Cycling's three Grand Tours, the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana, provide the ultimate test in the sport.
Raced over three weeks, they tackle different terrains and provide various tests, with classifications to suit all types of riders, ensuring each day is competitive.
All of those are represented by a jersey, worn by the rider leading the competition and here is our guide on the prizes available.
Tour de France Jersey Colours
Yellow
Among the most iconic garments in sport, the yellow jersey, or 'maillot jaune', is worn by the overall leader of the Tour de France.
That is, the rider with the lowest accumulated time to that point on the general classification, including bonus seconds available at the end of each stage for the first three riders, and has been won by Tadej Pogacar in the last two years.
Yellow was chosen to reflect the yellow pages on which the race's original sponsor, the newspaper L'Auto, was printed.
Four-time winner Pogacar is expected to return in 2026, aiming to emulate Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain in winning for a fifth time.
Green
Not all cyclists can climb like Pogacar and there is also room within the sport for real thoroughbreds, whose best results come in sprints.
These riders compete for the green jersey at the Tour, also known as the points classification.
Each stage awards a set number of points to the day's winner, with points also available to those who finish second, third, and all the way down to 15th.
There are also points awarded for performances in intermediate sprints, usually positioned midway through a stage.
The rider with the most points wears the green jersey to signify their position and Slovakia's Peter Sagan's record seven wins is likely to take some beating.
Polka Dot
Like the green jersey, the polka dot jersey is awarded based on points tallied throughout the race.
However, rather than the focus being on the flat, it is climbing that's judged, with difficulty ratings assigned to each climb, from fourth-category bumps to hors categorie giants in the high mountains.
Again, the points are added up during the race and the leader of this competition wears the famous red polka dots.
Richard Virenque won the prize on seven occasions. More specialist climbers, Giulio Ciccone and Richard Carapaz, claimed it in 2023 and 2024, but Pogacar won it for a third time in 2025, although he wore the yellow jersey as this supersedes all other prizes.
White
Last but not least at the Tour, the white jersey for the best young rider, which is contested by those aged 26 or under at the start of the race.
Like the yellow jersey, the maillot blanc is based on general classification positions.
Laurent Fignon (1983), Jan Ulrich (1997), Alberto Contador (2007), Andy Schleck (2010), Egan Bernal (2019) and Tadej Pogacar (2020) are the only riders to win the youth prize alongside the overall.
Giro d'Italia
Pink
The pink jersey, or maglia rosa, is worn by the leader of the Giro d'Italia, determined by cumulative time and bonus seconds for finishing high up on individual stages. Once the winner is confirmed, they also earn the Trofeo Senze Fine.
It is pink to reflect the La Gazetta dello Sport. The Italian sports newspaper, which created the Giro is printed on pink paper.
As at the Tour, the maglia rosa takes precedence over the other jerseys, and the record for wins stands at five, shared by Merckx, Alfredo Binda, and Fausto Coppi.
White
Not all the categories are identical across the three Grand Tours, with the white jersey at the Giro only available to those no older than 25 during the year of the race.
Like the maglia rosa, the maglia bianca is decided on cumulative time, including bonuses, and was returned to the race in 2007 after being excluded for 13 years beforehand.
Purple
The points prize at the Giro is represented by the maglia ciclamino, the colour derived from the alpine flower, the cyclamen.
It has previously had two spells of being red, either side of a first stint in its current hue, which is close to mauve.
This is determined by points earned for stage placings, and the Italian duo Francesco Moser and Giuseppe Saronni share the record with four wins.
Blue
It wouldn't be an Italian sporting event without an allusion to blue and the leader of the mountains classification at the Giro wears the maglia azzurra.
The blue garment was previously reserved for the combination prize and the leader of this competition previously wore a green jersey before sponsors requested a change to blue in 2012.
Like the mountain classifications elsewhere, the maglia azzurra is determined by points accrued throughout the race, and Gino Bartali's seven wins set him apart as the record holder.
Vuelta a Espana
Red
The leader of the final Grand Tour of the year, the Vuelta a Espana, wears the red jersey, or maillot rojo.
This garment has gone through different renditions, previously being orange, white, white with a red stripe, yellow, and, in 1998, gold for the Jersey de Oro. However, it returned to red for the 2010 edition.
Spain's Roberto Heras and Slovenia's Primoz Roglic have each won this a record four times.
Green
The jersey verde is reserved for the sprinters at the Vuelta, with points being earned along the route and weighted to help the fast riders accumulate their tally on the flatter days.
The lumpy terrain in Spain has previously meant that all-rounders have won the prize, with joint record winners Sean Kelly, Laurent Jalabert and Alejandro Valverde, all of whom have four successes, also previous overall winners.
Blue
Like at the Tour, the Vuelta's mountains prize is polka dot, with blue spots on a white background.
Again, the jersey puntos azules is worn by the rider with the most points in the mountains, unless this is the overall leader.
Italy's Edoardo Molinar was the first winner in 1935, while Spain's Jose Luis Laguia won it a record five times in 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1986.
White
The Vuelta's white jersey has an interesting backstory. Until 2018, it was awarded in the combination classification for the best all-rounder.
Now the youth prize for the best rider aged 26 or under and the jersey blanco was won by American Matthew Riccitello in 2025.
