TdF 101

If you're a cycling fan, you can probably skip this.  But I realize some people might want to read my blog, but not know exactly what I'm getting on about.  So here's this...

The Jerseys
Most people know the yellow jersey (maillot jaune), for the overall leader (by cumulative time over all stages), aka General Classification, aka GC.  There's also:
Green - The sprint leader.  The mid-stage sprint spots and finish line come with points for the first people over it.  The person with the most points at the end of the day gets the green jersey.
Polka Dot - The climbs leader.  Each categorized climb is worth points for the first people over it.  The person with the most climbing points gets this beauty.

Richard Virenque wore this a lot

White - The young rider jersey.  The time leader of riders under 26.

There are also special awards for most courageous/combative rider of the day (they get a different colored bib number), and best team (by combined time of top 3 riders for the team each stage).

If you're the leader of more than one jersey category, you will get one and the 2nd place person in the other category will get that jersey.
The owner of each jersey gets prize money at the end of the race.
The winners of each stage don't get a special jersey, but they do get cash money (same for courageous/combative)

Also stolen from wikipedia, but I've seen similar numbers before so I'm trusting it

Climbs

Climbs that are steep enough or long enough (and a combination thereof) gets rated.  A category 4 climb is the lowers, up to category 1, and above that is HC (beyond categorization).  If you see an HC on the day (or 2 of them like in stage 18), the riders will be in serious discomfort.

Terms (random things that might come up that I think are interesting to know)

Peloton - Most people know this one, it's the main group of riders on the day.

Domestique - The guys who work for the GC guy.  The work hard, pace, let the GC ride in their slipstream.  One by one, they usually fall off as the run out of energy, and the GC guy rolls on to glory.

Feed Zone - There's typically one every stage, a neutral area where the riders pick up bags of food and goodies.

Gruppetto - A group of cyclists who ride together with the sole intention of finishing the race within the time limit (yes, there's a time limit, set by a certain percent slower than the first place rider).  The domestiques will drop back to here once they're gassed, the sprinters live here in the mountain stages.

Lanterne Rouge - Red lantern, named not for comic books, but for the light on the end of a train.  This is the last place cyclist.

Lead out - The train of riders the sprinters follow to save their energy and accelerate for the final sprint.

Queen stage - The stage deemed the hardest, or sometimes most important, in a stage race

Time trial/Team Time Trial (TT/TTT) - A solo race, you against the clock (or you and the rest of your team against the clock).  Riders start spaced by some amount of time, and each rider's time is tracked separately.  In a TTT, the clock is stopped when the 5th rider passes the finish line, and all riders in the team get the same time.

Hmm, what else?  Anything else you'd like to know, leave it in the comments, I'll add it.

Parting Thought: Use the forks, Luke