Yes in the opening stage there are 9 yellow jersey awarded..... one for the winner and the eight are for the team that can get there hemocrit up to the highest level.... this year they broke Riis's record and cracked 65%..... awesome effort........
Ahh nice one thanks, I'd thought there'd be a gentlmens agreement not to have Yello team shirts so as to avoid confusion, obviously not, presumbaly the actual yellow jersey is completely yellow then
There is (or was) actually a requirement to not have to much Yellow in the team jerseys for the TDF. Although Suanier-Duval look to have more Yellow than ONCE used to.
If you remember the days of team ONCE they had to wear an alternate jersey during the TDF as they were judged to have to much yellow.
It is often a fact that a rider may be awarded the yellow jersey and maybe the polka dot jersey or white jersey at the same time.
The ride may pick which one he wants to wear but so far all have chosen the yellow.
i'm guessing there's some coin involved also. plus, winning a stage is an amazing accomplishment and is pretty much considered as great as winning a one day race.