Sprinter (cycling)

Last updated
A bunch sprint finish at the 2011 Tour de France, in which sprinter Mark Cavendish (in the green jersey) is being led out by the last of his team's sprint train, Mark Renshaw. Mark Cavendish, Stage 11, 2011 Tour de France.jpg
A bunch sprint finish at the 2011 Tour de France, in which sprinter Mark Cavendish (in the green jersey) is being led out by the last of his team's sprint train, Mark Renshaw.

A sprinter is a road bicycle racer or track racer who can finish a race very explosively by accelerating quickly to a high speed, [1] [2] often using the slipstream of another cyclist or group of cyclists tactically to conserve energy. [3]

Contents

Apart from using sprinting as a racing tactic, sprinters can also compete for intermediate sprints (sometimes called primes), often to provide additional excitement in cities along the route of a race. In stage races, intermediate sprints and final stage placings may be combined in a points classification. For example, in the points classification in the Tour de France, the maillot vert (green jersey) is won by the race's most consistent sprinter. At the Tour de France, the most successful recipient of this honor is Slovak sprinter Peter Sagan, who has won seven Tour de France green jerseys (2012–2016, 2018–2019).

The road sprinter

Sprinters have a higher ratio of fast-twitch muscle fibers than non-sprinters. Road cycling sprinters sometimes tend to have a larger build than the average road racing cyclist, [4] combining the strength of their legs with their upper body to produce a short burst of speed necessary in a closely contested finish. [5] Some sprinters have a high top speed but may take a longer distance to achieve it, while others can produce short and sharp accelerations. Aerodynamics plays a key role in sprints. [6]

A sprinter is usually heavier, limiting their speed advantage to relatively flat sections. [4] It is therefore not uncommon for sprinters to be dropped by the peloton (also known as the 'bunch' or 'pack') if a race is through hilly terrain.

Sprinters may have different preferences. Some prefer a longer "launch" while others prefer to 'draft' or slipstream behind their teammates or opponents before accelerating in the final meters. Some prefer slight uphill finishes, while others prefer downhill finishes.

Sprinter tactics

In conventional road races, sprinters may bide their time waiting until the last few hundred metres before putting on a burst of speed to win the race. Many races will finish with a large group sprinting for the win; some sprinters may have team-mates, so-called domestiques 'leading them out' (i.e., keeping pace high and sheltering the sprinter) so that they have a greater chance of finishing in the leading positions. [3] These teammates tend to "peel off" one by one as they tire; the last teammate is known as the "lead-out sprinter" and the best of them are excellent sprinters in their own right.

Several of the Classic one day races, for example Milan–San Remo or Paris–Tours, tend to favour sprinters because of their long distance and relatively flat terrain. A long day of racing does not benefit a sprinter per se, but very long stages or one day races tend to preclude successful breakaways and otherwise aggressive racing, ensuring the race will come down to a bunch sprint. Most editions of these races end in a bunch sprint, often won by racers also successful in the points classification at stage races. Stronger sprinters with abilities in hilly terrain or on cobblestones also have good prospects of winning the Ardennes classics or the Cobbled classics respectively.

Famous sprinters

The first great pure sprinter in the Tour de France was Frenchman Charles Pélissier [7] who won eight stages in the 1930 Tour de France, still a record (shared with Eddy Merckx and Freddy Maertens). A year later, Pélissier battled with Italian sprinter Raffaele di Paco in one of the first major sprinter clashes. Both won five stages. In the 1941 Vuelta a España, Delio Rodríguez won 12 stages, followed by 8 the next year. He even managed to win the Overall Classification a few years later.

Another successful sprinter of the interbellum was French allrounder André Leducq. Although he could do more than sprint alone, including winning stage races (winning the Tour de France twice) and classics, 15 of his total 25 stage victories in the Tour were in bunch sprints.

André Darrigade is considered as the greatest French sprinter of all time. He won 22 stages in the Tour de France and twice the Points classification. He also built his legend by winning titles ahead of major cyclists, as the 1955 French National Championship ahead of Louison Bobet and the 1956 Giro di Lombardia ahead of Fausto Coppi. He finished on the podium of the World Championship 4 times in a row and won the title in 1959.

