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Dumb Question about tour de france

  • 10-07-2011 7:53pm
    #1
    donfers
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 4,006 ✭✭✭


    I have been watching it this year more closely than I have in previous years and I have a dumb question for the experts.

    When a cyclist goes to the front of a breakaway group or the peloton and he is either setting the pace or chasing someone down, well this guy at the front is normally said to be burying himself, doing all the work etc etc. - what is the rationale behind that?

    If a guy is setting the pace at the front of a breakaway group or if a domestique is burying himself at the head of the peloton to chase someone down or shake off backmarkers then surely the person behind them is cycling just as fast, is going up the same hills at the same pace in the same temperatures etc., i.e. the person behind the frontman is cycling at precisely the same level.

    I can understand in windy conditions that it's an advantage to get a bit of shelter and also there is the psychological aspecy whereby you just follow a wheel instead of setting the pace yourself but is the guy behind not doing more or less the exact same amount of work.

    hency my question about why the frontman gets so much credit for working hard, the people behind him are cycling at the same pace as him in the same conditions are surely are putting in as much work.

    I need this explained to me


Comments

  • #2
    kenmc
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,277 ✭✭✭kenmc


    Let me google that for you


  • #3
    carthoris
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 209 ✭✭carthoris


    donfers wrote: »
    I can understand in windy conditions that it's an advantage to get a bit of shelter

    Shelter is the majority of it, but the benefit is gained all the time, not just when it is windy. If they are cycling at 50Km/h then the effective wind is 50Km/h into the riders. The leader takes the full force of it, the rest don't so they get to save some energy. I have heard it said that the person second in a line saves 30% or more than the person in the lead.


  • #4
    Cookie_Monster
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,522 ✭✭✭✭Cookie_Monster


    I was finishing a spin on Sat, ~8km to go and struggling badly.

    Clocking around 24kph. Group of 9 caught me and I just managed to hang on the back, suddenly doing 32-34kph without any effort at all.

    That's the difference a slipstream effect can make


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