2005 Tour De France

For most of you out there, the team dynamics during the Tour de France is as French as "francais".

Every team has its own objective for its existence. QUICK STEP is a Belgian based company that sells floor tiles. Therefore it is geared for the one-day classics, a popular event in Belgium. On the other hand, ILLES BALEARS is a team sponsored by the government of the Balear Islands in Spain so to win the Vuelta a Espagna is a premium. An Italian team is designed for the Giro d'Italia. Since these teams have practically no chance of winning the tour, a top 10 finish or a stage win can be considered a success.

The existence of a team is also based on the team's budget. The bigger the budget, the better are the chances of luring big names to the team. Remember, there is no salary cap in cycling. T-MOBILE and DISCOVERY CHANNEL (DC) belong in this league. Some smaller teams, usually French based like the BOYGUES TELECOM, get a wildcard to the tour because they're French and nothing else.

Last year, Lance Armstrong's team, US POSTAL, spent at least 5M$ to help him win his 6th tour. A typical top 20 team in the world has 25 to 30 riders on its roster. But before a rider is signed to the team, he is made to understand his role, be it as a team leader for the one day races or the stage races, or as a domestique. A tour team consists of 9 riders (don't know why its 9) and at least 12 riders are be pre-selected at the start of the season.

Ideally, a team should only have one leader and 8 domestiques. The work of the domestiques ranges from getting water for the leader, chasing a dangerous breakaway, giving up his bike or wheels to shielding him from the wind. If the domestique can do the toilet job for his leader, I'm sure he'd gladly do so.

Of the 8 domestiques in DC, 3 are exclusively for the climbs and 5 are for the flats/short climbs. These worker bees work like a jet fuels, they get jettisoned once they're used up. LA rides 2nd to last in the paceline, protected from a headwind or a tailwind. You only see LA at the front when he attacks. The last rider of the team in the paceline is the sweeper and in most cases, he has the same bike size with Lance (Remember that in cycling, most of the energy expended is not in pedaling but from fighting the wind.) When the peloton reaches the climb, the next class of domestique takes over.

The strength of the tour riders are basically similar that's why they specialize- climbers concentrate on winning mountain stages while sprinters on flat stages. Here in the Tour Pilipinas, the talent gap between riders is Pacific-wide, that's why Waren Davadilla can win the Baguio climb one day and win a flat stage a few days later.

Most top 20 teams team also has support personnel that includes the director sportifs (similar to a coach), doctors, masseurs, mechanics, p.r. guys, security, trainers, secretaries, soigneurs (similar to a gofer) and in the case of DC, a team chef.

The last cyclist to win the tour without team support was Greg Lemond in 1989. He only had one teammate with him in Paris. These days, it's wishful thinking to win the tour without the domestiques.

BTW, in the Team Time Trial, it is the time of the fifth rider, not the accumulated time of the 5 riders that will determine the time of the team. Any member of the team that gets dropped in the TTT will receive his actual time at the finish. But if his time is beyond the time limit set, he will be DQ'd.