In the second ever Tour de France in 1904, nine riders were disqualified for illegal use of cars or trains to get them through the race – but do you blame them? The task of cycling well over 100km pretty much every day for three weeks can be quite a challenge and all riders in these days were amateur cyclist and not the professionals we see in today’s TDF. So have ome fun reading this on our top tips on how to win the Tour de France the easy way!
PBK Tour Tips:
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There's no 'I' in Yellow Jersey
Although only one person wears the yellow jersey and only one person wins, winning a race like tew TDF needs full support from a Team and without this behind them they would not be where they are. These kind of Stage races are very well planned and executed who are aiming for one goal together. This extends beyond the team riders that we see – without the people in the background the whole team would crumble.
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Get an Electric Bike
Put a motor on your bike. You only need to do half of the work then! In recent races small motors have been found in riders seat tubes or bottom brackets. Heat cameras are now used to detect such mechanical doping so to eliminate this from the peleton.
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Drugs...(supplements)
…lots of them! Obviously this is the first thing that comes to mind – it has been rife in past racing and was always a game to try and trick the doping system by pushing the boundaries as much as possible. Nowadays Taking *legal* supplements is the perfect solution. the perfect fulleign can make a massive difference to performance and now with so much science behind it, its certainly a much better option! Afterall, doping is only cheating if it’s on the banned list so our advice to win: buy the best scientists!
How To: Fuel on the Bike
Fuelling is one of the hardest things to get right and is extremely important in making sure you get the best performance out of yourself. There are many occasions where either yourself, a team mate or a fellow riding partner have suffered from ‘bonking’. Let’s face it, we have all been there at least once and never want to be there again!
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Hold onto a car like Nibali
To some degree most riders will use team cars to slip stream them back onto a group or subtly hang onto a bottle from the car window to give them a minutes or two break. but it has to be done subtly and within the rules! Nibai didn’t quite understand what he was doing in 2015 though. That’s right, Nibali held onto a car in the 2015 Vuelta Espana and was disqualified.
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Have a weight strategy
Your weight strategy is very important. There is now so much focus on power to weight . The lighter you are the faster you are going to go uphill. There are such huge gains to be made from carrying less weight. Have you heard of the Vietto story? This young cyclist cut off his big toe during a Tour supposedly to make himself lighter.
Alternatively, gravity is the one to play with when it comes to riding downhill. The heavier you are, the faster you’ll go down the hill. Jean Robnic had bottles full of Lead handed to him before descents which worked wonders!
Does Cycling Burn Fat?
Weight loss is a topic discussed by many, not just cyclists. So when looking for ways to tone up the question 'does cycling burn fat?' is a popular one to come up in conversation. Luckily enough, our experts at ProBikeKit have the answer!