Cycling 101 – What do all the jerseys mean?

In cycling, the state of the race is often described using colored jerseys as a shorthand to indicate how various competitions within the race are progressing. Technically speaking this is a metonymy: a figure of speech where the part signifies the thing we are actually talking about. So, we might say that a rider “takes the pink jersey” to signify that they are the overall race leader. (FWIW, this is one of my favorite types of figure of speech. Another common example is to say, for instance, “the White House” to signify actions by a President.)

While the colors of the jersey may vary from race to race the categories are consistent. In addition to each day’s stage winner there are 4 main competitions in a multi-day race. First is the overall leader, also referred to as the general classification. In the Giro this is the Pink Jersey (and my personal favorite jersey in all of cycling), while in the Tour de France it is the Yellow Jersey.

There is also the “King of the Mountains” competition, or Queen of the Mountains in Women’s cycling — signified by a blue jersey in the Giro, and polka dots in the Tour de France. There is the sprinting competition which is designated by a purple jersey in the Giro and a green jersey in the Tour. And last, there is the best young rider, which is the leader overall if you limit the selection to riders under the age of 25. In both the Giro and the Tour this is a white jersey. Different races, like the Vuelta a España and shorter multi-stage races may have other colors still for each jersey. Each jersey is often also associated with a unique sponsor — so it’s also a way for the races to generate revenue.

And, in addition to being a useful shorthand, these jerseys play an important role in making it easy to identify key riders within the peloton when there are hundreds of riders. In theory these jerseys are distinct enough that it is easy to spot the leader of the competition within the peloton. But they can also a fashion statement – the leader in the pink jersey is often given a custom pink bike if they are winning the jersey overall, for example.

The Stage

Today’s stage was 172 km long with two small categorized climbs and a flat finish, giving us another sprint finish. Olav Kooij, a Dutch cylclist on Team Visma Lease a Bike, won the stage. This win gave Visma their second stage win of the Giro so far. Additionally, Simon Yates on Visma is currently 4th in the GC. (Simon’s twin brother, Adam, rides for UAE Emirates and is currently 9th in GC.) Altogether, Visma has had a pretty good week so far.

The Dish

Today the Giro went through one of the richest regions in terms of culinary contributions. Many of the things you might associate with Italy: parmigiano reggiano, balsamic vinegar, and prosciutto are from this region. I could have easily done a girl dinner of charcuterie from Emilia Romagna and paired that off with the Lambrusco (sparkling red wine from Emilia Romagna) that I’ve had sitting in my fridge, and called it a day. But I was inspired by your responses to my newsletters this week and wanted to make sure that my dish for the stage that started in Modena truly did justice to the region.

So I decided to make a potato gnocchi, this version is typical of Parma which is a town about an hour away from where the Giro finished today. The sauce for this version of gnocchi is a parmigiano reggiano sauce which was the main reason I chose it, wanting to include some parm in my dish for the day. I decided to add some sautéed maitake mushrooms and pancetta to the gnocchi since I’d grabbed some mushrooms at the farmer’s market this weekend and wanted to use them. Also, maitakes also have a really nice flavor that I thought would add a sense of meaty-ness to the dish.

However with a workday ending at 5 and a 6pm yoga class I did not have the time to make the gnocchi from scratch ☹️ I learned my lesson from trying to do fresh pasta during a weekday when I had a yoga class last week. So, I bought some pre-made potato gnocchi (made in Italy!) that I boiled and finished with my parmesan-butter sauce and sautéed mushrooms and pancetta. I will definitely plan on making some gnocchi from scratch at some point when I have the time during the weekend sometime soon!

It came out really tasty (and probably came out better consistency-wise than if I had made it from scratch myself.)

Until tomorrow!