What kind of sprinter are you? Understanding the key strengths of Tour de France fastmen – and how to beat them - Australia News Beep

Sprinting: one cyclist sees it as a necessary evil, while another treats it almost as an art form. There may be no facet of cycling that divides the cycling world quite like sprinting. But whatever you think of it, sprinting is an important part of cycling performance. And we’re not just talking about sprinting for the competitive rider, such as those fastmen currently competing at the 2026 Tour de France.

The non-racing cyclist is rarely averse to a cheeky sprint for the next landmark either — the town sign, the café, the top of a rise. (In much of Europe, it’s practically a ritual: the dash for the town-name sign at the edge of each village. But wherever you ride, every group has its own unofficial finish line.) If you’re tired of always finishing last in those, you really ought to find out what kind of sprinter you are. Because with that knowledge, you can try to bend the sprint to your will and, for once, be first across it.

Before we run through the different types of sprinters, first, a quick word on what sprinting actually involves – sprinting is about speed, not power. Power is a means to achieve high speed, but so are low weight, low rolling resistance, and good aerodynamics. On top of that, the power you can produce depends not only on strength but also on the speed at which you turn the pedals. Still being able to deliver your force at a very high cadence requires excellent coordination.

Power, strength, lower weight, and coordination can all, of course, be influenced by training. But the extent to which is unfortunately limited. As the saying goes among exercise physiologists, you can turn a sprinter into a decent climber, but you can never turn a climber into a sprinter. (I’d also advise you to steer well clear of drinks with exercise physiologists, but that’s beside the point.)

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This is because a true sprinter needs to be born with a substantial amount of fast-twitch muscle fibres (type 2). If you have them, you’ll still need to train them. It’s worth knowing, though, that ‘type 2’ isn’t one single thing but a spectrum: the intermediate type 2a fibres are more fatigue-resistant and sit close to the endurance fibres, while the pure fast-twitch type 2x (or 2b) fibres are the most explosive but also the quickest to tire. Where a rider sits on that spectrum shapes what kind of sprinter they are — as we’ll see. And it’s not as if a track sprinter isn’t working hard at their sport. But if a climber type were to follow the same training regime, with lots of strength training and specific sprint work, the improvement would be very limited.

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This is a type of sprinter you wouldn’t expect to lose to at first glance. This rider isn’t all that explosive: peak power and acceleration over the first metres are nowhere near those of the power sprinter or the aero sprinter. But this sprinter has very little drop-off and can sustain a sprint for a very long time. This type, therefore, wants to make the sprint as long as possible because in a short sprint, they will always lose to the more explosive types. These sprinters often have a relatively large share of intermediate type 2a muscle fibres – those in-between fibres we met earlier, sitting somewhere between pure endurance fibres (type 1) and pure fast-twitch (type 2x) fibres.

Lidl - Trek team's Danish rider Mads Pedersen celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the 4th stage of the Tour de France (Photo by Jeff PACHOUD / AFP)

Pedersen punches the air after clinching stage 4 of the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)

This is a sprinter who relies above all on coordination. Track riders in the endurance disciplines, such as the omnium or points race, tend to be very good at this. Like no one else, they can keep accelerating in the same gear simply by spinning a very high leg speed. Even when everyone in a sprint is at top speed in their biggest gear, this sprinter can raise the cadence once more and keep accelerating.

The only option this cyclist has against genuine sprinting firepower is, first of all, to make sure the race is hard enough before the finale. The competition needs to be thoroughly worn down first. The sprinters with lots of type 2 fibres, who depend heavily on their carbohydrate stores, must already have burned deep into those reserves. And if that works, the next task is to arrive solo. No easy assignment, in other words.

This is where the aerobic engine quietly decides on sprints. A rider blessed with both genuine finishing speed and a big aerobic engine can sit in the bunch all day at a far lower relative effort – sparing their precious type 2 fibres and, crucially, their limited glycogen stores. Everyone lines up in the final kilometre with the fast-twitch fibres they were born with, but not with the same amount left in the tank. The rider who’s been floating along at 60% of their ceiling all day will beat the equally fast rider who’s been clinging on at 85%, almost every time.

Mathieu van der Poel is the clearest example: an enormous aerobic capacity paired with a real sprint, so that on a brutal, selective day he simply arrives fresher than the pure fastmen and out-drags whatever is left of them, or holds off the bunch completely like on stage 9. Wout van Aert is cut from the same cloth (injury keeps him out of this year’s Tour), and Mads Pedersen wins many of his finishes the same way, such as stage 4 into Foix. The lesson for the rest of us: a bigger aerobic base doesn’t only help you finish the ride – on any hard day, it’s the difference between contesting the sprint and being a passenger to it.

Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Premier Tech sprints to the finish of the Tour de France (Photo by JASPER JACOBS / BELGA MAG / Belga via AFP)

Van der Poel powers to the line on stage 9 of the Tour, doing just enough to hold off the peloton (Image credit: Getty Images)

You explode off the wheel, and you’re gone in the first few seconds, but you fade if it drags on past 10 or 12 seconds? You’re a power sprinter – or, if you’re light and keep pulling at very high speed, an aero sprinter. Keep your sprint short and ideally slightly uphill.You’re never the fastest to react, but somehow you’re still there at the line while the quick starters come back to you? You lean towards the deceptively slow sprinter – make the sprint as long and honest as you can.When everyone else is maxed out in their biggest gear, can you find another notch just by spinning faster? That’s the speed sprinter’s coordination – don’t be afraid to keep the gear rolling.You only ever win when the road kicks up for a minute or two? You’re a puncheur – choose your finish and forget the bunch kicks.You get shelled the moment things go fast, but you can ride almost anyone off your wheel over a long, hard day? Embrace the diesel – make it brutal and go alone.

As explained, how good you can become at sprinting – and what type of sprinter you are – ultimately comes down largely to natural talent. That said, with plenty of talent but zero sprint training, you’ll never become a sprinter. And even without much natural gift, training your sprint is still worthwhile. You’ll become a better sprinter regardless, but you’ll also train all your muscle fibres with a maximal effort, improve the coordination of your pedal stroke, and your bike handling will improve by leaps and bounds. Sprint training brings far more benefits than just being first to that town sign – or whatever your group’s unofficial finish line happens to be. Make the most of it!