escaped killers, cans, pilot fish … The heroes of the shadow put in the spotlight by the price of the super-team

For the first time, a peloton runner will be designated “super-team” from the Grande Boucle on arrival in Paris.

Behind each large champion hides such large team members. Because if only one man raises his arms on the finish line, he could not do it without the work of his seven team members. Cycling has always been an eminently collective sport, in which heroes of the shadow allow individualities to shine. Heroes that the Tour de France has decided to highlight, with a super-team price awarded during the podium on the Champs-Elysées.

Until then, every Saturday, a peloton runner has been appointed best team teammate from the start in Lille. Launched in 2022, this prize for the best weekly teammate was thus awarded to Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates XRG), just before his abandonment, after the first week of the Tour de France, and in Nils Politt, also in the same training, for the second. In the past, prestigious names have been honored, in the image Wout Van Aert, Mattias Skjelmose or Sepp Kuss. “This is a good initiative because the majority of runners are team members, but we don't talk about it, despite the huge work of some”appreciates the American from La Visma-Lease A Bike.

“It's a good idea this prize, it rewards people who deserve it, who work for other guys who glean all glory”approves Jordan Jegat (Totalenergies). “It is a good thing to highlight the teammates who do an extraordinary job, like us who must protect Felix Gall”adds Bastien Tronchon (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale), supported by Axel Laurance (ineos grenadiers). “We need team members to see the leaders illustrate. It is a key role in cycling today. We all have a specific task every day, which varies according to the collective strategy, the profile of the stage.”

Like the three French runners mentioned above, the peloton sees this new reward with a good eye. At least, for those who know it. “I didn't even know there was a price for the best team member a week for three years!”thus admits Bruno Armirail (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale). By learning that, this year, there would even be a super-teammate on the final podium in Paris, the Pyrenean adds: “It can be a goal, it would be nice to be on the podium of the Champs-Elysées.” As a bonus, the one who will be appointed at the end of the Tour will receive 3,000 euros, while the winners of each week obtain 2,000 euros.

“A good teammate, it rubs, it rolls, it climbs, it's a pass everywhere: it's a wout van aert what.”

Bruno Armirail

In Franceinfo: Sport

“It is valuing to be the keystone of success, success. It is also a sacrifice of its personal ambitions in the service of another individuality”summarizes Pierre Rolland, Ambassador of the Super-Equipier Prize. Winner of the second week of the Tour in 2023, Sepp Kuss, however, points to the weak point of this distinction: “It's a great reward, but it is difficult to assign, because we all have a different job”. Because if putting forward the heroes of the shadow is a good idea, difficult to choose between the different types of team members.

Of the eight runners of a team, not all have the same function every day to support the leader. “What is certain is that there are always more runners who sacrifice themselves than runners who can play their card”recalls Pierre Rolland, “Afterwards, it all depends on the composition of the team. The most discreet are the carriers of cans who supply and protect their leader all day. There are also those who print a crazy tempo in the mountains before the leader of the leader, or the escaped killers, who brings the peloton back to the head of the race at the right time.”

Without forgetting the pilot fish, responsible for depositing the house sprinter a few hectometers from the final line. “The pilot fish is still special because it is exactly the same day as the sprinter except that he deviates 200 meters from the line”salutes Pierre Rolland, stressing that “If Mark Cavendish has 35 stages wins on the Tour, he owes at least 20 to Mark Renshaw. Same thing to Jasper Philipsen, often put in orbit by Mathieu Van der Poel.”

“Sepp Kuss won the Vuelta, but I am convinced that he is stronger when he is a teammate than when he is a leader. And examples like that, there is in the middle.”

Pierre Rolland

In Franceinfo: Sport

Depending on the stage, the roles can also be reversed. In 2011, when Thomas Voeckler lived an epic in yellow, Pierre Rolland was thus responsible for escorting it when the road rose. “I was the last in the mountains with him. On the last stage in the Alps, Thomas cracks physically. There he clearly tells me to go and play my card. He could have confined me very well and I would have stayed with him very naturally. But, that day, he freed me from my functions”recalls the one who then took off to win the Alpe d'Huez, thanks to the exit voucher granted by his leader.

Going from leader to teammate, or vice versa, is commonplace in a sport where the legs redefine the statutes. “This is also why a leader must always be pleasant on a daily basis, create a link outside the days of racing, during internships“, Adds Pierre Rolland. Especially since, according to Yoann Offero, consultant for France Télévisions, the most beautiful award for a teammate remains this recognition: “When you are a teammate, you don't need a podium or a reward to find out if you have done the job. You know when your leader comes to see you on the bus, be a hug or hit yourself on your shoulder and thank you.”