If big cycling events like the Tour de France or the European Road Cycling Championships have caught the eye before, you may be wondering about strategies and the role of teams in what at first glance, appears to be an individual sport.
Most people are familiar with those big competitive road races that sweep through beautiful countryside and up gruelling mountainous terrain. The common theme running throughout cycling is teamwork.
Riders represent a team and that team’s strategy and form plays a big part in the story of success for individual riders. If you are scoping the latest UK betting sites list for wagering opportunities, then it’s worth taking into consideration this all-important team factor as it influences cycling outcomes.
Understanding the Basics
That super-fit, lean cyclist running the show from the front of the race doesn’t do it all on their own. Cycling teams consist of eight riders who work as a cohesive unit in employing strategy and support. The structure of a team is designed to get their star rider the yellow jersey at the end of the Tour de France.
So it’s important to understand what each rider does because you probably want to avoid backing one that is simply there as a support cog in the machine and not there to win.
Here’s a quick breakdown of team positions:
- Principal Rider – the rider in the team that has the best shot of winning a Tour.
- The domestique – a key rider who is willing to give up their shot at success to help the principal rider, by riding tactically to try and split a field through pace-setting, or creating advantageous aerodynamic drag for the main rider by getting in front.
- Specialists – teams have specialist sprinters, time trial specialists and punchers who are jack-of-all-trades who are competitive in all areas.
Why Teams Are Important
But what advantage does so much variety have? Imagine a leading contender for a team like Jonas Vingegaard. He’s not going to win every stage of the Tour de France, but as long as he is being supported, he can attack the stages he’s best suited to. The role of the rest of the team involves taking away points from competitors in the stage’s he’s not suited to.
In a yellow jersey contender’s weaker stages, perhaps a mountain climb, lost time could potentially hand an advantage to a rival that’s good at climbing. A lot of time can be made and lost in the mountains, so a team will utilise their climbing specialists to try and take time away from their principal rider’s competition while using drag to haul their main rider up the incline.
Knowing the Teams and Individuals
Knowing the full members and quality of a team that can help with cycling betting. It’s knowing the strengths of the individual riders and which ones are likely to put in a big shift on a certain stage.
The better teams will consistently have their riders in good positions no matter what kind of stage it is. That makes them fairly easy to spot – or another way to gauge team strength is to look at the main contenders in the Outright Winner market for the Tour, see who they ride for, and then work backwards to study the strength of the respective teams.
Reports and News
A convenient way to keep up to speed with the latest team developments is to read news reports, blogs about cycling and official websites for insights. These will share a lot of information that can be put towards cycling betting markets.
It’s important to know the type of stage, the main contenders for it and any news like crashes, injuries and illness that affect a team. Also look at the historical history of a team and rider in a particular race, as well as current season results.
Main Cycling Markets
There are plenty of different options for cycling betting, with the most popular being the outright winner. That’s the selection of which rider will win the Tour de France or the Giro d’Italia. It also applies to markets for winning an individual stage.
A slightly broader scope can be taken by looking at options like a Top 3 or a Top 5 Finish in the overall race or a stage. The different disciplines within a Tour, like the Points Classification, Mountains Classification and Young Rider are other areas for cycling bets as is the overall Team Classification.
Phot0 – Christy Nicholson / EchelonDesignPhoto.com
