Combativity award in the Tour de France
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| Award details | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Road cycling |
| Competition | Tour de France |
| Given for | Fighting spirit |
| Local name | Le Prix de la combativité (French) |
| History | |
| First award | 1952 |
| Editions | 62 known (as of 2014) |
| First winner |  Wout Wagtmans (NED) |
| Most wins |  Eddy Merckx (BEL) (4 times) |
| Most recent |  Romain Bardet (FRA) |
The combativity award in the Tour de France (also known in English as the most aggressive rider prize)[1] is a prize given in the Tour de France. It favours constant attackers and since 1981 the winner of the award has not won the general classification in the same Tour.
Contents
History
Since 1952,[2] after every stage the most combative cyclist was given an award, and an overall competition was recorded.[3] At the end of the 1956 Tour de France, André Darrigade was named the most attacking cyclist.[4] At this point, the award was given the same importance as the award for the cyclist with the most bad luck, Picot in 1956.
In 1961, the award was not given to an individual cyclist, but to an entire team, the regional team West-South-West.
The system of the award has changed during the years. Historically, riders accumulated points, and the cyclist with the most points at the end of the Tour was declared winner.[5] The cyclist did not have to finish the race, for example Cyrille Guimard in 1972 did not finish, but still was given the combativity award.
In 1979, the combativity award was initially given to Joop Zoetemelk;[6] he was later disqualified and Hennie Kuiper received the award.
Current system
In the current system that has been active since 2003, a jury of eight specialists in cycling, selects the most combative cyclist of each stage (excluding time trials).[7] There is no jersey for the most combative rider of the previous stage, but he can be recognized by the race number worn on his back: it consists of a white number on a red background instead of the usual black on white.[8] The prize for this rider is € 2000.[1]
At the end of the Tour de France (usually during the last stage), a "super-combativity award" is given to the most combative cyclist of the race.[9] The combativity award is currently sponsored by Antargaz, and the prize money is € 20,000.[1][7]
Winners
As far as known, 61 super combativity awards have been given since 1953.[10]
References
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