What is a Cycling Team?
A cycling team is a group of cyclists who join a team or are acquired and train together to compete in bicycle races whether amateur or professional – and the supporting personnel. Cycling teams are most important in road bicycle racing, which is a team sport, but collaboration between team members is also important in track cycling and cyclo-cross.
What makes a team useful for winning?
Team members have different specializations. Climbing specialists grind away on hard inclines; sprinters save their energy for sprints for points and position; time trialists keep speed high over great distances; and domestiques guard the team from rivals and carry food and drink to their leaders.
The leaders of teams are called captains. The rest of the team supports and helps the captain, however anyone on the team may be allowed to try to win. The captains have the most media exposure and best chance of winning.
Smaller teams may simply get riders into a long breakaway to get coverage on television. Most professional teams have 10-20 riders. Teams are generally sponsored in exchange for advertising on clothing and other endorsements. Sponsorship ranges from small businesses to international companies. Our team sponsor is Dr David Turbyfill with Surgical Solutions.