Yesterday was the toughest stage in the Pyrenees because of all the climbing. Usually, a mountain stage in a Grand Tour is a stage of two races: who is first over the mountain passes and who is last before the time limit, which is usually about 10 percent of the finishing time, but it varies. Which leads us to today's tidbit:
Gruppetto - A group of riders that form at the back of the field on mountain stages, who ride at a pace that allows them to finish just inside the time limit. Usually the gruppetto is comprised of sprinters and other riders that are not climbing specialists or race leaders. Gruppetto is Italian for "a small group."
The last man to finish yesterday's stage was Frenchman Christophe Mengin, from the Francaise des Jeux team, at 46:13 (mm:ss) behind Denis Menchov, the Russian from Team Rabobank.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please don't comment on posts more than 4 years old. They will be deleted.