Team racing in the Tour de France is one of the most fascinating aspects of the event. While cycling is often perceived as an individual sport,
Tour de France is, in reality, a complex team event where strategy, coordination, and sacrifice play critical roles.
Every team consists of multiple riders, each with a specific role that contributes to the overall success of the team and its designated leader. The dynamics of team racing, the roles of various riders, and the strategic decisions made by the teams throughout the three-week-long race are essential to understanding how the Tour de France functions at its highest level.
Team structure in the Tour de France
In the Tour de France, each team consists of eight riders. These riders are usually selected based on their specific strengths and how they fit into the team’s overall strategy. A team in the Tour de France is part of a broader organization known as a trade team, which is sponsored by corporations, cycling brands, or other enterprises. Trade teams participate in various races throughout the cycling calendar, but the Tour de France is the most prestigious event.
Each team usually has one designated leader, or sometimes two, who are considered the best hope for overall victory or success in a specific race objective (such as winning a stage, securing a jersey, or supporting a sprinter). The rest of the team, known as domestiques, are there to support the leader. While one rider may claim the ultimate victory or stage win, it’s often the result of careful teamwork and strategy involving all the riders.
Team members work together in various ways, depending on the terrain, the type of stage, and the team’s goals for the day. Whether it’s shielding the leader from wind resistance, bringing back breakaway groups, or pacing a climber up a mountain, each rider has a clear role in ensuring the team’s overall success.
Roles within a team
Within a Tour de France team, each rider is assigned a specific role based on their strengths and the team’s objectives. These roles may shift somewhat during the race, but generally, they can be broken down into the following categories:
Team leader
The team leader is the cyclist with the best chance of winning the overall race or the team’s designated category. This rider is usually the strongest climber or all-rounder and is protected by the other riders. The leader is not expected to do the heavy lifting in terms of chasing down breakaways or setting the pace. Instead, they save their energy for the critical moments when they need to perform—whether that’s in a mountain stage, time trial, or during a sprint finish.
The team leader will usually wear a specific jersey, depending on the race situation, such as the yellow jersey (for the overall leader), and the team’s efforts are geared toward helping the leader retain or gain this jersey.
Domestiques
The term domestique literally means “servant” in French, and that’s exactly what these riders do: they serve the team and the leader. Domestiques are often some of the hardest-working riders in the Tour, though they don’t get the same level of recognition as the team leader. Their role is to protect the leader from the wind, provide water or food, chase down breakaways, and set a pace that can exhaust rivals.
Domestiques are essential for conserving the team leader’s energy.
By riding in front of the leader, they reduce the wind resistance the leader faces, allowing them to save energy for crucial stages. Domestiques also serve to bring back breakaways or chase down dangerous moves from rival teams. In the mountains, they will set a pace that can drop competitors, allowing their leader to make their move later in the stage.
Domestiques are also tasked with supplying their team leaders with food and water. In cycling, it is common to see domestiques drop back to the team car, grab water bottles or snacks, and ride up to their teammates to provide them with nourishment.
Climbers
Climbers are riders who excel in ascending steep and long mountain stages. These riders are lightweight and have a high power-to-weight ratio, allowing them to tackle the punishing climbs of Tour de France with more efficiency than other types of riders. Teams often have one or two dedicated climbers to support the leader in the mountains or to compete for the polka-dot jersey, which is awarded to the best climber.
During mountainous stages, climbers serve a dual purpose: they help the team leader by pacing them up the climbs, and they can also serve as decoys or attackers to put pressure on rival teams. If a climber from the team goes on an early attack in the mountains, it forces other teams to react, potentially tiring them out before the critical moments of the stage.
Sprinters
Sprinters are the fastest riders on flat or slightly rolling terrain. These powerful riders excel in short bursts of speed and are generally involved in the dramatic sprint finishes of flat stages. Sprinters compete for the green jersey, which is awarded to the rider with the most points, earned by finishing high in sprint finishes or winning intermediate sprints throughout stages.
