Every rider in the race has a role to fill. We look at the goals and objectives behind a cycling team.
The make-up of a successful team
A team arrives at a Grand Tour with a specific game plan as to how they can get the most out of the race. They realise realistically there are only a few elite favourites who have the skill and consistency to battle for the overall title.
If a team has a legitimate general classification contender then they will build their team around that one man. Other squads feel that a better route to success is to concentrate on the prestige attached to stage wins. This can be achieved through committing riders to attack and get into breakaways, or often more effectively, it can be to back a super-fast sprinter with a lead-out train and riders to help their chosen man in the high mountains.
Other teams may look for the best compromise and bring together a well-rounded nine-man squad that represents a good spread of resources. If a protected climber or sprinter is involved in a crash, falls ill or out of form, a team can be found scrambling in search of a plan B.
Time trial specialists
With the Tour reintroducing a team time trial after a one-year absence, the inclusion of powerful riders who can time trial against the clock becomes more important than ever. Specialists can fight for the chance of stage wins in the time trials and also have the possibility to get into the yellow jersey as many Grand Tour’s begin with short ‘prologue’ time trial tests.
Time trial stages are tackled on specially built time trial bikes, but a strong, powerful rider can also come into his own on regular road stages. A strong time trialler can often try his luck on a lone attack in a bid to get into a rhythm and power home. This power can also be utilised to great effect in the early stages of a lead-out train.
Climbers
It takes a rare breed of rider to be most at home in the leg-sapping mountain passes of the Pyrenees or the Alps but for every climb in a Grand Tour there is a climber who wants to conquer it.
Typically lightweight and sometimes gaunt in appearance, climbers must slim down to their optimum climbing weight to ensure they are competitive. Climbers often train at altitude in a bid to prepare themselves for climbs that exceed 2000 metres, with knowledge of the climbs also essential in gauging the amount of effort required on any given peak.
Not every mountain shares the same characteristics, with different climbs suiting different riders. Some are adept at long draggy climbs where the secret is to set a pace and stick to it. Others have the ability to unleash explosive bursts of power that can put others behind in real difficulties.
The focusing nature of a tough mountain climb means it is essential that a rider does not suffer from what is known as ‘going into the red’. This occurs when a climber digs too deep into their reserves and blows causing a large time loss. The more experienced climbers in the peloton realise their limits and will often slow down in the hope of limiting their losses.
The domestique
The unsung heroes of the peloton, domestiques are often the most respected men in the bunch and are essential in the success of any squad. The job of these riders is to work for the team and its leaders to provide them with everything they need throughout the race. Often known as water-carriers, one of the key roles for a domestique is to filter back to the team car and get bottles for the team, as well as any changes in clothing or energy bars.
It is essential for a good worker to be able to successfully negotiate the peloton, with positional awareness a back-handling skills all important. It is also hard to quantify the success of riders who typically tend to have few wins or significant results in their career, instead making their living devoting themselves to others. It is often the case that a big-name rider will ask to bring a trusted domestique with him if he moves teams, with the pro peloton littered with well-oiled partnerships.
Other duties performed by a domestique are keeping a team leader safe in the bunch, keeping them out of the wind and helping them to more to the front if required. Domestiques are often used at the front of the peloton to pound out a pace in a bid to pull back a break on the flat, while many top climbers can be considered a domestique-deluxe by riding in support of a team leader in the mountains.
Domestiques can often finish well over an hour down on the general classification due to immediately conserving energy after their role for the day has been completed. This opens them up to the possibility of getting into a break or an attack that will, on occasion, make a domestique the most popular of victors.
We'll have more to come in the build-up to this year's Tour, with the focus on team leaders, climbers, sprinters, lead-out trains, the team time trial and the tactics of getting in a break or riding in crosswinds.
