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47-575: Stage races One-day races and Classics Sylvain Chavanel (born 30 June 1979) is a French former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2018 for the Cofidis , Omega Pharma–Quick-Step , IAM Cycling and two spells with the Brioches La Boulangère/ Direct Énergie team. His brother Sébastien Chavanel also rode as a professional cyclist. Sylvain Chavanel

94-402: A breakaway (as described below). Occasionally, the distinction between medium mountain and mountain in stage classification, decided by race officials, can be controversial. The Giro d'Italia has had a reputation of labeling selective, very difficult stages as merely medium mountain. Lastly, a handful of stages each year are known as being "good for a breakaway"—when one or a few riders attacks

141-410: A couple of minutes, to cross the finish line. Riders who crash within the last three kilometres of the stage are credited with the finishing time of the group that they were with when they crashed, if that is better than the time in which they actually finish. This avoids sprinters being penalized for accidents that do not accurately reflect their performance on the stage as a whole given that crashes in

188-403: A few seconds of improvement to their finishing time. There is a rule that if one rider finishes less than three seconds behind another then he is credited with the same finishing time as the first. This operates transitively, so when the peloton finishes together every rider in it gets the time of the rider at the front of the peloton, even though the peloton takes tens of seconds, and possibly even

235-464: A great performance in the stage 4 time trial. A couple of days later, Chavanel topped a very successful week as he prevailed in the World Tour race GP Ouest-France by winning the sprint out of a small group ahead of Arthur Vichot . In 2015 he also accomplished the impressive feat of starting and finishing each Grand Tour . In September 2015 Direct Énergie announced that Chavanel would join them for

282-405: A group known as the "bus" or "autobus" and ride at a steady pace to the finish. Their only goal is to cross the line within a certain limit—usually the stage winner's time plus 15% – or else they'll be disqualified from the race (at the discretion of the officials; on rare occasions a lead breakaway becomes so large that the entire peloton falls that far back and would normally be allowed to remain in

329-482: A two-year deal and on 1 September the team announced the signing of David de la Cruz on a two-year contract. In 2014 Michał Kwiatkowski won a rainbow jersey in 2014 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race in Ponferrada, Spain. In February 2015, the team announced it had signed 2015 UCI World Omnium champion, Fernando Gaviria , and fellow Colombian, Rodrigo Contreras , on two-year deals set to commence at

376-485: A yellow flag. The top-10 finishers in each of the first two stages are awarded bonus championship points. The points earned are added to a driver/owner's regular season points total, while the winner of the stage receives an additional point that can be carried into the NASCAR playoffs . The stage lengths vary by track, but the first two stages usually combine to equal about half of the race. The final stage (which still pays out

423-505: Is nicknamed 'The Wolfpack' and has used the term in its branding since 2017. The team was created as Quick-Step–Davitamon in 2003 from staff and riders of Domo–Farm Frites and Mapei–Quick-Step when the latter disbanded after nine years in the sport. Paolo Bettini won the UCI Road World Cup in 2003 and 2004 as well as the 2004 Summer Olympics road title in 2004. In the 2005 UCI ProTour season, renamed Quick-Step–Innergetic,

470-630: Is operated by the company Decolef Lux, based in Luxembourg with branches in France and Belgium. A majority shareholder of the company is a Czech businessman Zdeněk Bakala . Title sponsors throughout its history have been Quick-Step Flooring, a division of Mohawk Industries , who had previously been co-sponsors of the Mapei team from 1999 to 2003. Belgian pharmaceutical company Omega Pharma had two spells as title co-sponsors (2003–07 and 2012–16), using either

517-408: Is still CEO of Etixx as of September 2015. On 17 July 2014, the team announced that Iljo Keisse had been given a two-year contract extension. Tony Martin confirmed via his Twitter account that he had signed a two-year contract extension. On 19 August the team announced that Pieter Serry had signed a two-year contract extension, on 27 August the team announced the signing of Maxime Bouet on

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564-574: The 2006 Tour de France during stage 3–6, and Filippo Pozzato won 2006 Milan–San Remo . Paolo Bettini won the world championship in Salzburg and retained his Giro di Lombardia crown. In 2007 Tom Boonen won the points classification in the Tour de France , taking two stage wins. Bettini defended his world championship in Stuttgart . In 2008 Gert Steegmans took the final stage of the 2008 Tour de France on

