Why the jersey colours?

[Andrew Swan]

Can anyone tell me why the green, white, and polka-dot jerseys are
coloured that way? Is there an historical reason, like there is for the
yellow jersey?

TIA,

&roo

[Ken Prager]

In article >,
Andrew Swan > wrote:

> Can anyone tell me why the green, white, and polka-dot jerseys are
> coloured that way? Is there an historical reason, like there is for the
> yellow jersey?
>
> TIA,
>
> &roo
>

See <http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2003/tour03/?id=features/FAQ>,
where all is revealed.

HTH,

KP

--
Remove _me_ for e-mail address

[benjo maso]

"Andrew Swan" > wrote in message
...
> Can anyone tell me why the green, white, and polka-dot jerseys are
> coloured that way? Is there an historical reason, like there is for the
> yellow jersey?
>


The green, I don't know. The organisation announced it (in 1953) as "the
colour of hope", but I fail to see the relation. The white because it is the
colour of innocence and consequently of youth (in 1975, the year it was
installed, many people thought that youth had something to do with
innocence). The polka-dot because it's first sponsor, Poulain (in 1975), was
selling chocolate bars in white wrappers with red dots.

Benjo Maso

[Jay Hill]

Andrew Swan wrote:
> Can anyone tell me why the green, white, and polka-dot jerseys are
> coloured that way? Is there an historical reason, like there is for the
> yellow jersey?
>
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2003/tour03/?id=features/FAQ

[goulot]

The colors are decided by the sponsor. Poulain wanted something that would
stand out, and came up with the poids rouges, Jaune was the color of the
newspaper that originated the thing in1903 but green...? All I know is it
was created for the 50th aniversary of the Tour and the PTT (french post
telephone and telecomunication office) sold over 80 000 anniversary stamps
in1953.
"Andrew Swan" > a écrit dans le message de
...
> Can anyone tell me why the green, white, and polka-dot jerseys are
> coloured that way? Is there an historical reason, like there is for the
> yellow jersey?
>
> TIA,
>
> &roo
>

[Steven L. Sheffield]

On 7/15/03 6:44 AM, in article
, "Ken Prager"
> wrote:

> In article >,
> Andrew Swan > wrote:
>
>> Can anyone tell me why the green, white, and polka-dot jerseys are
>> coloured that way? Is there an historical reason, like there is for the
>> yellow jersey?
>>
>> TIA,
>>
>> &roo
>>
>
> See <http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2003/tour03/?id=features/FAQ>,
> where all is revealed.



That URL explains what the various colored jerseys signify, but not WHY they
are those particular colors (as opposed to blue, mauve, and pink & puce
polka-dots).

[Nick Burns]

"benjo maso" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Andrew Swan" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Can anyone tell me why the green, white, and polka-dot jerseys are
> > coloured that way? Is there an historical reason, like there is for the
> > yellow jersey?
> >
>
>
> The green, I don't know. The organisation announced it (in 1953) as "the
> colour of hope", but I fail to see the relation. The white because it is
the
> colour of innocence and consequently of youth (in 1975, the year it was
> installed, many people thought that youth had something to do with
> innocence). The polka-dot because it's first sponsor, Poulain (in 1975),
was
> selling chocolate bars in white wrappers with red dots.
>
> Benjo Maso

I thought the original sponsor was BP? That is the main corporate color for
marketing.

[Lantern Rouge]

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 07:59:39 -0500, Jay Hill wrote:

> Andrew Swan wrote:
>> Can anyone tell me why the green, white, and polka-dot jerseys are
>> coloured that way? Is there an histor>> coloured that way? Is there an histor
>> want to know why the jerseys are
the colours they are, and not particularly what they are awarded for:

The Maillot a Pois Rouges and Maillot Blanc have been explained by someone else
in the tread.

The Green Jersey is the PMU sponsor's predominant colour: Green

PMU = PariMUtuel - Interactive betting mostly on horses

PMU have been an on-again, off-again sponsor of the jersey, but have
sponsored it now for the last 13 years.