Freddy Maertens only participated in six grand tours but took home the Points Jersey on four occasions, winning 12 of his 15 Tour de France stage wins in a bunch sprint. His only participation in Vuelta a España in 1977 resulted not only in a record 13 stage wins, but also in the win of the general classification. Just five days after finishing the Vuelta, he went on race the Giro d'Italia, where he won 7 stages before having to abandon the race after a crash halfway through the race. [8]

As the sport of cycling progressed into one of more specialized riders in the 1980s, bunch sprints became the arena of specialists – pure sprinters like Guido Bontempi, Jean-Paul van Poppel and Mario Cipollini, all focusing primarily on sprint stages, with other riders (classics specialists, time trialists, climbers etc.) aiming for victories in other types of stages. Cipollini holds the record for most stage wins in the Grand Tours as a sprinter; 57, of which 42 were in the Giro d'Italia. Fellow Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi (48 stage wins) won stages and the Points Classification in all three grand tours, including 20 stage wins in the Vuelta. The record for stage wins in the Vuelta belongs to Delio Rodríguez, with 39 wins. Mark Cavendish was named the Tour de France's best sprinter of all time by French paper L'Équipe on July 15, 2012. His tally currently stands on 52 individual stage wins in Grand Tours, 35 [9] [10] of which have been bunch sprints in the Tour de France.

Erik Zabel won a record nine points classifications: six in the Tour de France and three in the Vuelta a España. Of the five riders to win the Points classification in all three Grand Tours, three were pure sprinters: Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Alessandro Petacchi and Mark Cavendish. The other two were all-rounders Eddy Merckx and Laurent Jalabert.

Peter Sagan won a record seven Points classification in the Tour de France. He won three consecutive World Championship, one European Championship, two Monument races Paris–Roubaix and Tour of Flanders.

The only three riders in cycling's history to win stages at all three grand tours in the same calendar year were all sprinters: Miguel Poblet in 1956, Pierino Baffi in 1958 and Alessandro Petacchi in 2003.

A good sprint can also secure several victories for other specialists, such as Classics riders and GC-contenders. Seán Kelly won 21 stages in the Tour and Vuelta, and the Points Classifications of both races four times each, in addition to his nine major Classics wins. Likewise, Belgian classics specialists Rik Van Steenbergen, Rik Van Looy and Roger De Vlaeminck were very successful due to a good final sprint, as were Italian Giro d'Italia-winners Bepe Saronni and Francesco Moser and their compatriot and two-time World Champion, Paolo Bettini.

Conversely, many sprinters use their abilities to win more than just stages, and were successful in classics such as the Tour of Flanders (like Rudi Altig and Jan Raas), Paris–Roubaix (Eddy Planckaert) and the Giro di Lombardia (like André Darrigade) or even stage races (in addition to the aforementioned Leducq, Rodríguez, Maertens, Saronni and Moser, they include Rudi Altig, Sean Kelly and Laurent Jalabert who all won the Vuelta, as did 1968 Tour de France winner and all-rounder Jan Janssen.

The ultimate sprinter classic due to its relatively flat course is Milan–San Remo, won four times by Zabel and three times by three-time World Champion Óscar Freire. Other "flat" one day races considered important sprinter classics include Gent–Wevelgem, Scheldeprijs, Vattenfall Cyclassics, Paris-Brussels and Paris–Tours.

List of successful sprinters

Men [11] [12]
Women

The track sprinter

Sprinting on a cycle track or velodrome ranges from the highly specialised sprint event (where two or more riders slowly circle the track looking to gain a tactical advantage before launching a finishing burst over the final 200 metres, which is timed), to massed-start events decided by the first across the line after a certain number of laps (similar to road racing). The sprint specialist may also ride short track time trials over 1000 metres, the team sprint and Keirin events.

In Madison racing, a team may comprise a specialist sprinter, for when sudden bursts of speed are required, and another rider able to ride at a more consistent high tempo.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erik Zabel</span> German cyclist

Erik Zabel is a German former professional road bicycle racer who raced most of his career with Telekom. With 152 professional wins and 211 wins in his career, he is considered by some to be one of the greatest German cyclists and cycling sprinters of all time. Zabel won a record nine points classifications in grands tours including the points classification in the Tour de France six consecutive years between 1996 and 2001 and the points classification in the Vuelta a España in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Zabel won the Milan–San Remo four times and numerous six-day track events. He was one of the few road cyclists of recent times who raced all year, including track cycling in winter. For season 2012 he joined Team Katusha as sprint coach. He previously held that same position with the HTC–Highroad team until their dissolution. Zabel admitted to doping from 1996 to 2004. He is the father of cyclist Rick Zabel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alessandro Petacchi</span> Italian road bicycle racer

Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 1996 and 2015. A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 48 grand tour stages with wins of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005 and the Tour de France in 2010. He also won the classics Milan – San Remo in 2005 and Paris–Tours in 2007. His career spanned over 18 years during which he earned 183 victories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rudi Altig</span> German cyclist (1937–2016)

Rudi Altig was a German professional track and road racing cyclist who won the 1962 Vuelta a España and the world championship in 1966. After his retirement from sports he worked as a television commentator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Tour (cycling)</span> The cycling races Giro dItalia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España

