Road Cycling - Team relay question?

Hi,

This is my first post here. I have this question for you guys..

In the last Tour de France and in fact in any road racing, the riders that are in the front of the peloton (who set the pace) are the ones that get tired the most.. the same when a riders "works" for his teammate (a good example is the US postal team in the last TDF)..

How can you explain this, I mean all riders in the same group will ride at the same pace/speed, the first rider has the same speed than the last, otherwise the last rider will no longer be in that same group/peloton.

thanks a lot guys !

The riders behind are in the slipstream of the front riders so they have to expend 30% less energy than the person at the front to go at the same speed. Riders take turns going at the front to keep up the high pace, excepting those team members who are conserving energy for the final sprint to the finish.

so, you are telling me that it is the flow of air that hits the front riders is the cause of that..

but this happened in the mountains too, where slipstream is negligeable, isnt it ??

so, you are telling me that it is the flow of air that hits the front riders is the cause of that..

but this happened in the mountains too, where slipstream is negligeable, isnt it ??

Nope. Lance averaged 15 MPH up the Alp d-Huez during the individual time trial. I assume that "average" means that part of the time he was riding faster than that. Even at 15 MPH you can definitely notice a benefit riding in another rider's slipstream.

I agree !
So, this is it.. slipstream!! I thought it was kind of a psychologic help, a moral boost.. Lance has some good climbers in his team that can create a kind of slipsream for him.. I guess I understood it now!
thanks guys !