The Tour of California rolled through my neck of the woods yesterday and I got to watch some high class cyclists power up the same hills that I've cycled many times. They made it look pretty easy too. Here's a view of the main pack, with the current yellow jersey holder nicely visible:
What I thought would be more interesting to show is what was happening to the rear, well behind the bunched group of riders:
Is this guy so thirsty he's holding back to grab a drink from a friendly car? Sure looks like he's grabbing a water bottle. But there's a little more going on.
This close-up shows Gregory Rast, riding for Team RadioShack. He's just done the same thing as the first guy. Notice his back. Kinda lumpy and bumpy, no?
Here's a view from the rear. That jersey of his is stuffed with water bottles. And now he's got to ride like crazy to catch the main bunch up ahead. Why'd he do it?
The answer is that he's what is called a domestique rider for the team. And it's a tough job to have. It's his responsibility to slow down, get water and/or food from the team car, and then catch back up and distribute the goods to the rest of the guys. That way the riders who are viewed as having the best chance for victory can stay up near the front in case a breakaway happens and conserve their energy for the later portion of the race.
Gregory is working his butt off and almost certainly hoping that at some point he can move up the ranks, leave the water duties to someone else, and go looking for glory. But for now he's most definitely killing himself for the good of team.
Interesting. There’s something I hadn’t known before. Being a domestique rider sure must be a tough assignment. Clearly bicycle racing is all about teamwork. The Tour of California went right through our little town for the first time last year – but sadly I missed most of the action, I just caught a glimpse from a distance.
Definitely a grueling job.
Nice captures & explanation of something that wouldn’t be apparent to the casual observer of bicycle racing — where it’s not altogether obvious most of the time why it’s a conducted as a “team” sport.
In fact, many domestiques don’t even aspire to be in the limelight. There were some famous ones, like… i think his name was Garrea, who was Fausto Coppi’s main helper. One day, he joined a breakaway to protect Coppi’s yellow jersey… only to find out that, at the end of the day, he was the race leader. Which displeased him no end, as Coppi found out when he wanted to congratulate him.
In The Natherlands, we had a famously unknown domestique: Jan Boven. Turned pro in 1996, riding for the Rabobank equipe, he suffered a terrible accident in 1997, breaking his back and knee. Even though it was doubtful whether he would ever be able to walk again, let alone cycle professionally, Rabobank relentlessly renewed his contract.
Jan never forgot this, and, when he returned a year later after healing miraculously, he paid back with equal loyalty, becoming Rabo’s truest front soldier in every war they sent him in, until the end of his career eight years later.
In the pack, he stood out because there was one thing he did *very* well, and that was ride very very fast.
His biggest fans were the people he rode for, like Erik Breukink and Michal Boogerd. They’ve spent so much time in his wheel that they knew how fast he could be when he really piled it up. Yet, among the general audience, his name was almost completely unknown.
He is now one of Rabo’s team managers.