Speed Read Tour De France: The History, Strategies, and Intrigue Behind the World's Greatest Bicycle Race by John Wilcockson

Author:John Wilcockson [Wilcockson, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sports & Recreation, Cycling, reference
ISBN: 9780760364475
Google: ijeSDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Motorbooks
Published: 2019-05-07T00:14:03.487523+00:00

TEAMS & RACING

TEAM TACTICS

It’s often said that the Tour de France is like playing chess on wheels. But that’s a poor analogy. With twenty-two teams each having differing goals on every stage, there can be an infinite combination of tactics being used at any given moment. So it can be confusing. When you see riders take turns riding at the head of the peloton, they could be riding at a high tempo to chase down a breakaway, at a medium tempo to “control” a breakaway (i.e., keep it within a “catchable” distance before a late acceleration), or a slow tempo when, perhaps, there has been a crash and riders are trying to chase back to the peloton.

The team of the race leader is expected to set the peloton’s pace every day—at least until the stage finale when, on flat stages, the sprinters’ teams will ride hard to catch any breakaways and set up their sprinters. If there are crosswinds in open country, one or two teams may try to break up the peloton (and put other teams, and their leaders, in difficulty) by forming echelons. In the right wind conditions, the peloton will split into several echelons that can result in the back groups losing minutes to the riders in the front. On flat stages ending in mass sprints, the sprinters’ teams will form lead-out trains, with individuals riding as hard as they can before peeling off, until the last support rider leads his sprinter to within 200 meters (0.124 miles) before unleashing him for the sprint to the line.

On stages with mountaintop finishes, team leaders can benefit from a similar strategy, with one teammate gradually winding up the pace on the lower slopes of a climb before giving way to a colleague, who then climbs even faster before giving way to others and then to the leader in the final kilometer or so.

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