The Green Jersey was first awarded in the 50th Anniversary edition of the Tour in 1953


On the presumption that you do in fact want to know why the jerseys are
the colours they are, and not particularly what they are awarded for:

The Maillot a Pois Rouges and Maillot Blanc have been explained by someone else
in the tread.

The Green Jersey is the PMU sponsor's predominant colour: Green

PMU = PariMUtuel - Interactive betting mostly on horses

PMU have been an on-again, off-again sponsor of the jersey, but have
sponsored it now for the last 13 years.

The Green Jersey was first awarded in the 50th Anniversary edition of the Tour in 1953

The Yellow Jersey was first awarded in 1919.

>> want to know why the jerseys are
the colours they are, and not particularly what they are awarded for:

The Maillot a Pois Rouges and Maillot Blanc have been explained by someone else
in the tread.

The Green Jersey is the PMU sponsor's predominant colour: Green

PMU = PariMUtuel - Interactive betting mostly on horses

PMU have been an on-again, off-again sponsor of the jersey, but have
sponsored it now for the last 13 years.

The Green Jersey was first awarded in the 50th Anniversary edition of the Tour in 1953


On the presumption that you do in fact want to know why the jerseys are
the colours they are, and not particularly what they are awarded for:

The Maillot a Pois Rouges and Maillot Blanc have been explained by someone else
in the tread.

The Green Jersey is the PMU sponsor's predominant colour: Green

PMU = PariMUtuel - Interactive betting mostly on horses

PMU have been an on-again, off-again sponsor of the jersey, but have
sponsored it now for the last 13 years.

The Green Jersey was first awarded in the 50th Anniversary edition of the Tour in 1953

The Yellow Jersey was first awarded in 1919.
ical reason, like there is for the
>> yellow jersey?
>> want to know why the jerseys are
the colours they are, and not particularly what they are awarded for:

The Maillot a Pois Rouges and Maillot Blanc have been explained by someone else
in the tread.

The Green Jersey is the PMU sponsor's predominant colour: Green

PMU = PariMUtuel - Interactive betting mostly on horses

PMU have been an on-again, off-again sponsor of the jersey, but have
sponsored it now for the last 13 years.

The Green Jersey was first awarded in the 50th Anniversary edition of the Tour in 1953


On the presumption that you do in fact want to know why the jerseys are
the colours they are, and not particularly what they are awarded for:

The Maillot a Pois Rouges and Maillot Blanc have been explained by someone else
in the tread.

The Green Jersey is the PMU sponsor's predominant colour: Green

PMU = PariMUtuel - Interactive betting mostly on horses

PMU have been an on-again, off-again sponsor of the jersey, but have
sponsored it now for the last 13 years.

The Green Jersey was first awarded in the 50th Anniversary edition of the Tour in 1953

The Yellow Jersey was first awarded in 1919.

It is yellow for the same reason as the Maglia Rosa in the Giro.

Henri Desgrange's journal, L'Auto was printed on yellow paper as La
Gazzetta dello Sport is printed on pink.

Whilst first awarded on July 13, 1919, and intended to be worn by the leader,
Eugene Christophe on the next day, Bastille Day, Christophe had to wait to
don his prized jersey.

It wasn't ready when it came time to present it.

As an interesting aside, almost every time the Tour visits Marseille,
something goes wrong.

How about trying to chronicle a few Marseille Disasters (apart from the one mentioned here)

[Lantern Rouge]

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 13:35:57 +0000, Steven L. Sheffield wrote:

> On 7/15/03 6:44 AM, in article
> , "Ken Prager"
> > wrote:
>
>> In article >,
>> Andrew Swan > wrote:
>>
>>> Can anyone tell me why the green, white, and polka-dot jerseys are
>>> coloured that way? Is there an historical reason, like there is for the
>>> yellow jersey?
>>>
>>> TIA,
>>>
>>> &roo
>>>
>>
>> See <http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2003/tour03/?id=features/FAQ>,
>> where all is revealed.
>
>
>
> That URL explains what the various colored jerseys signify, but not WHY they
> are those particular colors (as opposed to blue, mauve, and pink & puce
> polka-dots).