In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage races: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the Grand Tours, and all three races are similar in format, being three-week races with daily stages. They have a special status in the UCI regulations: more points for the UCI World Tour are distributed in Grand Tours than in other races, and they are the only stage races allowed to last longer than 14 days, and these differ from major stage races more than one week in duration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rik Van Looy</span> Belgian cyclist

Henri "Rik" Van Looy is a Belgian former professional cyclist of the post-war period. Nicknamed the King of the Classics or Emperor of Herentals, he dominated the classic cycle races in the late 1950s and first half of the ‘60s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Points classification in the Giro d'Italia</span>

The points classification in the Giro d'Italia is one of the secondary classifications in the Giro d'Italia. It is determined by points awarded for placings in the daily stages, regardless of time gaps. From 1967 to 1969 the leader wore a red jersey but in 1970 it was changed to mauve, and named the maglia ciclamino, the name of the colour in Italian being derived from the alpine flower the cyclamen. The red jersey was re-introduced in 2010, as the maglia rosso passione. However, in April 2017 RCS Sport, the organisers of the Giro, announced that the maglia ciclamino would be revived for the 2017 Giro d'Italia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freddy Maertens</span> Belgian cyclist

Freddy Maertens is a Belgian former professional racing cyclist who was twice world road race champion. His career coincided with the best years of another Belgian rider, Eddy Merckx, and supporters and reporters were split over who was better. Maertens' career swung between winning more than 50 races in a season to winning almost none and then back again. His life has been marked by debt and alcoholism. It took him more than two decades to pay a tax debt. At one point early in his career, between the 1976 Tour and 1977 Giro, Maertens won 28 out of 60 Grand Tour stages that he entered before abandoning the Giro due to injury on stage 8b. Eight Tour stage wins, thirteen Vuelta stage wins and seven Giro stage wins in less than one calendar year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1962 Tour de France</span> Cycling race

The 1962 Tour de France was the 49th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 4,274-kilometre (2,656 mi) race consisted of 22 stages, including two split stages, starting in Nancy on 24 June and finishing at the Parc des Princes in Paris on 15 July. There were four time trial stages and no rest days. After more than 30 years, the Tour was again contested by trade teams instead of national teams. Jacques Anquetil of the Saint-Raphaël–Helyett–Hutchinson team won the overall general classification, defending his title to win his third Tour de France. Jef Planckaert (Flandria–Faema–Clément) placed second, 4 min 59 s in arrears, and Raymond Poulidor (Mercier–BP–Hutchinson) was third, over ten minutes behind Anquetil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miguel Poblet</span> Spanish cyclist

Miguel Poblet Orriols was a Spanish professional cyclist, who had over 200 professional victories from 1944 to 1962. He was the first Spanish rider to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, and in 1956 he became the first of only three riders to win stages in the three Grand Tours in the same year. He won the Milan–San Remo classic race on two occasions and took 26 stage wins in the three Grand Tours. His twenty-stage wins in the Giro d'Italia makes him the third most successful foreign rider in the "Giro" behind Eddy Merckx (25) and Roger De Vlaeminck (22). Poblet was of short stature who had great power, he was the first Spanish rider to be a specialist in one day races in an age when Spain only produced climbers. He had a lightning fast sprint, but could also climb well, taking the Spanish Mountain championships on three occasions and the mountainous Volta a Catalunya twice. His nickname whilst riding was "La Flecha Amarilla" due to the yellow kit of his Ignis team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Cavendish</span> Professional road and track cyclist (born 1985)

Sir Mark Simon Cavendish is a Manx professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Astana Qazaqstan Team. As a track cyclist he specialises in the madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he is a sprinter. He is widely considered one of the greatest road sprinters of all time, and in 2021 was called "the greatest sprinter in the history of the Tour and of cycling" by Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France. He holds the record for most stage wins at the Tour de France (35).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniele Bennati</span> Italian road bicycle racer

Daniele Bennati is an Italian former road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2019 for the Acqua & Sapone–Cantina Tollo, De Nardi–Colpack, Phonak, Lampre–Fondital, Liquigas–Doimo, RadioShack–Nissan, Tinkoff and Movistar Team squads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dimitri Konyshev</span> Russian cyclist

Dimitri Konyshev is a Soviet/Russian former road bicycle racer. Over his 17 year professional cycling career, Konyshev won nine Grand Tour stages becoming one of the few riders to win a stage in all three Grand Tours. He won 4 apiece in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, and he also won a single stage in the Vuelta a Espana. Konyshev was the first Soviet and first Russian to win a medal in the Men's Road race at the UCI Road World Championships. He won a Silver medal in 1989 behind Greg LeMond and a Bronze medal in 1992 behind Gianni Bugno and Laurent Jalabert.