611-476: The 2010 Tour de France , Chavanel took over the yellow jersey after attacking at the 10-kilometre (6.2-mile) mark on stage 2. Following a series of crashes affecting the General Classification contenders on the descent into Spa , the race was neutralized for every rider except Chavanel, who was the lone escapee at that time. He capitalized on that, opening up enough of a gap to win the stage and capture

658-550: The Champs-Élysées . Paolo Bettini retired after the world championship in Varese . In both 2008 and 2009 Stijn Devolder took the Tour of Flanders and Tom Boonen, Paris–Roubaix . After two seasons of disappointment, a resurgent Omega Pharma–Quick-Step and Tom Boonen took four major Spring classics victories, including the four cobblestone courses E3 Harelbeke , Gent–Wevelgem , Tour of Flanders , Paris–Roubaix . In October 2012,

705-688: The Tour de l'Avenir in 1999 and then in 2000, aged 21, he turned professional for Bernardeau's Bonjour team, sponsored by a chain of local newspapers. He won the first stage of the Circuit Franco-Belge and lost his leader's jersey only on the last day. He also won the climbers' jersey in the Tour de l'Avenir by breaking clear in the Pyrenees and rode 217 kilometres (135 miles) alone at the front of Paris–Tours . Bernardeau said: Chavanel rode his first Tour de France at 22, finishing 65th, later coming third in

752-536: The Volvo Ocean Race , Velux 5 Oceans Race , Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and Global Challenge . Soudal Quick-Step Soudal–Quick-Step ( UCI team code: SOQ ) is a Belgian UCI WorldTeam cycling team led by team manager Patrick Lefevere . The directeurs sportifs are Davide Bramati , Iljo Keisse , Klaas Lodewyck , Wilfried Peeters , Tom Steels and Geert Van Bondt . The team

799-557: The individual time trial stage of the Vuelta a España at Ciudad Real . His ride brought him to second place overall, two seconds slower than the American, Levi Leipheimer . His team worked for him next day from Ciudad Real to Toledo to make sure he won time bonuses offered along the route. The six seconds he collected were enough to give him the leader's jersey on 4 September. Chavanel said in 2007 that he had had offers from foreign teams but

846-477: The 2016 season. In 2018, Chavanel participated in the Tour de France for the 18th time to take the record outright from Stuart O'Grady and Jens Voigt for the most Tour de France participations and was given the most combative rider award for the second stage. On 26 July 2018, Chavanel finished Stage 18 of the race to break the record for most number of stages completed – overtaking Joop Zoetemelk 's 365. Three days later, he tied Zoetemelk's record of finishing

893-471: The Tour de France 16 times and set the new record stages completed number at 369. On the last day of the race, 29 July, he announced he would retire after Tour de Vendée on 6 October 2018. He extended his career to the following week's Chrono des Nations before retiring. Chavanel was known as Chava, Mimosa or Mimo, after a French film character he imitated. In the Dutch-speaking Belgian media, he

940-490: The Tour de l'Avenir behind Denis Menchov and Florent Brard . In 2002 he won the Four Days of Dunkirk and finished third in the Tour of Belgium . He later won both of those races in 2005. On 25 July 2008 Chavanel won the 19th stage of the Tour de France by outsprinting Jérémy Roy at Montluçon . That and other performances brought him election as the most combative rider of the race. On 3 September 2008, he came second in

987-462: The Tour or the Giro, there is a secondary competition on points (e.g. Points classification in the Tour de France ), which tends to be contested by sprinters. Riders collect points for being one of the first to finish the stage and also for being one of the first three to finish an "intermediate" sprint. Sprinters also can get time bonuses, meaning that good sprinters may lead the general classification during

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1034-424: The company name or one of its products. Either side of its first involvement with this team, Omega were sponsors of their Belgian rivals. Deceuninck , a manufacturer of PVC -systems windows, became the primary sponsors from 2019, with Quick-Step Floors remaining as secondary sponsor. At the Tour of Flanders in 2020 and 2021 , the team carried the name of a Deceuninck product line, Elegant, rather than that of

1081-430: The competition to avoid having only a small field still in competition). Meanwhile, the lighter climbers hurl themselves up the slopes at a much higher speed. Usually, the General Classification riders try to stay near the front group, and also try to keep a few teammates with them. These teammates are there to drive the pace—and hopefully "drop" the opposition riders—and to provide moral support to their leader. Typically,