I'm glad you agree with my interpretation of the query contained in the
post.

I have tried to explain in another response in the thread, at least the
two that have not been explained by another poster

[g]

Lantern Rouge > wrote:


>
> As an interesting aside, almost every time the Tour visits Marseille,
> something goes wrong.
>
> How about trying to chronicle a few Marseille Disasters (apart from the
> one mentioned here)

Stuart O'Grady was mugged there..

GK

[Lantern Rouge]

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 14:46:28 +0000, Lantern Rouge wrote:

With my newsreader, the previous post I made in this thread appears badly mangled.

I really apologize if it has gone out to the NewsGroup generally in that state.

It happened with a previous posting I made a week or so ago and I'm trying to determine the reason.

[Lantern Rouge]

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 23:11:36 +0800, g wrote:

> Lantern Rouge > wrote:
>
>
>>
>> As an interesting aside, almost every time the Tour visits Marseille,
>> something goes wrong.
>>
>> How about trying to chronicle a few Marseille Disasters (apart from the
>> one mentioned here)
>
> Stuart O'Grady was mugged there..
>
> GK

Good one.

I hadn't thought of that one though!!

[Joe Hurley]

I believe that all the jerseys have the colors they have because of
the companies that sponsor the jerseys.

Yellow jersey: Sponsored by Credit Lyonnais, if you go to their
website, http://www.creditlyonnais.com, you will see that their logo
is yellow, like the color of a lion. (Since they're from the city of
Lyon, which Anglicized becomes lion.)

Green jersey: sponsored by PMU, Pari-Mutuel Urbain, the French
equivalent of off-track betting. Again, if you go to their website,
you will see that the predominant color of their logo is green.

Polka-dot jersey: sponsored by Champion Supermarche, a holding
company for a number of supermarket and minimart chains in France,
including Carrefour and Marche Plus. And if you look at their website
(www.champion.fr), you'll again find that they have red polka-dots on
many of their products; in fact they have a teddy bear wearing a white
shirt with red polka dots (sound familiar?).

White jersey: sponsored by Aquarel, a spring water bottled by Nestle.
If you go to their website (www.nestle-aquarel.com), you will note
that the bottle has a white label.

It's all about brand equity -- getting people to associate colors with
products or the companies that sell them. e.g. what do you think of
when someone says "Big blue"? IBM. I bet if you had a bicycle race
in this country sponsored by IBM you'd find the leader wearing a blue
jersey! In fact, in the Giro d'Italia, the reason it's a pink jersey
is that it is sponsored by La Gazzetta dello Sport, which prints on,
you guessed it, pink paper.

Hope this answers the question!

Regards,

Joe Hurley

> "Andrew Swan" > a écrit dans le message de
> ...
> > Can anyone tell me why the green, white, and polka-dot jerseys are
> > coloured that way? Is there an historical reason, like there is for the
> > yellow jersey?
> >
> > TIA,
> >
> > &roo
>

[benjo maso]

"Joe Hurley" > wrote in message
om...
> I believe that all the jerseys have the colors they have because of
> the companies that sponsor the jerseys.
>
> Yellow jersey: Sponsored by Credit Lyonnais, if you go to their
> website, http://www.creditlyonnais.com, you will see that their logo
> is yellow, like the color of a lion. (Since they're from the city of
> Lyon, which Anglicized becomes lion.)
>
> Green jersey: sponsored by PMU, Pari-Mutuel Urbain, the French
> equivalent of off-track betting. Again, if you go to their website,
> you will see that the predominant color of their logo is green.
>
> Polka-dot jersey: sponsored by Champion Supermarche, a holding
> company for a number of supermarket and minimart chains in France,
> including Carrefour and Marche Plus. And if you look at their website
> (www.champion.fr), you'll again find that they have red polka-dots on
> many of their products; in fact they have a teddy bear wearing a white
> shirt with red polka dots (sound familiar?).
>
> White jersey: sponsored by Aquarel, a spring water bottled by Nestle.
> If you go to their website (www.nestle-aquarel.com), you will note
> that the bottle has a white label.
>
> It's all about brand equity -- getting people to associate colors with
> products or the companies that sell them. e.g. what do you think of
> when someone says "Big blue"? IBM. I bet if you had a bicycle race
> in this country sponsored by IBM you'd find the leader wearing a blue
> jersey! In fact, in the Giro d'Italia, the reason it's a pink jersey
> is that it is sponsored by La Gazzetta dello Sport, which prints on,
> you guessed it, pink paper.
>
> Hope this answers the question!


