The Rainbow jersey, the Pinnacle of Professional cycling
In 1919, the Tour de France introduced the yellow jersey to make the race leader visible for the public and his fellow competitors. Ever since, stage races have created different coloured jerseys for classification leaders.
There is a green jersey for the leader in the points classification, a white jersey for the best young rider, and the king of the mountains wears the famous polka dot jersey.
Other Grand Tours use different colours: pink for the leader in the Giro d’Italia and red for the leader in the Vuelta d’España. But the pinnacle of cycling is the rainbow jersey.
Since 1927, every UCI world champion in cycling earns the right to wear the rainbow jersey for one year, while competing in the event in which he or she is the reigning champion.
Former world champions never lose their rainbow stripes, however. After their year as reigning champion is over, they are allowed to wear rainbow piping on their sleeve cuffs and collar until the end of their careers, as testimony to an exceptional achievement.
A meteorological rainbow consists of seven colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. The rainbow jersey is different. Its five colours (green, yellow, black, red and blue) represent the five continents, as do the five Olympic rings.
Curse or blessing?
The rainbow jersey is associated with a lot of superstition. Some speak of the curse of the rainbow jersey.
In the past, people believed that riders wearing the rainbow jersey were dogged by misfortune, but many champions have proven the superstitious wrong.
The rainbow jersey often galvanises the rider who wears it. Norwegian Thor Hushovd, the 2010 UCI world champion, was unstoppable in the 2011 Tour de France. He wore the yellow jersey from the second stage to the eighth, and then won two stages.
Many other riders have celebrated victories in the rainbow jersey. Four riders took the flowers in Milan-San Remo wearing the rainbow bands: Alfredo Binda (1931), Eddy Merckx (1972 and 1975), Felice Gimondi (1974) and Giuseppe Saronni (1983). In 1990, American Greg LeMond won the Tour de France while world champion. Louison Bobet did the same in 1955.
More recently, Polish rider Michal Kwiatkowski won the 50th Amstel Gold Race in the world champion’s jersey in 2015, and this year reigning world champion Peter Sagan from Slovakia won the Gent-Wevelgem, Tour of Flanders, two stages in the Tour de Suisse, and three stages as well as the green jersey in the Tour de France.
At the 2016 UCI Road World Championships Doha, Sagan will defend his rainbow jersey in the men’s road race and Lizzy Armitstead (GBR) will defend hers in the women’s road race. In time trialling, Vasil Kiryjenka (BLR) and Linda Villumsen (NZL) will aim to prolong their right to wear the rainbow jersey one more year.
The UCI Road World Championships take place between 9 and 16 October in Doha, click here for our full 2016 World Championship PREVIEW.
The UCI Road World Championship – Doha 2016 will be held in Qatar’s capital between 9 and 16 October 2016.
Bringing together the world’s best male and female road cyclists in the Elite, Under-23 and Junior categories for the time trial and road race, Doha 2016 is the first ever UCI Road World Championship to be held in the Middle East.
The UCI Road World Championships Doha 2016 are the climax of the road cycling season, and will see 12 individual titles of UCI World Champion awarded to men and women in the Elite, Under-23 and Junior road races and time trials, as well as two titles for the men’s and women’s team time trials.
The Men’s Elite Road Race is the final competition of Doha 2016, and will be held on Saturday, 16 October. The Men’s Junior Individual Time Trial will be held five days earlier, with both events finishing at the iconic Pearl-Qatar.
Twelve titles of UCI World Champion will be awarded during the historic event.
Doha will host around 1000 racers from 75 countries and more than 5700 participants from national federations, delegations, technicians and journalists in addition to around 30,000 fans and millions of spectators from all over the world. In Doha 2016.
Qatar coach and former international Tareq Esmaili believes that fans will enjoy exceptional competitions when the world’s best road cyclists descend on Qatar for the UCI Road World Championships Doha 2016 in four weeks’ time.
Qatar’s national coach is a busy man these days; when not overseeing every aspect of his team’s training sessions in Europe, he avidly follows cycling action around the world.
2016 has been an unforgettable season of racing so far, and the former Qatar international felt that four nations could vie for the most number of podium finishes in Doha.
“I think it’ll be a straight fight between Belgium, France, Great Britain and the USA for the title of overall UCI World Champions,” he said.
He believes that the pinnacle competitions of Doha 2016, the men’s and women’s Elite Road Races, will be fiercely contested and difficult to predict.
“According to me, Slovakian Peter Sagan, Briton Mark Cavendish and Belgian Greg van Avermaet are the top three riders heading to Doha. As for favourites among women, I’ll need to look more carefully at the line-ups as there’re several of them,” he said.
Qatar is expected to field three cyclists — Ahmed Elbourdainy (elite men’s race), Farhan Farzi and Jassim Al Jabri (junior individual time trial) — at the races at home.
Reflecting on his young team, the coach is proud of his charges’ progress, and believes they will learn from competing amongst the world’s best on home soil.
Times are local times.
UCI Women’s Team Time Trial
October 9 @ 10:30 am - 11:50 am
Lusail Sports Complex, Lusail Sports Complex, Doha, Qatar
UCI Women’s Team Time Trial will start at 02:30PM up until 04:40PM
UCI Men’s Team Time Trial
October 9 @ 2:30 pm - 4:40 pm
Lusail Sports Complex, Lusail Sports Complex, Doha, Qatar
UCI Men’s Team Time Trial will start at 02:30PM up until 04:40PM
Women Junior Individual Time Trial
October 10 @ 9:30 am - 10:40 am
The Pearl, The Pearl, Doha, Qatar
Women junior individual time trial starts at 09:30AM to 10:40AM
Men Under 23 Individual Time Trial
October 10 @ 11:30 am - 3:50 pm
The Pearl, The Pearl, Doha, Qatar
Men under 23 individual time trial starts at 11:30AM to 03:50PM
Men Junior Individual Time Trial
October 11 @ 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
The Pearl, The Pearl, Doha, Qatar
Men’s junior individual time trial starts at 9:00AM to 12:30PM
Women Elite Individual Time Trial
October 11 @ 1:15 pm - 4:30 pm
The Pearl, The Pearl, Doha, Qatar
Women’s elite individual time trial starts at 01:15PM to 04:30PM
Confirmation of Starters, All Nations and All Categories (Road Races)
October 12 @ 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Doha, Qatar, Doha, Qatar
Confirmation of starters for all nations and all categories will start at 9:00AM to 12:00PM. Each nation will be allocated a time slot for confirmation.
Men Elite Individual Time Trial
October 12 @ 1:45 pm - 4:05 pm
Lusail Sports Complex, Lusail Sports Complex, Doha, Qatar
Men’s Elite Individual Time Trial starts at 1:45PM to 04:05PM (4:25pm)
Men Under 23 Road Race
October 13 @ 12:00 pm - 3:55 pm
The Pearl, The Pearl, Doha, Qatar
Men Under 23 Road Race will start from 12:00PM up until 3:55PM (4:15PM)
Women Juniors Road Race
October 14 @ 8:30 am - 10:30 am
The Pearl, The Pearl, Doha, Qatar
Women Juniors Road Race will start at 08:30AM up until 10:30AM (10:50AM)
Stage 1 to Fribourg 165km
