Stage race

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As a stage race all road cycling refer to operations where one after several days individual competitions - are held whose results are added as driven times in an overall and together with it - so-called stages.

This also applies to other disciplines of cycling , such as mountain biking z. B. with the Bike Transalp and the Cape Epic and other sports such. B. rallying and the Tour de Ski in cross-country skiing .

Stage races are sometimes also referred to as round trips , especially when the starting point of the first section and the destination of the last section are identical or the stage race is to cover a certain country or region. If, on the other hand, points are awarded and added up for the individual results, or if the overall evaluation - also as a time evaluation - plays a subordinate role compared to the daily evaluations (e.g. the prize money), one speaks of a racing series .

history

After longer and longer one-day races were held at the end of the 19th century , which increasingly overwhelmed the cyclists (about 1200 km from Paris-Brest-Paris from around 1891 ), the idea of ​​a stage race made it possible to use longer distances. The Tour de France was launched in 1903 as the first stage race in the world . A few years later, based on the tour model, country tours were also introduced in Belgium (from 1908) and Italy (with the Giro d'Italia , from 1909).

Regulations

The World Cycling Federation UCI sets binding regulations for international stage races. For national stage races, the national associations can make different regulations.

For international races a. the following regulations are binding:

  • Stage races last at least two days and can consist of road races, which are contested like one-day races, individual and team time trials; but not from criteria and circuit races .
  • A stage race is contested exclusively by cycling teams.
  • The overall ranking is an individual ranking based on time. In international men's stage races, a team classification based on time is also binding. The special regulations of the organizer can provide for further evaluations on a sporting basis (e.g. points , mountain , sprint, junior or team evaluation according to points).
  • The leader of the overall standings must be marked with a separate jersey (usually the " yellow jersey "). Depending on the UCI category of the race, the organizer can award a maximum of three to five additional leadership jerseys for special evaluations.
  • The overall rating results from the addition of the times driven, whereby drivers of a closed group are rated with the same time and only full seconds are counted. If a rider falls during the last three kilometers of a stage or if he has a defect, he will - except for a mountain finish or in an individual time trial - be scored in the overall standings with the time of the group in which he was previously. In the event of a tie, first the fractions of a second of the individual time trials that were not taken into account, then the addition of the individual stage placements and finally the placement on the last stage.
  • The special regulations of the organizer can provide that bonus seconds are awarded for the overall ranking - not for the team ranking - for intermediate sprints and at the stage finish (except for time trials ). B. With "Grand Tours" 20, 12 and 8 seconds at the stage destination and 6, 4 and 2 seconds for up to 3 intermediate sprints. The inclusion of the results of team time trial stages in the overall ranking is also determined by the special regulations of the event.
  • The team ranking results from the addition of the times of the three fastest drivers of a team on each stage.
  • The organizer's special regulations stipulate the maximum permitted time on the individual stages depending on the characteristics (time trial, mountain stage, flat stage) of the stage. If a driver exceeds this waiting period - usually a percentage surcharge on the winner's time - he is not allowed to start the next stage. In exceptional circumstances (such as storms) the jury can make an exception.
  • The stage race can start with a prologue instead of a stage , which is held as a short individual time trial.
  • Stage races over ten racing days must have at least one rest day , three-week tours (" Grand Tours ") at least two.

Important stage races

"Grand Tours"

By far the most famous and oldest stage race and cycling event of all is the Tour de France , which was launched in 1903 and has been held annually in July since then . In addition to the Tour de France also are Giro d'Italia in May (since 1909) the and Vuelta a España (in September since 1935) to the "Grand Tours" (Engl. For Large tours French, originally.. Grands Tours ) counted. The "big tours" stand out above all for their duration of three weeks each and an extremely demanding route profile.

More international men's stage races

Other important stage races for men are summarized in the UCI WorldTour (2005 to 2010: UCI ProTour ). Until 2008 the Germany Tour was part of the UCI ProTour.

Below the ProTour, the UCI established the UCI Continental Circuits ( UCI Africa Tour , UCI America Tour , UCI Asia Tour , UCI Europe Tour and UCI Oceania Tour ) in 2005 . a. with further international stage races. The most important remaining German men's stage race is the Bayern Tour , which is listed in the hors category of the UCI Europe Tour.

Women's stage race

With the advancing development of women's cycling, there are increasingly high-class women's stage races. Among the most important is the Giro d'Italia Femminile and the International Thuringia Tour of Women . The Grande Boucle Féminine ("Tour de France for Women"), however, lost more and more importance and was no longer held in 2010. Several women's stage races were added to the calendar of the newly formed UCI Women's WorldTour in 2016 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Rundfahrt  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b UCI Cycling Regulations, Part II - Road Races, there 2.6.001 ff. In: uci.org. March 2, 2020, accessed on May 9, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Women's World Tour will replace the World Cup from 2016. radsport-news.com, September 25, 2015, accessed October 24, 2015 .