Types of Road Racing

Road Race:

Road bicycle racing is a popular bicycle racing sport held on roads (following the geography of the area), using racing bicycles.

It is popular all over the world, but especially in Europe. The most competitive and devoted countries are generally thought to be Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland, although Australia, Russia, and the United States also have high international standings, and many other countries in the world have accomplished professional cyclists.

Stage Race:

A stage in road bicycle racing is a part of a multi-day event, such as the Tour de France or the Giro d'Italia. Usually, the race consists of "ordinary" stages (see below), but sometimes stages are held as an individual time trial or a team time trial.

In an ordinary stage, all riders start simultaneously and share the road. Riders are permitted to touch and to shelter behind each other. Riding in each others' slipstreams is crucial to race tactics: a lone rider has little chance of outracing a small group of riders who can take turns in the strenuous position at the front of the group. The majority of riders form a single large group, 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.

Criterium:

A criterium, or crit, is a type of bike race held on a short course (usually less than 5 km), often run on closed-off city centre streets. The length of the race can be determined by a number of laps or a total time, in which case the number of remaining laps is calculated as the race progresses. Generally the event's duration (commonly one hour) is shorter than that of a traditional road race [many hours, sometimes over the course of days or even weeks, as in a Grand Tour], though the average speed and intensity are appreciably higher. The winner is the first rider to cross the finish line [without having been "lapped"], and events often have prizes (called primes, usually cash) for winning specific intermediate laps (for instance, every 10th lap). Success in criteriums requires a mix of good technical skills - in particular, the ability to corner rapidly and sharply — and riding safely with a large group on a short circuit and exceptional fitness to attack other riders and repeatedly accelerate hard from corners.

Track:

Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially-built banked tracks or velodromes (but many events are held at older velodromes where the track banking is relatively shallow) using track bicycles.

Time Trials:

An Individual Time Trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: contre la montre - literally "against the watch"). There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials (TTT). ITT's are also referred to as "the race of truth", as winning depends only on each rider's strength, endurance and determination against the clock.

A Team Time Trial (TTT) is a road-based bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock (see individual time trial for a more detailed description of ITT events).