Racing as one: how a cycling team clicks into gear

In the end of a race there can only be one who can lift their arms high, salute the crowd and be recognised as the winner but without a team it may never happen.

Behind every winner is a varying number of teammates depending on the level and gender with various roles aimed at helping someone in their team win.

They could be a team captain, sprinter, GC or general classification rider, climber, domestique (a rider who works for the benefit of their team and leader) or time trialists.

There is also an army of support team members from managers or directeurs sportifs, mechanics, coaches, doctors to soigneurs or assistants.

This structure runs right through from UCI World Tour teams, which compete at the highest level of the sport in famous races like the Tour de France, right down to those who compete at state and national level around the world.

Giant Racing Team, which was born in Western Victoria, is an Australian example of a cycling team.

It races in the National Road Series, which includes a number of Australian-based tours and one-day classics like the Melbourne to Warrnambool.

GRT, which was originally called Anchor Point then Subaru Giant, has 11 men's and six women's riders on its roster and is regarded as one of the smaller teams on the NRS.

But how do teams like Giant work?

Nick Locandro, who is the team's manager/directeur sportif and was previously a rider before stepping into his current role, can help explain it.

The Ballarat resident said GRT was a team which helped facilitate a pathway for young men and women to hopefully transition to bigger and better ones within the sport.

He said a team was important to helping an individual cyclist's chances of victory at any level.

"Very rarely individual riders would be able to win without the help of the team," he said.

"In the men's team for the NRS we have got seven riders and for the women it is five and all of those riders have their own individual role.

"It could be anything from going back to get water bottles from the team car or they might have a designated role to help protect or do something for one main rider.

"They might have another rider dedicated to sprinting or climbing. You've also got to have a rider to adapt and play multiple roles depending on what situations plays out.

"There are lots of scenarios that teams can play to their strengths and abilities."

Locandro said picking riders to suit your team was important.

"We need to know riders are capable of riding at the level and we need a mix of people too," he said.

"We're always looking to the future. We have some young, up-and-coming talent and you need to be able to mix it with established riders who can pass on information and help the younger ones learn.

"You also need people who can climb, need people who are sprinters and guys who can win on GC. You also need riders who can be a workhouse or domestique.

"You need to look at a number of roles and the strengths and weaknesses of all the riders when putting a team together."

GRT has three general classification riders, four sprinters, two climbers and the rest are all-rounders.

Locandro, who is an account manager for Science in Sport Nutrition and Satini Custom Apparel, said getting the balance of his teams right was a fine science.

"It's always a hard balance for a few NRS teams and for us a team, that is on an upward trajectory from where we were fighting against other teams for riders, it is the same" he said.

"It is always difficult as you've got to take ones that fit in what your team is about and what its values are. It's something you have to adapt to the personnel you have."

The style of race, whether it be a tour or one-day races like the 'Warrny', also plays a significant part in how mangers think about their team make up.

"With the Warrny's length we typically don't look to ride our very young riders as it can be too far for them and you're looking for more experienced and older riders for longer (one-day) races," Locandro said.

"If we bring a young rider in usually it's for a specific role and that might be protect a GC rider or leader.

"For the youngster it's a chance to dip his toes in without the full expectation of getting through the whole thing, even if they may.

"The Warrny can play out in so many ways depending on the conditions and if a break goes away. You have to have a sprinter there and someone good in a breakaway.

"The Warrny is probably dependant on the course and conditions while a tour is more strategic.

"It's usually where riders have to really sit in and protect a leader or GC guy so they only need to spend energy in certain times in the stages.

"You have got to play the longer team game on tours or you can spend up energy too quick.

"You have got to be careful though as you don't want to miss a move in the main break because if it does happen and you miss it the stage goes away from you quickly and the race can too."

Adam Blazevic, Henry Dietze, William Hodges, Alex Holden, Dylan Lindsey, Bill Simpson, Godfrey Slattery and women's team rider Chelsea Holmes were taking part in the 105^th Powercor Melbourne to Warrnambool on Saturday before it was cancelled due to a snap five-day state government lockdown.

Dietze, Blazevic, Simpson (also a sprinter lead-out), Holden and Lindsey are the team's domestiques. Hodges and Slattery would've been chasing victory in the general classification and sprinter roles respectively.

Each style of rider has their own attributes a manager will look for when putting a team together.

A sprinter tends to be the fastest rider in the team and power, speed and balance are key attributes.

"Typically our team looks at the state institutes and their track program for endurance riders," Locandro said of where they look for a sprinter.

"Good sprinters can be hard to come by and obliviously you have to compete against a number of teams to get sprinters so that means you are trying to find a diamond in the rough.

"You're always having an eye open throughout the year and you are watching riders and deciding what potential they may have."

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Climbers make good domestiques and come into their own when the races head up hills or significant climbs in the Alps and Pyrenees in the Tour de France.

"We find them the same as sprinters but a lot of them race in the state-based races like the Victorian Road Series," Locandro said.

"They are typically a lot lighter than a sprinter and can hold sustained power for longer periods of time.

"Because of the racing in Australia, where we don't have many super hilly races, pure climbers are not really essential. Typically we don't get a lot of pure climbers here."

Time trialists have an uncanny ability to maintain a high speed over great distances and can put out extreme efforts on their aerobic threshold.

"It (time trailing) is bit of specialist skill because in the NRS there is no time trial stages on a time trial bike and there is only limited kinds of races," Locandro said.

"In saying that, a good time trialist is also a good all-round cyclist and can be important to play specific roles throughout a race or the year in a super-domestique style."

A domestique can be either one of the riders above and their roles can vary throughout a race but it is all structured at helping out teammates.

They sacrifice their chances in general classification, to win a stage or race so a teammate can succeed.

Gathering water bottles from the team car, protecting a team leader, leading out a sprinter and even giving up a bike if the team leader needs it are just some of their tasks.

The final pieces of the cycling team puzzle is the leader and general classification riders

"The road captain won't necessarily be the best rider in the squad but is someone who is typically well experienced, calm under pressure, has good communication skills and understands racing essentially," Locandro said.

"In important parts of races he has the ability to communicate with other riders on where they need to be and for us to have riders in the right spot at the right time.

"GC guys typically do everything pretty well and they are normally in the top five to 10 per cent in the peloton. They have the ability to win races in different ways and they're normally all-rounders.

"They have to have ability to be able to race and win in different ways like up hills or in a sprint. They are usually exceptional on all levels."

The GC riders and leaders often start their careers as domestiques. They learn how the team works which gives them a good appreciation of what their teammates do for them when they become the leaders.

"To be successful they have to have that knowledge and having that appreciation makes a good, well-rounded GC rider," Locandro said.

With the team assembled, the next task is putting it together on the road and with a bit of luck victories normally aren't too far away.

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