ORCIÈRES, France – Within minutes of a Tour de France stage finishing, a separate race begins: to get custom jerseys printed and ready for the podium presentation. One assumption might be that there are all possible permutations of jersey and team sitting pre-made in a truck somewhere waiting for their moment – but the reality is a bit more handmade. In fact, every single special jersey awarded on the podium – the yellow jersey, the white jersey, the polka dot jersey, and the green jersey – is made on demand each day.
All this is the work of one man in a van. Fabrice Pierrot, a kind but busy gent, has been providing this service for the Tour de France for over 20 years. Today in Orcières, he is parked outside the press room in a nondescript Skoda-branded van of the sort that are all over the Tour de France (also a lie; it was a Volkswagen), with his side door open for airflow. I stick my head in, confirm that he can speak some English, and ask if I could learn how it all works.
Did we do a good job with this story?