Because the colours of the jerseys had been decided far before Credit
Lyonnais, PMU, Champion and Aquarel were in the picture, it's imposisble
that the colours of those componies have played any role - that is if we're
upholding the traditional chronology of cause and effect.

Benjo Maso

[KI7WX]

Actually it is because a previous jersey sponsor was Banania and bananas are
yellow :-)

MC

[Nick Burns]

"benjo maso" > wrote in message

<snip>
> Because the colours of the jerseys had been decided far before Credit
> Lyonnais, PMU, Champion and Aquarel were in the picture, it's imposisble
> that the colours of those componies have played any role - that is if
we're
> upholding the traditional chronology of cause and effect.
>
> Benjo Maso

Right. So go back to the original sponsor for each jersey. Here is a web
page that may or may not be accurate. It says that green was (in this case)
chosen by the Tour org. Apparently is was red one year at the request of the
sponsor. I also recall a red "hot spots" jersey sponsored by "Catch" (insect
exterminators).

http://www.angelfire.com/realm/cvccbikers/tour/eddy/green.htm

The KOM jersey is different in that the classification has been around a lot
longer than the "pois" pattern.

http://www.angelfire.com/realm/cvccbikers/tour/eddy/polkadot.htm

These pages have links to cover all of the jerseys except for the red Catch
jersey and the "combine" jersey which was brought in (IIRC) so that Toshiba
could sponsor a jersey. The red, white and combine jerseys were all tossed a
bit over 10 years ago but the white was brought back in memory of Fabio
Casartelli.

[David Ryan]

Do you think riders would object to Black Label beer or Black Flag
bug spray? How about Clearasil? skinsuits... hmmm

Joe Hurley wrote:
>
> I believe that all the jerseys have the colors they have because of
> the companies that sponsor the jerseys.
>
> Yellow jersey: Sponsored by Credit Lyonnais, if you go to their
> website, http://www.creditlyonnais.com, you will see that their logo
> is yellow, like the color of a lion. (Since they're from the city of
> Lyon, which Anglicized becomes lion.)
>
> Green jersey: sponsored by PMU, Pari-Mutuel Urbain, the French
> equivalent of off-track betting. Again, if you go to their website,
> you will see that the predominant color of their logo is green.
>
> Polka-dot jersey: sponsored by Champion Supermarche, a holding
> company for a number of supermarket and minimart chains in France,
> including Carrefour and Marche Plus. And if you look at their website
> (www.champion.fr), you'll again find that they have red polka-dots on
> many of their products; in fact they have a teddy bear wearing a white
> shirt with red polka dots (sound familiar?).
>
> White jersey: sponsored by Aquarel, a spring water bottled by Nestle.
> If you go to their website (www.nestle-aquarel.com), you will note
> that the bottle has a white label.
>
> It's all about brand equity -- getting people to associate colors with
> products or the companies that sell them. e.g. what do you think of
> when someone says "Big blue"? IBM. I bet if you had a bicycle race
> in this country sponsored by IBM you'd find the leader wearing a blue
> jersey! In fact, in the Giro d'Italia, the reason it's a pink jersey
> is that it is sponsored by La Gazzetta dello Sport, which prints on,
> you guessed it, pink paper.
>
> Hope this answers the question!
>
> Regards,
>
> Joe Hurley
>
> > "Andrew Swan" > a écrit dans le message de
> > ...
> > > Can anyone tell me why the green, white, and polka-dot jerseys are
> > > coloured that way? Is there an historical reason, like there is for the
> > > yellow jersey?
> > >
> > > TIA,
> > >
> > > &roo
> >