNews article explains, the previous Tour winner wearing yellow on the following year's first day is only a tradition, not a rule. However, it has been a tradition for almost 40 years. That makes it almost a rule, but not really. Paraphrasing from the VeloNews story again, the "rule" has not been followed since Lance Armstrong retired after winning his 7th consecutive Tour in 2005. There was no returning champion in 2006, the real winner of 2006 had not been decided yet because of Floyd Landis' doping violation so Oscar Pereiro couldn't wear it, and Alberto Contador was excluded from the 2008 tour. So, the organizers decided to do away with the tradition. But here's your tidbit: the tour organizers agree with Lance Armstrong's feelings on the matter. When Lance began the 2003 Tour, beginning his quest to equal Miguel Indurain's 5 consecutive Tour victories, he refused to wear the yellow time trial kit in honor of the Tour's centenary, saying "I prefer the right to earn it." So, even though Lance is responsible for the missing yellow jersey in 2006, and doping scandals abducted it in the succeeding years, Lance actually threw a wrench in the works of the tradition a few years before then, not only in 2003, but beginning in 2000, when he returned to France defend his first Tour victory in 1999. In reality, 2009 marks the tenth year since a yellow jersey has been worn at the first stage individual time trial.