How Improvements Can Be Made To Some Of The GT Jerseys

[gregrowlerson]

I'm aware that all the jerseys hold a great level of prestige, so I'm prepared to cop some criticism for my suggestions!

I have an issue with the King of the Mountains jersey. I don't have a problem with the rider that wins it. He has to have ridden a pretty good tour to have done so. Nevertheless, the title given to the jersey is greatly misleading since it suggests that it goes to the best climber in the race. Rarely is this the case.

You can almost always argue that whoever won the KOM wouldn't have won it if some of the GC riders had wanted to win it. You can't say that the yellow jersey wouldn't be on the shoulders of its champion if the KOM had wanted to win it. Neither can you say that the yellow jersey winner could have won the green jersey if he had wanted too. Both the yellow and green jerseys are clearly distinctive.

Let's look at Richard Virenque. He was a wonderful climber. But he wasn't the best. In the Armstrong years Lance was a better climber every time. If Lance had wanted to win the KOM then he could have (though it would have been at the expense of the yellow). If Richard had wanted to win the yellow then he could NOT have. This is the big discrepancy between the jerseys and for me, loses my respect for the polka dot one.

In recent years the only KOM who could have possibly won the yellow was Rasmussen in 2006, whereas every overall winner could have won the KOM.

The KOM could/should still exist in some form. Perhaps it should be called the most aggressive rider jersey (they already have something similar to this), for that would be a more accurate description of the cyclist who wins it.

The green jersey also has an issue because it is supposedly for the most consistent rider. I wouldn't call winning two sprints then losing an hour in a couple of mountain stages consistent. The most consistent is the yellow jersey.

Maybe the green jersey should just be a sprinters jersey, so it is only for points on the finish line of each stage. The sprint points out on the course are removed. Instead we now have 'sprint' points at every 50, 100 and 150 km point of each stage (regardless of terrain) which go towards the aggressive rider competition. Maybe the 150 point is double points.

The KOM jersey has given glory to some riders who otherwise wouldn't have had it (or at least as much glory). But I think that the grand tours should pay homage to the top ten riders in the GC instead of just the podium finishers. The tenth placed rider all the way to the winner could be announced and applauded by the crowd. After accepting their prize the fourth to tenth riders walk off, while the top three stand on the podium.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I have some alternate jersey ideas...

I think the most combative rider should get to wear a jersey and not just a red number.

EDIT:btw, my post was deleted about the "gay jersey" as it was "politically incorrect", offensive and I was looking to cause trouble whne others inculding myself can talk about brothels and prostitutes in other race threads.

 

[Archibald]

Possibly a jersey for the best homosexual rider in peleton with a big money as a prize as it would encourage gay rider to come out of the closet! Maybe it could be a rainbow jersey as they would stand out quite well.

leaving yourself wide open on that one considering who's wearing the rainbow jersey at the moment!!

 

[ingsve]

There is nothing wrong with the green jersey. It's not meant to be for the most consistent rider. It's simply a jersey for the rider that collects the most points and the only tweaking that exists is that it favours sprinters by having more points on flat stages. Other than that there is no master plan to have specific types of riders winning it.

As it turns out the rider winning it often turns out to be the most consistent sprinter who can gather points regularly without losing many opportunities to do so. That does not mean it was specifically designed to measure who the most consistent sprinter is or anything like that. That is simply how it turns out.

I don't have a problem with the KOM jersey either. My only concern there is that sometimes there little or no competition fpr it.

 

[Bordercollie1]

It seems that only riders in the top 10 or 15 actually care about their position in the overall. Really capable riders just outside the top 10 are content to loose time on the off chance that they will be allowed into a break and a possible stage win. Cungeo would be a good example of this. A former white jersey at the Tour and Giro winner content to go for stage wins (with no success)
Other riders who might have got close to the top 10 with more consistency would be french riders like Thomas Voeckler or maybe Silvan Chavenell (SP?)
By going for the overall this year Nicholas Roche went from stage win hopefull to future GT contendor.

 

[supercameron]

how about the old mans jersey for over 35s, maybe a grey jersey

 

[L'arriviste]

I'm obviously the only one who thought this thread would be about the jerseys themselves.

Because if it was, drop the red colour in the Giro and make it something more noticeable.

I think they also need to incorporate the sponsors a little better than the hideous screenprint rush job they do now: a big square block with an image steamed on. It would look far better how they used to do it, with black or white silhouettes based on the logo paths.

