Picture the scene. You meet some old family friends, who you tell you're now into cycling. The first thing, only thing, on their mind is: 'have you ever ridden the Tour de France'.
For anyone involved in the cycling world, it’s a common thing to be asked whether you might be making a lycra-clad appearance at the Tour de France, while out for a ride from a man in a van, or by an ignorant relative. It is a question that has played on the mind of many of us Tour newbies –, how do you qualify for the biggest race of the year?
Well, the short answer is - you don’t. Individual riders will be selected by a team. 18 UCI WorldTour teams have automatic entry into the race, as the highest-ranked squads. The other five places are then made up of the two best UCI ProTeams (second-highest pro teams after the WorldTour squads) and three “wildcard” teams selected by the race’s organiser, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO).
You don’t need to be French to qualify for the Tour de France either, just as you don’t need to be from the UK to win the Tour of Britain. In fact, most teams - despite being attached to specific nations - are made up of riders from different countries. UAE Team Emirates, for example, is made up of eight riders from Slovenia, Portugal, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Ecuador and the UK. Not a single rider from the team's home country.
Becoming a selected rider for a Tour team is a tricky business. Of the 1,200 plus professional cyclists, only 184 will get to race this year - with only one given the yellow jersey of the overall champion.
If you’re harbouring dreams of professional racing, you could make it to the Tour de France - but you’ll have to jump through a few hoops.
First, you’ll have to train really hard. The race takes place over 21 stages, varying length and terrain, with some including mountain sections and time trials. With only two rest days of the three week race, your endurance abilities must be high - and your mental strength even higher.
Combine these elements and you might catch the attention of a pro team. This can happen by winning races, moving through your country’s domestic cycling leagues, putting in an appearance at your National Championships, or funding yourself through continental races. Luck must also be on your side. Being born into a country with a strong race development culture like Belgium increases the likelihood of your progression through the leagues, but if you're born into a bigger country without a formal development process, it can be much harder.
Then, once you’ve got yourself in with a pro team, you have to prove yourself amongst your star-studded co-workers - are you a sprinter or a stage hunter, a climber, or a general classification contender? Everything matters as your team selects eight riders to represent them at the tour, out of teams of 30-40.
If you're thinking about this question, and you're not a 12-year-old at the beginning of a development pathway, or an athlete crossing over from another endurance sport, then the dream might be dead already.
I trawled the internet looking for some loophole about Tour de France qualification. The best I could find was a Quora entry suggesting a spectator should slip into the peloton as it zooms past, wearing a home-made number. They reckoned it would be enough to blend in with the group, should they maintain the 40 kilometres per hour average speed carried by the peloton - we're not so sure. Another commenter simply wrote:
“Is this a serious question? How do you join the 11 players in the World Cup final? How do you join the Ashes cricket team? You just don’t.”
But a cyclist can dream, right?