Sprinters, while capable of winning stages, often struggle in mountainous terrain. As a result, they rely heavily on their teammates to get them through the difficult climbs and preserve their energy for flat stages. When approaching a sprint finish, sprinters are often led out by their teammates in a well-coordinated effort to launch them into a favorable position for the final dash to the finish line.
Rouleurs
A rouleur is a versatile rider capable of performing well across a range of terrains, particularly flat or undulating roads. Rouleurs are usually strong, resilient riders who can sustain high speeds over long distances. They’re often tasked with pulling the peloton, maintaining a high pace, or closing down breakaways. Rouleurs are essential in transitional stages, where the terrain is neither mountainous nor flat.
Rouleurs provide critical support to the leader and sprinters, using their strength to shelter them from wind and help them position for the key moments of a stage.
Time trial specialists
While many riders in the Tour de France are competent in individual time trials (ITT), some riders are specifically strong against the clock. Time trial specialists excel in short, solo races where aerodynamics, pacing, and power output are crucial. Teams sometimes select a time trial specialist to win a specific stage or to provide support for their leader in team time trials (TTT), where the entire team races together against the clock.
Teamwork and tactics
Team racing in the Tour de France involves far more than just having a strong individual rider. The success of a team hinges on its ability to execute complex strategies, control the race, and outmaneuver rival teams. The tactics employed by teams during the race are varied, dynamic, and can evolve depending on the race situation, the course, and the performance of other teams.
Controlling the peloton
One of the key roles a team plays is controlling the pace of the peloton, the main group of riders in a stage. Teams with a clear objective, such as protecting a leader or setting up a sprinter, will often position themselves at the front of the peloton to dictate the speed of the race. By doing this, they can manage breakaways, conserve energy, or position their leader in a safe and advantageous spot.
For instance, if a breakaway forms early in a stage, the team with the yellow jersey (or any team with GC ambitions) will often set a controlled pace in the peloton to ensure that the breakaway doesn’t get too far ahead. They may allow a breakaway to gain a few minutes’ advantage but will eventually reel them in to prevent them from threatening the overall race.
Breakaways and chasing groups
Breakaways are a frequent and exciting element of Tour de France stages. Often, a group of riders will surge ahead of the peloton in an attempt to win the stage or gain time on the leaders. Team tactics come into play here, as teams will have to decide whether to join a breakaway, chase it down, or let it go.
If a breakaway contains a dangerous rider—someone who could threaten the team’s leader in the general classification—then teams with GC ambitions will work together to chase down the breakaway. This may involve multiple teams contributing riders to pull the peloton, as no single team wants to expend all their energy on their own.
Lead-out trains for sprints
In sprint stages, teams with sprinters will often employ a “lead-out train” strategy to give their sprinter the best possible chance of victory. A lead-out train involves a series of domestiques and teammates positioning themselves in front of the sprinter during the final kilometers of the race. Each rider takes a turn pulling at a high speed, allowing the sprinter to conserve energy until the final few hundred meters. At the last moment, the final rider will peel off, leaving the sprinter to launch their sprint to the finish.
Lead-out trains are highly coordinated efforts that require precise timing and positioning. The ability to control the front of the race and deliver a sprinter into the perfect position can often mean the difference between winning and losing a stage.
General Classification (GC) and team objectives
The ultimate goal for most teams is the general classification (GC), which is the cumulative time taken for a rider to complete all the stages. The rider with the lowest total time at the end of the race wins the coveted yellow jersey. While there are other objectives within the race, such as winning individual stages, securing points jerseys, or winning the best climber classification, the GC remains the most prestigious prize.
Teams that have a strong GC contender will tailor their entire race strategy around protecting and supporting that rider. Domestiques will ride tirelessly to shield the leader, bring them through dangerous situations, and position them well for key moments. Teams also have to be vigilant in defending their leader’s position against attacks from rival teams.
Team classification and strategy
While the individual GC is the most coveted prize, teams also compete for the team classification, awarded to the team with the lowest cumulative time from their three best riders on each stage. This classification is a point of pride for many teams, as it highlights the depth and consistency of the entire squad. To win this, teams need strong performances from multiple riders, not just one star leader.
(lead picture: A.S.O. / Charly Lopez)