This Is Road Racing!
The open road, a
smell of hot tarmac, an expectant crowd, the hum
of tyres and the whirring of gears - this is
road racing! One for the Road! Road Racing’s
territory is the open road. Events range from
short Junior races of an hour or less, through
one day classics of over 250km like Paris-Roubaix,
to the Tour de France which hurtles round
3,500km of the flatlands and mountains of France
for three weeks every summer. In the shorter
races the first rider over the line is the
winner, but in multi-stage “Tours” there are
prizes for each stage winner, for the best
sprinter in the race, the best climber (aka King
of the Mountains), the leading team and, of
course, the overall winner.
Racing Qualities -
Endurance, Sprinting, Climbing
Top Road racers need to be able to stay in the
saddle for hours at a time (endurance), to
accelerate to speeds of up to 50mph (sprint) and
climb mountain passes up to almost 10,000 feet.
How to get
involved
As with all sports, Road Racing beginners can
find their feet in easier events. Under sixteens
ride on what are called closed road circuits –
they are courses off the public roads where they
can race safely and learn the many tactical
skills which make Road Racing so exciting.
British cycling run events of this kind all
round the country during the summer months.
Road Facts
-
Road
Racing’s four biggest events are the
Tour de France, Giro D’Italia and Vuelta
A Espana, and the World Championships.
-
In 2000
and 2001 Britain’s Nicole Cooke became
the first rider to win back-to-back
junior women’s world titles in Road
Racing. And for good measure she also
won the Mountain bike and Time Trial
titles in 2001, making her a triple
world champion in one year. Since then
she has progressed to dominate the
Women's World Cup and was the 2003
Champion.
-
Lance
Armstrong of the USA is currently the
most famous Road Racer in the world.
Cancer almost killed him in the mid
nineties, but Lance battled back to
fitness and amazingly won the Tour de
France on his return to the sport.
So that’s road
Racing - there’s no better feeling than skimming
over the tarmac, whether it’s an evening club
ride with your mates, or in the cut and thrust
of a race.
(Copyright British
Cycling -
www.britishcycling.org.uk)
