Cycling for Beginners

One goal other than the Vegas and Auburn angle is to shine the spotlight on some of the more obscure sports I follow. Cycling is one of those sports and while it has been in the news for all the wrong reasons the last few days (more on that can be found at Podium Cafe or VeloNews), I write today to educate on the basics of the sport as the Tour of California and Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) continue their competitions and the Tour de France looms in July.

The remainder of this post will deal with the basic terminology so the races can be followed. The Tour of California is currently being broadcast live on Versus each day and the Tour de France will also be on Versus next month. The Giro d'Italia takes a little more work to find though streams can be found somewhere online. Podium Cafe is a good resource for finding these streams (and for cycling discussion)

Definitions
Tour - A Tour is a multi-day race lasting anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks usually consisting of a variety of cycling disciplines. Of these tours, the most prestigous are the 3-week long Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España called Grand Tours (GT). The winner is the rider with the best time over the course of the entire race.



Stages - Stages are the individual days of a tour. Each stage is its own individual race. There are many different types of stages that form a race and in the GTs, riders will have to face many different disciplines to wins.

Time-Trials are races against the clock. Each rider goes off one-by-one with no teammates around to cut off airflow. A time-trial in a GT is usually about 20 miles long allowing those strong in the discipline to gain as much as two to three minutes on their rivals.

Team time-trials are team races against the clock. Each team enters nine riders in a race. The entire team goes  together and the time of the fifth fastest rider is applied to the entire team. Team time-trials are usually around 30 miles long and a team with many strong time-trialers can gain significant time for its top contenders.
Flat stages (also sometimes called sprint stages) are long fairly flat stages that sprinters (more on them below) usually win. Their length varies, but they are usually about 100 miles long.

Hilly stages are meant to give those who aren't strong climbers but can't sprint a chance to win a stage in a breakaway. They are typically very long and contenders for overall victory can lose significant time if they are not careful on these stages (Wednesday's Stage 11 of the Giro d'Italia was a great example of this). These stages can be as long as 150 miles.

Mountain stages are where many GTs are won. They are the ultimate test of fitness as riders climb on their bikes as high as 10,000 feet in elevation. At right, you see tomorrow's Giro d'Italia climb up the Monte Grappa is fairly imposing (there is a road in there somewhere to ride a bike up and then down). Next week in the final week of the Giro, the climbs get even more arduous.

Classics - Classics are single day races usually similar to hilly stages in a GT.

Peloton - The peloton is the large group of riders together on the road. Because of aerodynamics and drafting, the peloton uses less energy as a whole so they stay together unless there is a breakaway or the stage is a mountain stage.

Breakaway - A breakaway is when one or more riders attack on the road riding ahead of the peloton in attempt to win that days race. Most breakaway fail as the peloton chases and usually catches the break before the finish. In GTs, breakaway nearly always fail before the first major mountain stages because teams in the peloton want the stage win for their sprinters.

Grupetto - The grupetto is a group of riders that has been dropped from the peloton because it couldn't keep up. It is usually large and only often forms on a mountain stage where many riders are unable to keep up with the pace being set at the front of the race.

General Classification (GC) - The GC is the overall standings. The GC leader on a given day of a stage race is designated by a special colored jersey. In many races this is yellow though in the Giro d'Italia it is pink (yes the leader has to wear a pink jersey and yes it looks as feminine as that sounds). At left is Tour de France champion Alberto Contador receiving his yellow jersey after taking the lead on the climb to Verbier, Switzerland in last year.

King of the Mountains (KOM) - Each Tour has separate competitions in addition to the individual stages and the GC. The KOM is one of those awarding points based on position when finishing mountain climbs. The leader here also has his own jersey signifying who the leader is on the road. In the Tour de France, the jersey is a white jersey with red polka dots.

Sprinter - Sprinters are powerful riders who specialize in finishing kicks to win a stage. They are usually terrible climbers because of the extra muscle mass needed for their finishing kicks. They also have a competition in GTs. The leader wears a green jersey in many races, but it is red in the Giro d'Italia (in case you haven't noticed, everything is done a little differently in Italy)

Time-Trialer - Time-Trialers are powerful riders built to sustain high speeds over long periods on their own. Many time-trialers are also strong climbers and have the ability to win GTs or hilly classics.

Climber - A pure climber is someone who is very light with the ability to climb mountains on a bike. These riders, while threats to win in the mountains and win a GT if the course suits them, are much more likely to attempt a breakaway on a mountain stage or fight for the King of the Mountains title. Because of their slight and less muscular builds, they are little threat to win a time-trial or a sprint.