1128-589: The family still live in Aragon. He said: "Last year [2007], when the Vuelta was in Zaragoza , I got to know the cousin of mine using a journalist as the translator and she gave me a picture of my grandfather when he was young. Despite my origins, I hardly know a word of Spanish – just swear words". As a child he played in the garden with models of racing cyclists. He said: Chavanel began cycling at Châtellerault school when he

1175-475: The final three kilometre can be huge pileups that are hard to avoid for a rider farther back in the peloton. A crashed sprinter inside the final three kilometres will not win the sprint, but avoids being penalised in the overall classification. Ordinary stages can be further classified as "sprinters' stages" or "climbers' stages". The former tend to be raced on relatively flat terrain, which makes it difficult for small groups or individual cyclists to break away from

1222-522: The first few stages of a big multi-day event. In NASCAR racing, starting with the 2017 season, races in the top three national touring series are completed in three stages, four in the case of the NASCAR Cup Series's longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 . A stage consists of normal green flag racing followed by a stoppage on a designated lap signified by the waving of a green and white checkered flag, then

1269-456: The first time at Montreveau, in Maine-et-Loire , when he was racing against riders from Bernardeau's Vendée U junior team. Bernardeau and Chavanel agreed that Chavanel would spend another year with his club, AC Châtellerault, which had spent time and money on his training. Bernardeau's assistant, Thierry Bricau, was given the job of providing Chavanel with a training programme. Chavanel rode

1316-448: The leader will attack very hard when there are only a few kilometres to go, trying to put time into his main rivals. Gaps of two and even three minutes can be created over just a few kilometres by hard attacks. In larger stage races, some stages may be designated as "medium mountain", "hilly" or "intermediate" stages. These stages are more difficult than flat stages, but not as difficult as the mountain stages. They are often well-suited for

1363-414: The line—200 metres away is about the maximum—the sprinter launches himself around his final lead-out man in an all-out effort for the line. Top speeds can be in excess of 72 km/h (about 45 mph). Sprint stages rarely result in big time differences between riders (see above), but contenders for the General Classification tend to stay near the front of the peloton to avoid crashes. Mountain stages, on

1410-513: The most championship points) usually equals the other half. The first driver to win a National Series race under the stage race format was GMS Racing Camping World Truck Series driver Kaz Grala who won the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in February 2017 after holding off Austin Wayne Self . Round-the-world sailing races are sometimes held over stages. Notable examples are

1457-616: The one hand, they say they congratulate him on coming forward, [but] their action terminating him for being truthful speaks a lot louder than their words." CyclingNews reported in the same article that the team's claim to have only recently learned of Leipheimer's past doping was according to Tygart "absolutely not true... Leipheimer and a USADA attorney told the team months ago of the investigation, and of Leipheimer's role". Cyclingnews noted that Omega Pharma general manager Patrick Lefevere "had admitted in 2007 to having used doping products, including amphetamines, during his own career". Lefevere

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1504-524: The other hand, often do cause big "splits" in the finishing times, especially when the stage actually ends at the top of a mountain. (If the stage ends at the bottom of a mountain that has just been climbed, riders have the chance to descend aggressively and catch up to anyone who may have beaten them to the summit.) For this reason, the mountain stages are considered the deciding factor in most Tours, and are often attended by hundreds of thousands of spectators. Mountains cause big splits in finishing times due to

1551-585: The overall leader of the Vuelta. He held this jersey until stage 8 where it was taken by Joaquim Rodríguez . In 2012, Chavanel won the Three Days of De Panne and won the French National Time Trial Championships for the fourth time. In 2013, after strong appearances in the Tour de San Luis and the Volta ao Algarve , Chavanel won stage six of Paris–Nice , taking the points classification at

1598-423: The peloton and beats it to the finish line. Typically these stages are somewhere between flat and mountainous. Breakaway stages are where the rouleurs, the hard-working, all-around riders who make up the majority of most teams, get their chance to grab a moment in the spotlight. (The climbers will want to save their energy for the mountains, and the sprinters are not built for hills.) In the big multi-day events like

1645-450: The peloton—there are no big hills to slow it down. So more often than not, the entire peloton approaches the finish line en masse. Some teams are organized around a single specialized sprinter, and in the final kilometres of a sprint stage, these teams jockey for position at the front of the peloton. In the final few hundred metres, a succession of riders "lead out" their sprinter, riding very hard while he stays in their slipstream. Just before

