“Menare” is not an exercise of violence and “closing the hole” is not done with the asphalt: small guide to the fundamental expressions to understand a race
Cycling, like every year in May, has entered the homes of Italians. The afternoons with the tour on TV, for those who can afford them, are beautiful: it is a story that lasts three weeks, sometimes with a surprise ending. Listening to TV and radio, reading sites and newspapers, the language of cycling is discovered, which speaks in its own way. Here some examples, in order not to lose the compass, feeling that a wingman “is leading to close a hole and allow the train to go into action”.
bidon escape
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A great classic, paratrooped between us by black and white cycling. The bidon escape is the attempt to earn paradise in one day, it is the crazy hand hand with which it becomes a leader chip. It works like this: some men without rankings go on the run and the group lets it. The perfect scenography is a stage of the plain, with 40 degrees in the shade and a lot of malavoglia in a group. Men on the run earn minutes – as always – but for one reason or another they do not forgive them. And at least one of the fugitives enters the standings like this. The Swiss Carlo Clerici, in 1954, won a tour with a bidon escape.
train
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Series of cyclists from the same team who, like wagons, lined up at the head of the group in the last kilometers of a stage. Why do they do it? They pull for their reference sprinter, held as much as possible to the wind. When he was there (Cipollini, of course), the trains arrived on time: his red train to the Saeco is probably the most famous ever.
fool
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This is intuitive but not so simple. “Lowing” is a close relative of “wheel”. Let’s say to wheel to save every 0.1% of energy, useful for shooting in the final or – less epic but more realistic – avoid delivering to cramps. Lowing obviously is easier to say than to do, so the limiter is forced to balance to jump from wheel to wheel, go up the group, move to the right or left so as not to take wind. And for this he is one of the least loved characters by colleagues.
Eat and drink
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It is not a snack of the 16 to be consumed on the roadside and has nothing to do with the legendary Mangiabevi Ferrara, the 80s basketball team with a curious name from a brand of fruit juices. In cycling, “Eat and drink” indicates the valleon stages – another technical term – that is, with many ups and downs, non -terrible climbs, descent, lines. If you want to go on the run, it’s ideal.
close the hole
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Fine maintenance operation, to be carried out without asphalt (even if, with certain Italian road holes, that would also be comfortable). A cyclist closes a hole when he shoots to reach a rival who took advantage, thus reducing a detachment that could increase. Particularly useful in the last kilometers because, if the hole does not close, those who have the advantage goes to the finish line.
bend
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Activities to be performed violently, but not in the imagined sense. A Mena cyclist when he puts himself on the head of the group and pulls decisively, accelerates to increase the rhythm. Above all, those who are in the face of the group suffers because, if they cannot accelerate accordingly, it breaks out and accumulates, slowly (or even strong strong), more and more detachment from the first.
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