Climbers and their importance in a bicycle race - Part 1
Climber plays an important role in a race especially those with the mountainous and hilly stages as a climber is highly trained to ride under such conditions. A climber comes into action at higher altitudes as he is the one who leads the team through the
mountains and a good climber can really make a huge difference in the team.
Strong teams always have the best climbers in their squad especially at the stage races. Some of the very well known climbers in the cycling sport are Richard Virenque, Federico Bahamontes, Alberto Contador, Lucien Van Impe, Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Claudio
Chiappucci, Marco Pantani and Andy Schleck. A skilful climber adjusts his speed according to the requirement of the race and helps the team behind by reducing their work.
Drifting his team through the difficult paths is just one part of the climber’s job it gets even tougher when a climber has to launch an attack and the best time to do so is on the mountains knowing the fact that only another climber will be able to catch
up at such situation. Attacking on a climb is a risky job as it always involves the fear of losing control on the bike and ending up in a disaster but that is exactly where the great climbers have dominated and have made it look so easy that it is hard to
understand the real effort and practice required to master such a skill.
Usually in a stage race there are more than one climbing stages and that is where a climber sets his eyes to secure a stage win or the time trial stages as those two stages does not involve a team effort to win. A climber usually does not need a support
of his team but in fact he is expected to support the team depending upon the role he had been given by the team management.
Andy Schleck is a well known climber but his strength is his all round skills that dominates him over many other climbers as he finished the Tour de France 2011 at the second position behind Cadel Evans and that was the third time Andy had been a first runner
up at the Tour de France consecutively.
Once a climber takes a lead out of a good attack on a mountain stage it becomes difficult for the other riders to catch up and the climber can thus secure a stage win for himself and for the team.
Climbers normally use the smaller gears while riding on to a mountain and the new developments in cycling mechanism have certainly helped a big deal and have made their job much easier. Legendary cyclist Lucien Van Impe who started his cycling career in
1969 does had to push the higher gears for hours because of lack of technology. Advancements in the bicycle development has certainly raised the bar and has totally changed the face of the sport however, UCI has come up with a standard bicycle mass of 6.8
kilograms for all the UCI approved races.
Continued in Part 2
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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