What is the polka dot jersey?
It is the jersey awarded to the best climber of the Tour or ‘King of the Mountains’. Points are awarded at the top of each hill or mountain, which are rated from fourth to first category depending on their difficulty. Some exceptionally tough climbs, like L’Alpe d’Huez or Mont Ventoux are rated “hors categorie” (out of category). The polka dot design was chosen as it was the same as one of the jersey’s sponsors. The record winner of the King of the mountains jersey is Frenchman Richard Virenque, who earned it seven times. What is an intermediate sprint? A couple of intermediate sprints are placed on the course of most stages – except time trials – allowing riders to score points for the green jersey competition. Why do riders often finish in the same time? Because only seconds are taken into account in the overall standings and not fractions of seconds. It is usually considered in road cycling that all the riders included in the same group are given the same time on the finish line reg
