It seems like I'm talking about jerseys a lot during this first week of the Tour, so how about I write about why the jerseys have those colors. Why yellow, green, polka dot, and white? Well, the yellow jersey was given that color because L'Auto, the creator of the Tour, printed its editions on yellow paper. The green jersey, introduced in 1953, had its color chosen by the first sponsor of the sprint competition: a lawnmower manufacturer who chose green for grass. The KOM jersey had a similar history, as its first sponsor in 1975 was a chocolate company who wanted the jersey to match the packaging of a new product they were trying to sell.
The white jersey, for the young riders' competition, was originally awarded as the prize for the combined classification competition, which awarded points for how well a rider is placed in the general, points, and KOM classifications. The Tour does not have this competition anymore, but the Vuelta still does, which still awards a white jersey for it. In 1975, the white jersey was changed to honor the best young rider in the general classification.
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