Tour de France postcard: Honor in finishing last, the lanterne rouge

July 22, 10:43 AMCycling ExaminerJames Raia

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The French sporting public likes compatriot champions. They also cheer for any countryman in the Tour de France — even if he has no chance of winning but displays perseverance.

A French rider hasn't claimed the Tour since Bernard Hinault in 1985, so sometimes fans resort to etching favorite former riders' names in chalk on race roads.

On other occasions, fans wave huge handmade signs on mountaintops for retired or deceased French riders as if their ghosts are still in the race.

With nearly equal fervor, enthusiasts who camp for days in the Alps and Pyrenees to watch Tour de France riders pass in a flash, appreciate the underdog.

Nothing demonstrates this more than the tradition of the lanterne rouge or red lantern. It's the honor given to the rider who finishes in last place in the overall Tour de France standings.

Named after the red lantern on the caboose of a train, the lanterne rouge honor began in the first Tour de France in 1903.

It's never been an official designation, but the last-place cyclist receives his share of admiration.

In recent years, Tour organizers have discouraged any publicity about the red lantern because riders fervently began to abuse its original intention.

Since the second-to-last rider in the final standings' wouldn't earn anything for his status, back-of-the-pack riders took crafty measures to finish last. They'd hide behind buildings, coast along routes or feign injury in order to be last.

The last rider doesn't receive prize money for his finish, either. But in yesteryear, it was common for lanterne rouge honorees to receive sizable appearance fees to compete in post-Tour appearance criteriums, the fast-paced races on short, enclosed courses throughout Europe.

"It adds nothing," Jean Marie Leblanc, the now-retired Tour de France race director said of the red lantern designation. "Today it is part of the lore of the Tour de France, but it no longer exists officially or unofficially."

Yet earning red lantern is still a revered Tour accomplishment.

As this year's race advances into the Alps with five stages left, Kenny Van Hummel (Skil-Shimano) of the Netherlands is 161st and last in the overall standings. The fourth-year pro, competing is the Tour de France for the first time, is 3 hours, 35 minutes and 54 second behind race leader Alberto Contador.

Lanterne rouge candidates have to determine each day if  they should they give up and hope for a better race next time or push themselves to an extreme to remain within the varying time limits of each subsequent stage with a goal of finishing last

Van Hummel said before the start of stage 16: “They're going to have to shoot me to get me off the bike.”

In some instances, riders finishing last in the Tour de France still receive appearance money to ride in post-Tour criteriums.

"I had a Belgium teammate and he was the last (rider in the Tour), but he didn't get anything," said Belgian rider Mario Aerts said during the 2005 Tour de France. "But maybe he would have if he were a French guy."

French rider Jimmy Casper, a retired veteran Tour de France rider who also won more than two-dozen races in his career, captured the lanterne rouge honor twice.

On the final day of the race in Paris, Casper has capitalized on his status and carried a small red lantern for the purpose of seeking publicity and post-Tour business opportunities.

Van Hummel, who finished last in stage 16, is more than 45 minutes behind the next-to-last rider in the field. Two mountain stages remain in this year's race, and if Van Hummel can avoid elimination (done via a percentage of time behind the winner), he'll win this year's lanterne rouge honor.