The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulative time across all stages.[1] Hence, whoever leads the GC is generally regarded as the overall leader or winner of the race.
Riders who finish in the same group are awarded the same time, with possible subtractions due to time bonuses. Two riders are said to have finished in the same group if the gap between them is less than three seconds. A crash or mechanical incident in the final 3 kilometres of a stage that finishes without a categorised climb usually means that riders thus affected are considered to have finished as part of the group they were with at the 3 km mark, so long as they finish the stage.
It is possible to win the GC without winning a stage. It is also possible to win the GC race without being the GC leader before the last stage.
The most important stages of a bicycle race for GC contenders are mountain stages and individual time trial stages, both of which offer good opportunities for a single racer to outperform other racers.
Jerseys
editIn many bicycle races, the current leader of the GC gets a special jersey awarded. In the Tour de France, the leader wears a yellow jersey, in the Giro d'Italia a pink jersey, and in the Vuelta a España the leader's jersey is red.
Jerseys of the major stage races
edit| Race | Year | Maillot of the general classification | Category UCI 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
 Tour de France
|
1903 |  Yellow
|
First (UCI WorldTour) |
 Tour of Belgium
|
1908 |  Blue
|
Second (UCI ProSeries) |
 Giro d'Italia
|
1909 |  Pink
|
First (UCI WorldTour) |
 Volta a Catalunya
|
1911 |  White with horizontal green stripes
|
First (UCI WorldTour) |
 Tour of Germany
|
1911 |  Red
|
Second (UCI ProSeries) |
| Vuelta al País Vasco
|
1924 | Yellow
|
First (UCI WorldTour) |
 Tour de Pologne
|
1928 | Yellow
|
First (UCI WorldTour) |
| Paris–Nice
|
1933 | Yellow
|
First (UCI WorldTour) |
 Tour de Suisse
|
1933 | Yellow
|
First (UCI WorldTour) |
| Vuelta a España
|
1935 | Red
|
First (UCI WorldTour) |
| Critérium du Dauphiné
|
1947 |  Yellow with horizontal blue stripe
|
First (UCI WorldTour) |
| Tour de Romandie
|
1947 |  Green
|
First (UCI WorldTour) |
| 4 jours de Dunquerke
|
1955 | Pink
|
Second (UCI ProSeries) |
| Tirreno–Adriatico
|
1966 | Blue
|
First (UCI WorldTour) |
| Tour de Wallonie
|
1974 | Yellow
|
Second (UCI ProSeries) |
 Tour Down Under
|
1999 |  Orange
|
First (UCI WorldTour) |
 Tour of Benelux
|
2005 | Blue
|
First (UCI WorldTour) |
The listed year is the first edition of the race. The jersey was sometimes added later.