rainbow jersey question

ullu

Does anyone know what the story would be in the following hypothetical scenario?

Say Alessandro Petacchi enters and wins the race in Melbourne later this year and then decides to immediately retire. Would the second placed rider get to wear the jersey (like the way Gesink is currently wearing the white jersey in the TdF) or would no-one wear it that year?

Has it ever happened before?

Raam

I don't know about any past instances, but I would be of the opinion that any rider who did win it, would not want to retire the very next year. The wearer seems to get a lot of exposure. Mind you, Bettini retired directly after his attempt at winning three in a row, so who knows if he would have continued riding if he had won it.

TinyExplosions

As far as I know it doesn't get passed down. The only reason Gesink is wearing the white jersey is for show during the stages -Andy Schleck is still the white jersey leader, and if he finishes first in Paris, will be the yellow and white jersey holder.

As the world champs is only over one day, no one else would wear the champions jersey -it'd almost be like the world champ got injured and didn't race -the rainbow doesn't pass on to anyone else

E@gle.

If he won the Rainbow jersey he probably wouldn't retire

RobFowl

Only the winner gets to wear the Rainbow jersey in their event in the following year.
On the road I'm not aware of any who've retired but on the track it's happened quite a lot. In that situation no-one can wear the stripes'

irishmotorist

I agree. If Usain Bolt retires next year (after winning the last one-off Olympic event), the gold medal doesn't get passed to the 2nd place person. Rainbow goes to the guy who won that race. IMO.