It should be noted that not all riders are the same. There are 22 teams in the Tour de France, each organized under a sponsor. The sponsors tend to be banks, energy companies, and bicycle companies. The yellow jersey contender: The competition for the yellow jersey is based on the leader of the general classification, which ranks all riders by time.
The riders on top of the general classification at the end of the Tour tend to be strong climbers and time trialists, because mountain and time trial stages usually create the biggest time gaps. Teams like Sky are rigidly mechanical and deadly. They come into the Tour with a plan and follow it to the letter.
Teams like Movistar function much more loosely, seemingly making up the gameplan on the fly. The domestique: A domestique is essentially a helper rider, someone who sacrifices his chances to climb up the general classification or win a stage so that a teammate can succeed. Domestiques will often gather water bottles from team cars to pass out among teammates, or ride in front of a team leader to cut the wind for him, or even give up his bicycle if the team leader suffers a mechanical problem.
Depending on the type of stage, anyone — including the yellow jersey contender — could act as a domestique. When the terrain gets bumpier, those roles reverse. The sprinter: Many casual fans understand the importance of the yellow jersey, but nearly as prestigious among riders is the green jersey, which is awarded to the rider who earns the most points from stage wins and intermediate sprints. These riders tend to be the fastest riders in terms of pure speed, because the biggest chunk of Tour de France stages take place on relatively flat land.
Other important types of riders include the puncheur — all-around riders who are best at courses that are not too steep, and not too flat — and the time trial specialist — also a good all-around rider and valuable domestique , but particularly well-suited for riding alone against the clock.
The best yellow jersey contenders — Chris Froome, particularly — are often great time trialists. Again, the important thing to note is that, at certain points during the Tour, any of these riders could act as a domestique. Everyone has to make sacrifices for the good of the team.
Every move is based the fact that it is much easier to ride behind someone than in front of someone. The long leadout trains are most easily seen on the flat stages, when teams will work hard to move their sprinters to the front of the peloton — the big bunch of plus riders sticking close together — and keep his legs fresh before he bursts forward to challenge for the stage victory.
Teamwork is perhaps most critical in the mountains, however. When Team Sky takes to the Alps, expect to see riders like Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal, and Wout Poels near Chris Froome at all times, doing as much work as they can for their team leader for as long as their legs will hold out. Riders like Thomas are often called superdomestiques for being yellow jersey-caliber riders who nonetheless are willing to sacrifice for a team leader.
A common mistake of the more inexperienced rider is to slow down before pulling over, which has the negative effect of slowing down the entire group. With the finish line in sight, the last rider through will be the team sprinter, who will give everything in the last couple of hundred metres in an attempt to secure victory.
Of course, it is often the case that multiple teams have a similar strategy and often no one is able to control the sprint. In cases such as this, it can often dissolve into an every man for himself battle for the line. As shown above, this battle can turn violent! On other occasions, more deceptive tactics are required. However, with Ullrich just a matter of metres behind, Armstrong stepped it up a notch and was able to pull out a healthy 2 minute lead over his rival. On flat terrain, drafting is common.
However, on climbs, speeds are significantly reduced, therefore negating the benefits of drafting. In this instance, a group of the best climbers will often race wheel to wheel and attempt to pull ahead while the advantageous nature of the slipstream remains elusive and the key determinant of speed is ultimately the power-to-weight ratio.
Constant pacing, negative splitting:. Decisions, decisions for the professional teams. There are of course far more tactics and strategies than those listed above. Deciding whether to start fast and trying to sustain the pace, start slowly and build up as the race progresses, or attempt to hold an even pace for the duration can be a difficult decision to make. Varying pace throughout a race is well known to be a sure fire way to sort the proverbial men from the boys.
It has also been shown that even pacing has the potential to produce the best results on a relatively flat course with minimal wind. However, faster times have been shown to result from riding into a headwind or up a climb harder, before backing off with a tailwind or a downhill section, rather than merely riding it all at an even pace, at least when considering smaller distances.
Of course, at the highest levels, negative splitting is often the name of the game. Essentially, a negative split is achieved when the second half of a stage is ridden in a faster time than the first half.
Team cars are always to be found close behind the peloton. Taking into account the strength and weaknesses of their own team, and those of their opponents, team directors will decide which will be the protected rider, or riders, within the team before a given race.
Numerous factors will influence who is chosen as leader. The most experienced, the healthiest, those in best form or those who possess specific skills which suit a particular course structure, are all factors which will determine who is chosen, and what subsequent tactics are adopted. From here, the team director will direct riders via two-way radios, therefore keeping in constant contact with the riders, allowing for strategy and tactics to evolve and adapt to changing circumstances within the race.
Changes in point structure set to affect strategy:. One interesting change made for the Tour de France, which could make a real difference to the destination of one of the jerseys, is a new system of points which is to be awarded for the intermediate sprints. Within this system, a greater amount of points will be awarded for those first to cross the line at the intermediates.
Subsequently, these changes are likely to demand that certain riders, such as Cavendish, change the way they race in order to remain competitive. Meanwhile, these changes are likely to benefit the likes of Thor Hushovd for the TdF. This race starting July 1, runs for three consecutive weeks through Europe starting July 1st, ending in Paris July 23rd.
And, if you are new to cycling, here are some key things that might help you better understand what is going on. Echelon: A line of riders seeking maximum draft in a crosswind, resulting in a diagonal line across the road. Shelled: A rider who is having extreme difficulty keeping up with a fast pace race in a way they did not anticipate.
They will probably end up in the grupetto. M eaning ALL riders finish in the time needed to ride the next day. Musette bag: A small shoulder bag filled with food and drink given to riders at a designated point each day out on the course. There are a couple of different competitions going on at the same time.
The overall leader wears the famous yellow jersey. This means he has taken the least time so far overall the stages combined. The green jersey is for the general points jersey. This jersey is mostly obtained by the sprinters. At various times during the race, points are awarded for certain sprint sections.
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