illegal?
 

I don't quite understand. What's the big deal about wearing jerseys with different design?

From: http://www.velonews.com/tour2003/new...es/4722.0.html

Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and his U.S. Postal team mates were each fined for sporting an illegal jersey during the last stage to Paris.

The nine U.S. Postal riders wore a jersey showing the emblem of their sponsors, an eagle, instead of their regular gear on Sunday.

They were fined 200 Swiss francs ($148.5) while the U.S. Postal team was handed a 4,500-franc fine.

Armstrong won 400,000 euros ($459,500) for his Tour victory.



http://grahamwatson.com/gw/imagedocs...form&03tdfSt20

When I first saw the jerseys... one of my first thoughts was that they somehow got clearance from the organization to wear a different design for that final stage.

race organizations sometimes have some strict rules about that kind of thing. you probably have to submit a uniform design for approval, and you are fined if you dont stick with it. atleast the fine wasnt too bad. i remember a couple of years ago a formula one team tried to race cars with 2 different paint jobs, caused quite a stink and i think the fines were/would have been huge.

A rider's team uniform helps to identify that rider. Each team's uniform is unique. I imagine that the uniforms are approved well in advance of the race. Imagine the confusion that might ensue if a team were to show up wearing all yellow jerseys. Or if three teams were all in similar blue jerseys. So, there are fines levied against riders who wear unapproved jerseys.

Mario Cipollini has been famous for wearing non-standard jerseys for special occasions. The Posties special jerseys were, I understand, to commemorate the end of the Centanary Tour de France.

What's the big deal? No big deal at all, really. They knew they'd be fined and chose to pay for it.

I liked the gray stuff. I think they should stick with it.

Whoa!

I clicked on the Graham Watson link, and I saw the photo with the caption "Armstrong poses with the other living 'five-times' winners of the Tour de France - Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx, and Miguel Indurain". Are one of the 5 time winners dead or was it just bad wording?

Koffee

P.S. Grey colors wash you out- better to stick with blue or another brighter color...

Frenchman Jacques Anquetil, 5 time winner of the Tour de France, died Nov. 18, 1987. He was the Tour rider with a bookful of stories about his exploits, such as drinking and smoking after the stages, eating things the other riders wouldn't touch like heavy meats, etc... He is also 8th on the all-time victories list with 181 Div. 1 victories in his career.

i belive jacque anquetil is deceased.

From: http://www.eurosport.com/home/pages/...to463148.shtml

"Maitre Jacques" smoked. He also drank. And he often did both during the Tour's rest days. In 1964 and on the hunt for his fifth overall win, the Frenchman over-gorged on leg of lamb during one of the race's days off. Back on the bike the next day, Anquetil was flattened by indigestion. Hurting in the hills, his frantic team directors reportedly tried a last-ditch cure: Champagne.

It worked. Anquetil bubbled back up to the front, finished the day with the leaders and became the first five-time winner in the Tour de France.

In Anquetil's day, cycling wasn't the sport of science it is today, where every training session, every meal is measured and weighed for optimum performance. Still, Anquetil's fast living undoubtedly cost him a legitimate shot at six, stunting his career and, ultimately, his life. Anquetil died of stomach cancer in 1987 at the early age of 52.