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Stage 2: It Takes Nine Men to Get One Across the Finish Line First

Thor Hushovd wins Stage 2.
Photo: Graham Watson 

For fans who are relatively new to sport, the concept of cycling as a team sport can be difficult to grasp. After all, there’s only one winner at the end of the stage, just like at the end of a marathon or triathlon, but there are 21 teams of nine men each in the race. We’ll see brilliant displays of teamwork, in a variety of fashions, throughout the next three weeks. Today, for instance teamwork delivered a great stage win for Thor Hushovd of the Credit Agricole team.

 

Hushovd’s team is built around increasing his chances of winning sprint finishes. Credit Agricole doesn’t really have a rider with the ability to challenge for the yellow jersey, so they focus instead on winning the green jersey awarded to the rider who accumulates the most points awarded to the first three riders at intermediate sprints during each stage and again at the first 35 riders at stage finishes. The points competition can be considered a sprinting competition or a measure of consistency; you have to win stages or consistently finish in the top 5 on flat stages to accumulate enough point to win the competition.

 

For Hushovd to win at the end of the stage, he needs to conserve energy during the 150+ kilometers preceding the final one. That’s where teammates come in handy. While Hushovd stays safely tucked into the energy-saving draft near the front of the peloton, his teammates shuttle back and forth to the team car for water bottles, food, and clothing. They’re also on call in case he suffers a flat tire, mechanical problem, or gets caught in or behind a crash. If Hushovd finds himself behind the peloton for any reason, some of his teammates will immediately slow down and wait for him, then ride their hardest to catch back up to the peloton while he sits in their slipstream. Chasing back on his own would burn valuable and irreplaceable energy.

 

Since there has to be a final sprint in order for Hushovd to win it, Credit Agricole must also play a role in chasing down groups of riders who set off on long breakaways in front of the peloton. Within the final 50 kilometers of stages where a sprint finish is likely, you’ll see a few teams send their riders to the front to lift the pace. So far in this year’s Tour de France, we’ve seen Credit Agricole, Française des Jeux, and Team Columbia line up on the front to bring breakaways back into the peloton and set up the right conditions for their sprint specialists.

 

The final act of teamwork on a team built around a sprinter is the leadout. Speedsters like Hushovd, Robbie Hunter (Barloworld), and Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia) can only maintain their top speeds for about 300-400 meters, so it’s up to their teammates to deliver them to that point with a clear path to the finish line. Ideally, three or four teammates combine their efforts for this task, but today Hushovd only needed one man. The final kilometer of Stage 2 was pretty chaotic, but Hushovd found the back wheel of his teammate Mark Renshaw with about 500 meters to go. Renshaw accelerated as hard as he could with Hushovd in his draft and the big Norwegian champion swung out into clean air with about 200 meters to go. From there it was all up to Hushovd and like all great leaders he finished what his teammates started and delivered the victory.

 

And while there may only be one man standing on the top step of the podium at the end of each stage, every man on the team shares in the spoils of victory. All the prize money won by a team during the Tour de France gets thrown into a big pool and divided among the riders and the team’s support staff (mechanics, soigneurs, etc.). Tomorrow is another stage tailor-made for the sprinters, so expect to see Credit Agricole working together as a team to help Thor Hushovd put more money in their pockets.

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