And then enforce the wearing of black shorts with each. I don't want to see AC's dribbly bits in a darker shade of yellow.

 

[Moondance]

I think the green jersey points for stage finishes in the TdF should be equalized for every stage, and not have it be ridiculously weighted towards the flat stages. Even though the green jersey battle was particularly good at the Tour this year, having it be so weighted still diminishes a lot of good achievement. For instance, guys like Lloyd Mondory and Jurgen Roelandts were in the points Top-10 (even though I can barely remember even seeing either of those two men) while Schleck the Younger won two stages, and had a few other top-5 stage placings but was below both of those. If Cav wants the green jersey so much he should have to work for it as hard as the Contadors, the Schlecks and the Sanchezes of the world work for their glory in the Tour.

Also on the subject of white jersey reform i remember reading this from someone on this forum a few weeks back, which I thought was an excellent suggestion and that is that white jersey winners will be ineligible for the competition in the future, even if they're still 25 years or younger. Would prevent little three year dynasties from being seized (like Schleck the Younger or Ullrich in the day) who hog the white jersey for a few years after they've already established themselves as elite GC riders. For instance if we could apply this rule retroactively we'd have Contador winning white in '07, Schleck Jr. in '08, Neebs Nibali in '09, Gesink this year and Roman Kreuziger would finally have his clear shot at winning it next year. That way all of the super-talented GC talents that have risen up in the post-Armstrong era (and who we'll be enjoying for the next 7 years or so at least) would've taken white at the Tour.... Which seems pretty fair.

 

[hrotha]

I'm obviously the only one who thought this thread would be about the jerseys themselves.

That's what I thought too, and I was going to suggest the Vuelta organizers stop changing their jerseys every single year.

 

[Moondance]

Possibly a jersey for the best homosexual rider in peleton with a big money as a prize as it would encourage gay rider to come out of the closet! Maybe it could be a rainbow jersey as they would stand out quite well.

So we can add gay rights campaigner to Evans' CV, then?

 

[L'arriviste]

That's what I thought too, and I was going to suggest the Vuelta organizers stop changing their jerseys every single year.

And especially not to this ...

... which I believe they ended up having to scrap.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

I think the green jersey points for stage finishes in the TdF should be equalized for every stage, and not have it be ridiculously weighted towards the flat stages. Even though the green jersey battle was particularly good at the Tour this year, having it be so weighted still diminishes a lot of good achievement. For instance, guys like Lloyd Mondory and Jurgen Roelandts were in the points Top-10 (even though I can barely remember even seeing either of those two men) while Schleck the Younger won two stages, and had a few other top-5 stage placings but was below both of those. If Cav wants the green jersey so much he should have to work for it as hard as the Contadors, the Schlecks and the Sanchezes of the world work for their glory in the Tour.

4th at Champs-Elysees and i thought 3 or 4 more top 10s in bunch sprints, not too bad I think...

 

[Moondance]

4th at Champs-Elysees and i thought 3 or 4 more top 10s in bunch sprints, not too bad I think...

Fantastic.... So logically he should be higher in the points classification that say, Schleck Jr., Contador or Samuel Sanchez?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The thing with the Vuelta's jerseys is that, the Tour and Giro jerseys both came from the colours of the esteemed sports papers there - L'Equipe and La Gazzetta dello Sport. These sponsors remained the primary sponsors of the jersey until the colours were so ingrained they daren't change them. With the Vuelta, the sponsors have changed regularly, and the colour of the jersey has shifted with it accordingly. First thing I thought when I saw the Ahorra Energia colours on the leader's jersey (and how well it went with Caisse's colours) was "the leader jersey will go red soon". The problem is now, of course, it's very close to the KOM colours, so the KOM will have to change colour; it used to be orange, but that's too close to Euskaltel now. There was one year (2007 I believe) where the colours of the points and KOM jerseys swapped, then went back for the following year.

They could do with a stable enough sponsor for each jersey to retain the same colours for years. That way the jersey colour would seem sacrosanct and no longer transient and fair game to change every year.

 

[taiwan]

I'm obviously the only one who thought this thread would be about the jerseys themselves.

Because if it was, drop the red colour in the Giro and make it something more noticeable.

Good point, they should be designed with a heavy focus on visibility on TV. I think the new Vuelta jersey might be pretty good for that, but i like that anyway.

