Tour de France Polka Dot Jersey

Image: © Thomas Nugent Taken: 30 Jul 2011

The distinctive Polka Dot Jersey is worn by the leader in the King of the Mountains competition in the Tour de France cycle race. The jersey can change hands several times during the course of the race (not the same physical jersey of course), the title going to the rider who leads the KoM competition on the final day of the 3000Km, three week long race, which takes in the Alps and the Pyrenees. In 1984, local boy Robert Millar became the first rider from outside of mainland Europe to win the KoM title, finishing fourth overall in the race into the bargain. Millar gifted this jersey (it's actually a skinsuit, used in time trials) to his friend and mentor Billy Bilsland, in whose bike shop on Saltmarket Image] it is on permanent display http://billybilslandcycles.co.uk/ . Until Manxman Mark Cavendish won the Sprinters Green Jersey in 2011 Image, Robert Millar was the only Briton to have won one of the three major jerseys in the Tour de France, the other being the Yellow Jersey of the overall winner. 2012 update: Bradley Wiggins this year became the first Briton to win the Yellow Jersey. See Millar in action in Glasgow in 1984 Image & Image

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