The main reason I love to watch the Tour, or any bike race for that matter, is the strategy that plays out over the course of the race. Most of the strategy depends on the terrain of the specific stage, but that is for another post.
First of all, to understand bike race strategy, you have to understand that on flat roads, it is 20% easier to ride in another rider’s slipstream, or to draft them. This reasoning creates one of the Tour’s most iconic images, the peloton. The peloton, which is French for “pack”, is a large group of riders who ride together to conserve energy, with individuals and teams taking turns “pulling” at the front. In any bike race, especially on flat roads, the peloton has a massive advantage over an individual or a small group of riders. Additionally, in any bike race, riders that finish within a group get the same time, so many riders sit in and finish safely within a group and conserve energy.
On any given stage, a peloton will form, and a “breakaway” group of a few daring riders will form ahead of the peloton. Essentially, these riders continue to try and escape at the beginning of a stage until the peloton gives up on chasing and allows the breakaway to continue up the road. However, the peloton ensures that no rider with GC ambitions is in the break. Basically, the breakaway is allowed to go and the peloton tries to reel them in at the end. On most days, the peloton is successful and the breakaway riders walk away with nothing but tired legs and some time on TV for their sponsors, but maybe twice a Tour the break succeeds and one daring rider claims a coveted stage victory.
You may be wondering, if a peloton finishes together on most days, then how does anyone win the race? Well, make no mistake about it, the Tour de France is one or lost in the mountains and in the time trials. Different from a regular flat stage, these two types of stage demand individual strength and result in large and decisive time gaps.
Why does this happen? Well on the uphill slopes of France’s mountains, the riders are forced to ride at slower speeds, which reduces the benefits of drafting. This means that it is much easier for a strong climber to break from the pack and take time on his rivals. The other decisive type of stage, a time trial, is contested alone against the clock. Time trials are shorter than other stages, but there is no drafting allowed, so time gaps can be massive. These two types of stage, which will be covered in greater detail tomorrow, decide who wins the Tour de France.
Alright, now that you understand how a stage works, lets take a look at who does what and how teammates work together. As was mentioned in yesterday’s post, which you can read here, the yellow jersey is the top priority and stage wins are also important. With this being said, it often falls to the teams containing the candidates for overall victory and the fastest finishers who can claim stage wins if the peloton catches the breakaway, to control the race. These teams are forced to pace everyone else and expend energy to achieve the results they desire.
Thus, it is important that GC riders and stage winners have strong teammates willing to sacrifice their energy and chances to win in order to set up a teammate. This is what makes cycling such an interesting sport to watch, there are many teams looking out for their own good all battling for the same goal.
Thanks for reading this installment of A Rookie’s Guide to the Tour de France. Check back tomorrow for a summary of the different types of stage in the Tour.
Other Parts of The Series:
Part 1 – Introduction – Click here
Part 2 – Races within the Race – Click Here
The 5th Quarter 
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