Baboon - Tour ???

[PopTop]

Babs, educate a poor idiot about the Tour de France, please.

I've been trying to watch some of it on that OLN channel the past week or so, and I just don't understand all of the team strategy stuff. I can comprehend having a "rabbit" on each team to go out and try to lure other riders into maybe tiring themself out. And I understand the bit about drafting other riders on your team and conserving some of your own strength.

But what other team strategies are there?

Also, how do they start each leg? Is it a massive 'on your mark, get set, go' sort of beginning, or is it staggered?

Many thanks :beer:

[I Are Baboon]

You know Pops, as much riding as I do, I really don't understand a lot of it myself. I know that when a few riders try to break away from the pack, they can get chased down by a larger group because of the aerodynamics of a large pack (riders drafting in a large pack use about 1/3 less energy than a small pack). Also, there are team competitions in the Tour, which is why each team has different specialists who do one thing good. They have sprinters, climbers, time trail guys, then guys who just keep the captain (e.g. Lance) out of harm's way and allow him to draft as much as possible. You'll notice you'll hardly ever see Lance leading his team pack. The other team riders take turns setting his pace. The captain can usually do everything pretty well and is the team's only rider with a chance to win the whole thing (usually in the Tour, there are 15, maybe 20 riders who actually compete for the overall title). The captain can climb well, sprint well, and is a decent time trial guy, which is why he is the team's choice to compete for the overall.

Each stage starts everyone at the same time, but it is usually a rolling start, not a start from a dead stop (think several pace laps in NASCAR). The exception to this is the three time trail stages, which stagger each rider several minutes apart.

There are a TON of subtleties that I do not understand.

These guys doing 107 miles in under four hours boggles my mind. It takes me over two hours to do 30 miles.

[Thedatch]

I love watching the tour for exactly that reason...you think biking, strategy is not the first thing that pops into your mind, but watching the riders work together is always really fun to watch. especially when there is a break away group...however much they hate each other they will still work together (switching off the 1st place position for windcover), etc. Sometimes you'll see riders turn around and wave up the next guy to take over in the front, etc. That's why one guy alone usually doesn't keep away the entire race...you'll see guys break away and have like a 20 minute lead early on, but by the end the peleton will have caught up, and someone else will win...

amazing how biking is so fun to watch...:P

[PopTop]

Thanks. I never thought about a bigger pack being a better drafting bunch, but it makes sense. Sometimes the announcers start talking about team strategies like it's something real simple and we should all know what the heck's going on out there. Thought maybe I was missing something really obvious.

Did you see that fan (in Spain, I think) that got run over by the motorcycle the other day?! :clap: I was cheering that big time. Seems like these spectators are too damn close to the riders, would only take one a-hole to really upset an entire pack.

[I Are Baboon]

Those fans get way to close to the riders, especially in the mountain stages. I can't imagine riding a bike with thousands of people breathing on my shoulders. Cripes, sometimes the legions of fans are so thick, you can't see the road 15 feet in front of the rider.

More careless fans need to get run over by motorcycles and team cars.

[rockin500]

my boss laughed his ass off about the idiot who got ran over.

[MtnBikerChk]

Go Lance!