(Accordian music)
- It's Tour de France time,
and whether you call it Tour de France
or Tour de France,
there is no escaping this iconic race
and the magical pull it has for cycling fans
and even, frankly, non cycling fans.
One thing that is also inescapable is the influence
of Tour de France has had on the language of cycling.
France is a historical influence on the sport.
It means that French is part of the vocabulary
of cycling in all languages.
So (speaks in foreign language)
DS, which means (speaks in foreign language)
(speaks in foreign language), which comes from
Grand Prix Montagne,
or even chammy, which comes from the French chamois,
meaning the chammy goat leathers
used in the pads of cycling shorts,
which actually is a bit gross, isn't it?
Anyway, everyone knows these words.
In fact, we almost don't notice them anymore.
But if you want to raise your Tour de France watching game,
you need to be able to (speaks in foreign language)
a little bit better than that.
Nothing adds to your cachet
as an astute observer of the Tour
than being able to drop in a few
(speaks in foreign language).
So here, ready for the 2018 Tour de France,
we bring you some cycling-specific
(speaks in foreign language)
that will help you sound like a true connoisseur
of the sport.
Let's start with the most important word of all,
(speaks in foreign language).
(speaks in foreign language) means jersey,
so the (speaks in foreign language)
is the yellow jersey.
(speaks in foreign language)
is the sprinter's green jersey.
(speaks in foreign language) is the polka-dot jersey,
which actually could be translated as
the jersey with the red peas
because peas and polka dots
are actually the same word in French.
(speaks in foreign language),
to show off the jersey.
But here we're talking about the sponsor's jersey
from the pro team, rather than a race leader jersey.
This refers to the tactic of attacking to make a solo break
early in the stage simply in order to get TV time.
And often we have no hope of winning,
so that the sponsor's jersey is seen
by as many people as possible.
(speaks in foreign language)
Literally, the escape.
Means the break
(speaks in foreign language)
there's a whole list of terms
used to describe types of rider.
Now, (speaks in foreign language)
is commonly heard in English,
and it means a good all-arounder.
A (speaks in foreign language) is a punchy racer
who specializes in rolling terrain
but short but steep climbs.
A (speaks in foreign language) means literally a fighter,
one who makes a valiant last stand.
So in cycling,
it's a rider who goes on heroic solo breakaways.
A (speaks in foreign language) is a climber,
and, of course, a (speaks in foreign language) is a sprinter
(speaks in foreign language) is to crush or mash the pedals
to put in a huge effort in a big gear.
(speaks in foreign language)
Literally, doing the border.
It means putting the peloton
in the gutter in a crosswind.
(speaks in foreign language)
Literally, potato hunt.
This is what in English we would call
being in no-man's land.
The rider who is between two groups,
having escaped from the peloton
but who can't quite reach the breakaway ahead.
Stuck in the middle, all on their own,
chasing the breakaway,
hunting potatoes, obviously.
(speaks in foreign language)
A (speaks in foreign language) is a pall breaker.
It means a course of the race
where the terrain is continuously up and down,
false flats, corners, difficult, demanding,
and requires a lot of concentration from the riders
and very few opportunities to recover.
(speaks in foreign language)
Literally, packaging is the slang for a bunched sprint,
and is also sometimes called a (speaks in foreign language),
as in rush in English.
(speaks in foreign language)
Literally, the pilot fish.
The final lead-out rider of the sprint
who brings the sprint as close to the line as possible
to drop then off in the optimal position to win the race.
(speaks in foreign language)
A bicycle salad.
No, no, it's not the low-calorie diet
of a professional cyclist.
And, to be honest, at the Tour,
they have to eat an awful lot of calories
just to get 'round.
But actually, this means a crash in the bunch
with a tangle of bicycles.
It's actually a phrase you don't really want to hear.
Voila.
Let's hope that this helps you sound like a true expert
or connoisseur of the Tour
and impress your friends with your linguistic cycling
(speaks in foreign language).
(speaks in foreign language) to give us a Like,
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