In September, Jasper will be overrun with professional cyclists competing in the third annual Tour of Alberta bike race. As well as cyclists, there will be thousands of fans on the ground and millions of spectators watching from home—about 45 million, to be more precise.
To prepare you for the event, the Fitzhugh will be writing weekly stories about the tour, whether it’s things you need to know, rider profiles or the inside scoop on the significance of the riders’ multicoloured jerseys.
Although the ultimate goal of the tour is to tally the lowest overall time over the course of all six stages, there are actually numerous other titles to win throughout the race, with jerseys signifying the winners.
Yellow jersey: As with the Tour de France, the overall leader wears the yellow jersey. At the completion of each stage throughout the tour, the race leader will receive the jersey to be worn the next day, identifying them as the leader. What makes the race exciting is that jerseys can switch hands numerous times throughout the tour, before ultimately being awarded to the all-around winner following the last stage. During the 2014 race, the jersey switched hands once, with the Netherland’s Tom Dumoulin holding it from the prologue through to Stage 4 before it was awarded to Russia’s Daryl Impey who was the overall winner of the 2014 tour.
Pink polka dot jersey: The pink polka dot jersey is given to the fastest hill climber. This jersey will be the one to watch this year, with two mountaintop finishes within Jasper National Park: one at Miette Hot Springs and another at Marmot Basin. Similar to sprint points, in order to win the fabulous pink polka dot jersey, riders need to accumulate king-of-the-mountain points on climbs marked by banners over the road. Last year, the King of the Mountain was Britain’s Simon Yates.
Green jersey: The green jersey is awarded to the best sprinter in each stage. To receive the designation, riders compete for the most accumulated sprint points in a stage. Points are awarded on specific stretches of the route, designated by banners hung over the road, where riders are challenged to be the first sprinter to reach the banners. At the end of the day, the rider with the most points is awarded the jersey. Last year’s winner was Ramunas Navardauskas of Lithuania.
White jersey: The white jersey is awarded each day to the fastest rider under 24 years of age. In 2014, that rider was Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands. Dumoulin held the jersey from the prologue all the way through to the circuit race in Edmonton.
Blue jersey: The blue jersey is granted to the most aggressive rider. This distinction is determined by a jury of race organizers, journalists and officials and it is generally awarded to the rider that sets the pace for the field. In 2014, each stage had a different rider wearing the blue jersey.
Red jersey: Special to the Tour of Alberta is the red jersey, which is awarded to the best Canadian rider. Spruce Grove’s Ryan Anderson was the 2014 winner. Anderson was the second place rider in Stage 5 of the 2014 race and the fifth place rider overall.
Nicole Veerman
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