THE RACE
21 stages. 4 countries. 1 winner.
ASS! of BIKE is set at the 104th edition of the Tour de France in 2017.
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The race took place between July 1st and and July 23rd. On it's 3.540 kilometres long course 4 countries were crossed: Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France.
The first stage was an individual time-trial held in Dusseldorf (Germany). The final stage began in Montgeron and ended at the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
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There are four different jerseys and two additional awards which are handed out after each day.
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Everyone knows about the yellow jersey: It belongs to the winner of the overall classification, who has the best time at the end of the 21st stage. Every day the time will be counted. Sometimes wearing the yellow jersey doesn't mean that you were the fastest rider, but it's the most prestigious jersey. Winners of the yellow jersey are often allrounders who can keep up their pace, even on tricky mountain stages.
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Since cycling is a team sport, the yellow jersey ace often has the best team. Everyone works together to protect their ace and tries their best to achieve the best overall time. That's why most of the riders of the ace's team also have great overall times. If the team's added times are the lowest, the team will be awarded with yellow numbers.
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During a stage, there are severall occasions to earn points: some teams send out their best sprinters to win in-between sprints or the final sprint of the day. The fastest cyclist with the most points will be awarded with a green jersey.
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There's also a red polka-dot jersey for climbers. The one who manages to get the most points on mountain peaks will be awarded with this special jersey.
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Even the young riders can get a honorable mention: in ASS! of BIKE you have to be 19 or younger and be in your first year as a pro-cyclist riding for an UCI (the international cycling organization) team to earn a white jersey. It will be handed out to the young rider with the best overall time.
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If a rider manages to outstand the other riders on a stage, for example if he got hurt and gave his best until the finish line, or if he had an extraordinary long breakaway before the peloton (the bunch of riders) manages to snatch him, he will be awarded with a red number.
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There are four different kinds of stages:
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Flat stages which often have an incredible sprint finish (and often spectacular crashes right in front of the finish line). As soon as the red flag (flamme rouge) comes in sight at the last kilometer of a stage, the speed becomes insane. That's why flat stages are the most entertaining in cycling.
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Hilly stages which can be won by allrounders and masochistic sprinters as well, if they manage to keep up a good pacing and get a good assist by their team. Most of the time hilly stages end with a sprint finish.
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Mountain stages which make sprinters cry and often have a slow (in comparison to sprints) solo climber finish on the top of a mountain. Great sprinters often fall behind on mountain stages and sometimes even get disqualified because they can't finish the race in time.
There's a percentage which is set for every race. For example: the winning climber comes in at time xx, the latest allowed time to finish the race is x-percent added to time xx. If a sprinter comes in too late, his Tour is over. Sad story. That's why sprinters who shone on the days before the mountains sometimes tend to give up if it becomes too tricky.
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Time trials: there are individual time-trials or team time trials. Each time will be measured individually (or the overall time of a team will be counted together). The fastest technician will will the race. Riders need to be totally focused and be able to remember the course of the stage, so they know the exact moment in which they have to lean into a curve, shift a gear and so on. Time trial stages are of course a lot shorter than regular stages.
At the Tour in 2017 there were two individual time trials and no team time trial. But I think team time trials are way more interesting because you can see the whole group falling apart bit by bit and still winning, because only the time of the first five riders of a team will be counted together. (LOL)