The 2009 season for the Cervélo TestTeam, its first, began in February with the Tour of Qatar and ended in October with the Giro di Lombardia. Though they applied for UCI ProTour status after their formation, the team competed in 2009 as a UCI Professional Continental team with wildcard status. This means that although they were not automatically invited to UCI ProTour events, they were eligible to be invited. Despite not being a ProTour team, they effectively competed at the highest level available in the sport - seventeen of the twenty-four UCI World Ranking events invited the team, including all three Grand Tours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Points classification in the Tour de France</span>

The points classification is a secondary competition in the Tour de France, which started in 1953. Points are given for high finishes in a stage and for winning intermediate sprints, and these are recorded in a points classification. It is considered a sprinters' competition. The leader is indicated by a green jersey, which has become a metonym for the points classification competition.

The 2011 season for HTC–Highroad began in January at the Tour Down Under and ended in October at the Chrono des Nations. As a UCI ProTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour. This was the team's final season, as they failed to secure a new title sponsor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fernando Gaviria</span> Colombian road racing cyclist

Fernando Gaviria Rendón is a Colombian professional road and track racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Movistar Team. He is well known as a sprinter. Riding for the Colombian national cycling team, Gaviria came to international attention at the 2015 Tour de San Luis, where he beat former world champion Mark Cavendish in two sprint finishes. His first major Grand Tour wins came at the 2017 Giro d'Italia. He is the brother of track cyclist Juliana Gaviria. His nickname is "Quetzal splendente", from the brightful and colourful South American bird Quetzal. Its colours recall his world championship titles, his Colombia and "la maglia Ciclamino" won at Giro d'Italia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jakub Mareczko</span> Italian road cyclist

Jakub Mareczko is an Italian road cyclist of Polish origin, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Team Corratec–Vini Fantini. A sprinter, Mareczko was described by the Italian national cycling coach Davide Cassani as one of the best young hopes for Italian cycling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jasper Philipsen</span> Belgian cyclist

Jasper Philipsen is a Belgian professional cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Alpecin–Deceuninck. Specialising as a sprinter, he has won several stages in the Tour de France and Vuelta a España.

The 2005 season for Quick-Step–Innergetic began in January at the Tour Down Under.

References

  1. ↑ Menaspà Paolo et al. Physical Demands of Sprinting in Professional Road Cycling., Int J Sports Med 2015
  2. ↑ Peiffer, Jeremiah J.; Abbiss, Chris R.; Haakonssen, Eric C.; Menaspà, Paolo (2018-10-01). "Sprinting for the Win: Distribution of Power Output in Women's Professional Cycling". International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. 13 (9): 1237–1242. doi:10.1123/ijspp.2017-0757. ISSN   1555-0273. PMID   29688105. S2CID   25755673.
  3. 1 2 Menaspà Paolo et al.Performance analysis of a world-class sprinter during cycling grand tours., Int J Sports Physiol Perform, 2013
  4. 1 2 Menaspà, P.; Rampinini, E.; Bosio, A.; Carlomagno, D.; Riggio, M.; Sassi, A. (June 2012). "Physiological and anthropometric characteristics of junior cyclists of different specialties and performance levels: Cycling speciality and ranking in juniors". Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. 22 (3): 392–398. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0838.2010.01168.x . PMID   20807389. S2CID   24746377.
  5. ↑ "Why sprinters are muscly and climbers are wiry". BBC News. 2014-07-18. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  6. ↑ Crouch, Timothy; Menaspà, Paolo; Barry, Nathan; Brown, Nicholas; Thompson, Mark C; Burton, David (December 2021). "A wind-tunnel case study: Increasing road cycling velocity by adopting an aerodynamically improved sprint position". Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part P: Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology. 235 (4): 301–309. doi: 10.1177/1754337119866962 . ISSN   1754-3371.
  7. ↑ "Pédale! Le hors-série de SO FOOT qui aime le vélo". 19 October 2011.
  8. ↑ Mombert, Dries (17 Aug 2017). "De Vuelta van Freddy: reconstructie van de wonderlijke Ronde van Spanje in 1977". HLN. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  9. ↑ "Cavendish breaks Tour de France stage record". BBC Sport. 3 July 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  10. ↑ Whittle, Jeremy (3 July 2024). "Mark Cavendish powers to record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage win". Guardian. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  11. ↑ "10 Best Sprinters In Cycling History". vehiclehelp.com. 22 October 2022.
  12. ↑ "De 10 snelste renners uit de geschiedenis van de Tour". De Standaard (in Dutch). 11 July 2022.

The Complete Cycle Sport Guide, Peter Konopka, 1982, EP Publishing


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.