The Unwritten Rules Of Cycling – Vol. 2

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The pro peloton has numerous traditions and customs that can seem a little strange at first. Find out why riders sometimes wear their race numbers upside-down and why you NEVER race for the yellow jersey on the final stage of the Tour de France. It’s all in Matt’s book!

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It appears that many of you enjoyed our initial delve into the unwritten rules of cycling. So, I’ve dedicated some time here by my log fire to dig deeper into this mysterious world of custom, tradition, and gentlemanly behavior to unear five more codes of conduct that form the social glue that bind the pelaton together. The unwritten rules of cycling, volume two. Lucky number 13. UCI regulations stipulate that riders have to wear two numbers in road events, both placed on the rear of the jersey and oriented so as to allow for easy identification. Now, riders can be penalized if the numbers are folded, trimmed, or in the wrong position. But page 49 of the unwritten rules of cycling allows for one particular transgression. And that is that a rider wearing the number 13 may invert or turn upside down their number so as to counteract the superstition that the number actually gives bad luck. No attacking on the final stage of a grand tour. This particular unwritten rule is a bit of an oddity, especially to the outsider who understandably may ask why on earth riders high on the general classification don’t attack the yellow jersey on the final stage of the tour to France going into Paris or for that matter the final stage of the Vispia and the Jurro Datalia. Let’s take for example the 2007 tour to France where Kad Levens was only 23 seconds behind Alberto Conidor but basically had a ceasefire on the final stage and the following year in 2008 he was only 58 seconds behind Carlos Sastra but called a truce. There’s no definitive answer to this because you can legally attack the leader jersey on the final stage of a grand tour. It’s just that no one does. Now, this tradition is intrinsically woven into the custom and convention of the Pelaton and is clearly held in the highest of regard because nobody in living memory in the modern history of the sport has actually raced for GC on the final stage of a grand tour. Unless, of course, the final stage happens to be an individual time trial. The leader jersey gets the key to the Pelaton because of the lofty iconic status it holds. The wearer of the leader jersey is allowed free movement without hindrance or obstruction throughout the pelaton. So rather than having to fight and be jostled and bump whilst trying to shelter from the wind or trying to maneuver through the center of the pelaton, the wearer of the jersey is seemingly bestowed with the power of Moses as the pelaton opens out in front of them just as the Red Sea did all those years ago for the bearded one. Perhaps unofficial race neutralization. These are rare but often come under the behest of a patron, a rider of respect and experience who is the unofficially appointed voice of the pelaton. Now they can order a go slow or an unofficial neutralization if they deem the race to be too dangerous. In recent years, it’s Fabian Canelara who’s taken up the mantle of Paton in the Pelaton. Now, his power and influence was first seen in all its glory in stage two of the 2010 tour to France when he famously rode to the front of a belleaguered bunch waving his arms to signify a ceasefire to allow the riders that crashed in the treacherous slippy conditions to regain the pelaton. One rider who kept going though was Francis Silvan Shaveel. He was already up the road so considered himself to be no part of this unofficial slowdown. He benefited his lead shot up and he actually won the stage by nearly 4 minutes taking the yellow jersey off the shoulders of Fabin Canelara in the process. This ghost low continued all the way to the line for the Pelaton who didn’t even sprint for second place much to the annoyance of the organizers allowing riders off the front if the race passes their home. If during a race the course passed through the village or town of a rider in the field, as long as it wasn’t deep into the race, that rider would often be afforded a little bit of leeway by the pelaton and allowed to ride off ahead to greet his family at the side of the road. Now, this used to be common practice in stage races, although these days doesn’t quite happen as often as it used to. Generally this arrangement was planned by talking to the patron of the pelaton who would then disseminate that information to the rest of the bunch. Now I remember when I was a pro in Toreno Adriatico I think it was that we actually stopped 30ks into the stage to celebrate the birthday of one of the Italian riders in the field. The whole bunch stopped to share in some birthday cake and some bubbly. But what a rider shouldn’t do is exploit this freedom to their advantage by pressing on ahead. They do that at their peril. Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed our second delve into the unwritten rules of cycling. I’m sure there are many more rules we’ve not mentioned. If you think we’ve missed any, how about leaving them in the comments section down below now, for our top five facts that you maybe didn’t know about cycling, how about clicking just up here. And for seven magnificent ways to stand with your bicycle, click just down here. And to subscribe to GCN, it’s free. Click on the globe and don’t forget to like and share this video.