Thursday, April 14, 2011

The Puncheur

I learned a new cycling word this week: Puncheur.

Here is the definition... "Ein Puncheur ist ein Fahrertyp bei Strassenradrennen, andere Fahrertypen sind zum Beispiel der Rouleur, der Sprinter oder der Kletterer. Der Puncheur hat besondere Stärken in welligem Gelände und ist oft auch ein starker Sprinter"

Oh wait, that's in German.

Roughly it translates as: "A Puncheur is a type of rider in road cycling races, other types of riders are, for example, the Rouleur , the sprinter or climber. The Puncheur has particular strengths in rolling terrain and is often also a strong sprinter."

That's guys like Phillipe Gilbert, Sylvain Chavanel, Thor Hushovd and the likes. These are the fellas who have the legs to fight the short steep climbs over rolling terrain and then still kick it in a sprint. They may not always come out on top in a mass sprint finish, but watch out if it's only a select group left over.

After analyzing my past race results and the kind of roads I do best on, I think this may just be me. Cool, eh? Hopefully I can incorporate that into my future races. Sounds like I need to look for the breakaway and help make it stick, then try to recover enough to kick it in the finale. Stay tuned and if I'm lucky maybe one of my next races will have a report that sounds just like that.

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