1692-460: The race. Chavanel also won the overall classification at the Three Days of De Panne for the second year in a row, winning the final time trial stage. After five years with the team, Chavanel left the squad at the end of the 2013 season, and joined IAM Cycling for the 2014 season. After winning the National Time trial title, Chavanel went on to win the 2014 Tour du Poitou-Charentes thanks to

1739-406: The second time. In the 2011 Vuelta a España Chavanel held the red leader's jersey for four stages. On stage three, as part of a breakaway, he finished second behind Pablo Lastras which left him second in general classification, 20 seconds behind Lastras. However, on the next stage Chavanel finished just 57 seconds behind the stage winner while Lastras lost over 18 minutes, thereby making Chavanel

1786-424: The simple laws of physics. Firstly, the slower speeds mean that the aerodynamic advantage gained by slipstreaming is much smaller. Furthermore, lighter riders generate more power per kilogram than heavier riders; thus, the sprinters and the rouleurs (all-around good cyclists), who tend to be a bit bigger, suffer on the climbs and lose much time—40 minutes over a long stage is not unheard-of. Generally, these riders form

1833-425: The start of the 2016 season. In August 2015, the team signed Davide Martinelli for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. As of April 2021, the team has won more than 800 races, making it one of the most successful squads in history. With the win in 7th stage of 2024 Tour de France , the team won stages in 12 Tour de France in a row, the longest active streak and second only to TI Raleigh with 17 (1976-1992). The team

1880-469: The strenuous position at the front of the group. The majority of riders form a single large group, the "pack" (in French , the " peloton "), with attacking groups ahead of it and the occasional struggling rider dropping behind. In mountainous stages the peloton is likely to become fragmented, but in flat stages a split is rare. Where a group of riders reach the finish line together, they do not race each other for

1927-491: The team fired their veteran rider Levi Leipheimer after he admitted to doping in a sworn affidavit to USADA . This was despite the team statement that "commended" Leipheimer for his "open cooperation" in the USADA investigation that exposed Lance Armstrong 's long-term cheating in cycling via doping. The team's action was described by USADA head Travis Tygart as "The classic Omertà move, right? Actions speak louder than words. On

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1974-609: The team won a large number of classics: Tom Boonen won Tour of Flanders and Paris–Roubaix , Filippo Pozzato the HEW Cyclassics , and Paolo Bettini the Züri-Metzgete and the Giro di Lombardia . In late 2005 Tom Boonen won the 2005 UCI Road World Championships in Madrid, where Michael Rogers won the time-trial. In 2006 Boonen retained the Tour of Flanders and held the yellow jersey in

2021-401: The yellow jersey from Fabian Cancellara ( Team Saxo Bank ). The following stage was not so good for Chavanel as two punctures on the cobbled roads meant Fabian Cancellara re-took the yellow jersey, however on the Tour's first mountain stage from Tournus to Station des Rousses Chavanel bridged the gap to an early breakaway and rode away to take a famous win and inherit the yellow jersey for

2068-577: Was discouraged from joining them because he was unsure of his pension payments outside France. In July 2008 he said he had agreed with Patrick Lefevere the directeur sportif to join the Quick-Step team in Belgium for 2009. Chavanel said he made his decision to move after riding well in classic races in Belgium at the start of the year. He won Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Brabantse Pijl . He said: During

2115-455: Was eight. He gave up to try football , then went back. He began racing when he was 13. He won 29 races on the road as a schoolboy and a junior. He won the national junior individual pursuit championship in 1997. His uncle, Philippe Raby, a former rider in the Vendée region, recommended him to Jean-René Bernaudeau who was building a professional team based there. Bernardeau saw Chavanel race for

2162-414: Was nicknamed 'La Machine' for his outstanding stamina and determination. Race stage In an ordinary stage of road bicycle racing , all riders start simultaneously and share the road. Riders are permitted to touch and to shelter behind each other. Riding in each other's slipstreams is crucial to race tactics: a lone rider has little chance of outracing a small group of riders who can take turns in

2209-689: Was noted as a strong all-rounder who won both sprints and time-trials, and was a good northern classics rider, taking 45 wins during his professional career. Chavanel was born in Châtellerault, France, although his family roots are in Spain. His great-grandparents were from Huesca, in the Aragon region. His grandfather was born in Barcelona and moved to Châtellerault during the Spanish Civil War . Other members of

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