Tactics of the Tour de France
Because I am planning to spend much of this week and the following couple of weeks watching the Tour de France, you might not hear much from me. I thought I would throw together a few pointers in case you feel inclined to watch a bit of the race yourself:
- The Tour de France is not about individual winners, it is about teams. Much like in football, Beckham might score the goal but it is England who win the game. Or not, as the case may be.
- Most members of a team have no chance of winning, because they are there to support the ‘main-man’. Bringing him refreshments, stopping the wind from slowing him down and so on. It must be quite dispiriting having to cycle for 150 km in front of someone so they don’t get tired, just so that 100 metres from the end they can emerge fresh as a daisy, sprint to the finishing line, and get all the acclaim.
- Wind and air-resistance is everything. This is why breakaway groups almost never succeed. They will always become much more tired than those who are cycling in the main ‘peloton’ (group) who are largely protected from the wind and cycling in each others slipstreams
- on the days where there are no mountains, the whole day is really just a build up for the sprint in the last 250 metres. The first 200 kilometres could just as well be dispensed with, saving everyone a lot of time and effort and giving everyone a chance of an early night. I’m surprised no one has suggested this.
- a typical speed for the Tour de France is 40 kmh over 200 kilometres. I can perhaps manage to cycle at 27 kmh over 80 kilometres (that’s a good day!). Please calculate how much better they are than me. And the probability that this time next year I can be as good as them.
- for most entrants, winning a single day / stage in the Tour de France is more than enough glory. Simply taking part is an enormous achievement. Most contenders do not even hope to win, unless they are very good at cycling at unnatural speeds up very steep mountains.
- because the winner is the best (fastest) when aggregated over three weeks, it is completely possible to win the Tour de France without actually winning any particular stage of the race. The goal is to be the best all-rounder.