[edit] No, really, I like it.

 

[galaxy1]

the vuelta should have kept the "fish" jersey and made replicas more readily available. i'd like one.

green jersey would benefit from giving less points to low placings - preventing "boring" performances like last year (Hushovd aiming for top 10 every day). otherwise it is fine.

KOM does need more competition. maybe more cash would do the trick? i'm always surprised that more people don't go for it, especially GC riders who have lost big time. maybe there are too many points available in the first week (so a french no-hoper has already hoovered up the jersey by the time said riders have lost said time)
obvious problem is that the best riders (GC contenders) are focussed on dominating the real mountains - and they aren't interested in the KOM. one interesting possibility would be the award of special KOM points for fastest times up certain HC climbs (from the bottom) - so you don't have to be in the front group to win points? this might make it more open and more tactical (obviously at the risk of giving it to someone who doesn't appear on camera at any point in the 3 weeks).

 

[El Pistolero]

I have some alternate jersey ideas...

I think the most combative rider should get to wear a jersey and not just a red number.

OR

Possibly a jersey for the best homosexual rider in peleton with a big money as a prize as it would encourage gay rider to come out of the closet! Maybe it could be a rainbow jersey as they would stand out quite well.

I think that jersey is always going to be the yellow jersey as well in the next 5 years.

Yup, just insulted my own "boy" and Andy Schleck as well.

 

[El Pistolero]

Good point, they should be designed with a heavy focus on visibility on TV. I think the new Vuelta jersey might be pretty good for that, but i like that anyway.

[edit] No, really, I like it.

I really like the pink jersey of the Giro lol. Don't know why, but it's the coolest jersey out there of all GT's combined.

 

[auscyclefan94]

leaving yourself wide open on that one considering who's wearing the rainbow jersey at the moment!!

So we can add gay rights campaigner to Evans' CV, then?

No, that would only apply to a dutch rider, maybe gesink as he has a very feminine face and really weird eyebrows which I think could be drawn on!

 

[Barrus]

Although the idea of a jersey for the best gay rider, which might ensure that riders will come out for their sexuality, is actually quite a good one, and I hope born out of the best of intentions. Do lay of the gay jokes

 

[JohnNordin]

I've posted elsewhere about the Green jersey and am too lazy to copy it here, but I just don't get what it measures exactly - it's not for best sprinter. But it's fun to have it.

Agree on a jersey for best older rider - Grey would do nicely. Seriously, this would be a good category to add. Sometimes called the 'masters' category in other sports.

Only allowing the white jersey to be won once - not sure what I think of that, but it is interesting.

Now - on to the jokes:

Rider that causes the most crashes - red splatter jersey
Rider caught doping the most - big Rx on back
Rider with most mechanical problems - tire tread pattern

 

[Bag_O_Wallet]

I'm obviously the only one who thought this thread would be about the jerseys themselves....
(condensed)
...And then enforce the wearing of black shorts with each. I don't want to see AC's dribbly bits in a darker shade of yellow.

Oh, I miss the days of team issue shorts being worn with leaders/national champs/national team (at Worlds) jerseys. For me, the yellow jersey seemed to stand out a lot more when Contador was wearing regular (or close to it) Astana shorts.

 

[taiwan]

Although the idea of a jersey for the best gay rider, which might ensure that riders will come out for their sexuality, is actually quite a good one, and I hope born out of the best of intentions. Do lay of the gay jokes

Disagree. Young riders, old riders: these groups are at a straightforward physiological disadvantage, justifying a seperate classification. Not so with riders who are gay: that jersey would be more akin to a 'best french rider' jersey at the Tour. Also I doubt many gay riders in the peloton are going to come out just for a special jersey.

 

[Barrus]

Disagree. Young riders, old riders: these groups are at a straightforward physiological disadvantage, justifying a seperate classification. Not so with riders who are gay: that jersey would be more akin to a 'best french rider' jersey at the Tour. Also I doubt many gay riders in the peloton are going to come out just for a special jersey.

It could serve as an incentive, because currently I don't think a lot of gay riders are out in the open. Just like with about any pro sport, and anything that can give some incentive, or some show of acceptance might help. I'm not saying this is the best manner, but at least it would be a possible step

 

[Archibald]

Rider that causes the most crashes - red splatter jersey

there's already a jersey for that at the Tour - it's orange...