Road bicycle racing


Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common competition formats are mass start events, where riders start simultaneously and race to a set finish point; and time trials, where individual riders or teams race a course alone against the clock. Stage races or "tours" take multiple days, and consist of several mass-start or time-trial stages ridden consecutively.
Professional racing originated in Western Europe, centred in France, Spain, Italy and the Low Countries. Since the mid-1980s, the sport has diversified, with races held at the professional, semi-professional and amateur levels, worldwide. The sport is governed by the Union Cycliste Internationale. As well as the UCI's annual World Championships for men and women, the biggest event is the Tour de France, a three-week race that can attract over 500,000 roadside supporters a day.

History

Road racing in its modern form originated in the late 19th century. It began as an organized sport in 1868. The sport was popular in the western European countries of France, Spain, Belgium, and Italy, and some of those earliest road bicycle races remain among the sport's biggest events. These early races include Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Paris–Roubaix, the Tour de France, the Milan–San Remo and Giro di Lombardia, the Giro d'Italia, the Volta a Catalunya, and the Tour of Flanders. They provided a template for other races around the world.
Cycling has been part of the Summer Olympic Games since the modern sequence started in Athens in 1896.
Historically, the most competitive and devoted countries since the beginning of 20th century were Belgium, France and Italy, then road cycling spread in Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland after World War II. However, as the sport grows in popularity through globalization, countries such as Kazakhstan, Australia, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Ecuador, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Poland and the United States continue to produce world-class cyclists.
The first women's road championships were held in France in 1951. A women's road race discipline was added to the UCI Road World Championships at the 31st edition of the World Championships in 1958 in Reims.

Road race types

One-day

Professional single-day race distances may be as long as. Courses may run from place to place or comprise one or more laps of a circuit; some courses combine both, i.e., taking the riders from a starting place and then finishing with several laps of a circuit. Races over short circuits, often in town or city centres, are known as criteriums.

Time trial

Individual time trial is an event in which cyclists race alone against the clock on flat or rolling terrain, or up a mountain road. A team time trial, including two-man team time trial, is a road-based bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock. In both team and individual time trials, the cyclists start the race at different times so that each start is fair and equal. Unlike individual time trials where competitors are not permitted to 'draft' behind each other, in team time trials, riders in each team employ this as their main tactic, each member taking a turn at the front while teammates 'sit in' behind. Race distances vary from a few km to between approximately and.

Stage races

Stage races consist of several races, or stages, ridden consecutively. The competitor with the lowest cumulative time to complete all stages is declared the overall, or general classification, winner. Stage races may also have other classifications and awards, such as individual stage winners, the points classification winner, and the "King of the Mountains" winner. A stage race can also be a series of road races and individual time trials. The stage winner is the first person to cross the finish line that day or the time trial rider with the lowest time on the course. The overall winner of a stage race is the rider who takes the lowest aggregate time to complete all stages. Three-week stage races are called Grand Tours. The professional road bicycle racing calendar includes three Grand Tours – the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France, and the Vuelta a España.

Randonneuring and ultra-distance

races are very long single stage events where the race clock continuously runs from start to finish. Their sanctioning bodies are usually independent of the UCI. They usually last several days and the riders take breaks on their own schedules, with the winner being the first one to cross the finish line. Among the best-known ultramarathons is the Race Across America, a coast-to-coast non-stop, single-stage race in which riders cover approximately in about a week. The race is sanctioned by the UltraMarathon Cycling Association. RAAM and similar events allow racers to be supported by a team of staff; there are also ultra-distance bicycle races that prohibit all external support, such as the Transcontinental Race and the Indian Pacific Wheel Race.
The related activity of randonneuring is not strictly a form of racing, but involves cycling a pre-determined course within a specified time limit.

Equipment

The most commonly used bicycle in road races are simply known as racing bicycles. Their design is strictly regulated by the UCI, the sport's governing body. Specialist time trial bicycles are used for time trial events.
Bicycles approved for use under UCI regulations must be made available for commercial sale and it is commonplace for amateur cyclists to own bicycles that are identical to those used to win major races.
Clothing worn for road racing is designed to improve aerodynamics and improve rider comfort. The rider's shorts contain padding to improve comfort, and materials are chosen to manage rider temperature, manage sweat, and keep the rider as warm and dry as feasible in wet conditions. Cycling jerseys were originally made of wool; modern jerseys are made of synthetic fabrics such as lycra.
Bicycle helmets were made mandatory for professional road racing in 2003, after the death of cyclist Andrey Kivilev.

Tactics

A number of tactics are employed to reach the objective of a race. This objective is being the first to cross the finish line in the case of a single-stage race, and clocking the least aggregate finish time in the case of a multi-stage race.

Drafting

Tactics are based on the aerodynamic benefit of drafting, whereby a rider can significantly reduce the required pedal effort by closely following in the slipstream of the rider in front. Riding in the main field, or peloton, can save as much as 40% of the energy employed in forward motion when compared to riding alone. Some teams designate a leader, whom the rest of the team is charged with keeping out of the wind and in good position until a critical section of the race. This can be used as a strength or a weakness by competitors; riders can cooperate and draft each other to ride at high speed, or one rider can sit on a competitor's wheel, forcing the other person to do a greater share of the work in maintaining the pace and to potentially tire earlier. Drafting is not permitted in individual time trials.

Breaks

A group of riders that "breaks away" from the peloton has more space and freedom, and can therefore be at an advantage in certain situations. Working together smoothly and efficiently, a small group can potentially maintain a higher speed than the peloton, in which the remaining riders may not be as motivated or organized to chase effectively. Usually a rider or group of riders will try to break from the peloton by attacking and riding ahead to reduce the number of contenders for the win. If the break does not succeed and the body of cyclists comes back together, a sprinter will often win by overpowering competitors in the final stretch. Teamwork between riders, both pre-arranged and ad hoc, is important in many aspects: in preventing or helping a successful break, and sometimes in delivering a sprinter to the front of the field.

Terrain and conditions

To make the course more selective, races often feature difficult sections such as tough climbs, fast descents, and sometimes technical surfaces. The effects of drafting are reduced in these difficult sections, allowing the strongest riders in the conditions to drop weaker riders, reducing the number of direct competitors able to take the win. Weather, particularly wind, is also an important discriminating factor.

Climbs

Climbs are excellent places for a single rider to try to break away from a bunch, as the lower riding speeds in a climb seriously reduce the drafting advantage of the bunch. The escaping rider can then further capitalize on that rider's position in the descent, as going downhill alone allows for more maneuvering space and therefore higher speeds than when in a bunch. In addition, because the bunch riders are keeping more space between them for safety reasons, their drafting benefits are again reduced. If this action takes place relatively close to the target, the ride over flatter terrain after the descent is not long enough to let the drafting effect make the bunch catch up, making a climb escape even more attractive.

Crosswinds

Wind conditions can also make otherwise routine sections of a course potentially selective. Crosswinds, particularly, alter the position of the "shadow" when drafting a rider, usually placing it diagonally behind the lead rider, forming a line of riders called an echelon. To take advantage of this, an attacking rider rides at high speed at the front of the peloton, on the opposite side of the road from which the crosswind is blowing. Following riders are unable to fully shelter from the wind. If such tactics are maintained for long enough, a weaker rider somewhere in the line will be unable to keep contact with the rider directly ahead, causing the peloton to split up.