A puncheur or puncher is a

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most com ...

who specialises in rolling terrain with short but steep climbs. The ideal races for this type of rider are one-day spring classics (making them classics specialists), which are characterized by multiple

hills A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as mountains. Hills fall und ...

with a 10–20% gradient and are 1–2 km long. Examples include climbs at

Liège–Bastogne–Liège Liège–Bastogne–Liège , also known as ''La Doyenne'' ("The Old Lady"), is a one-day classic cycling race in Belgium.Cycling Weekly, UK, 13 March 1993 First run in 1892, it is the oldest of the five ''Cycling monument, Monuments'' of the Eur ...

, the Mur de Huy in the Flèche Wallonne and the Cauberg in the Amstel Gold Race, which comprise the Ardennes classics. Puncheurs can be well built, with broader shoulders and bigger legs than the average racing cyclist (able to produce high overall power over short time periods) - for example Wout van Aert (78kg) or Peter Sagan (78kg) or smaller, lighter riders (able to produce a higher power/weight ratio over that same time period) - for example Paolo Bettini (58kg) or Julian Alaphilippe (62kg). The physique of this type of rider allows them to escape from the peloton through quick bursts, sometimes with the assistance of a teammate. Examples of such racers include Paolo Bettini,

Philippe Gilbert Philippe Gilbert (born 5 July 1982) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is best known for winning the 2012 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two rid ...

, Julian Alaphilippe,

Alejandro Valverde Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (born 25 April 1980) is a Spanish cyclist, who competed as a professional in road bicycle racing from 2002 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2022, and now competes in gravel cycling for the Movistar Team Gravel Squad. During ...

, Simon Gerrans, Joaquim Rodríguez, Peter Sagan, Wout van Aert and

Mathieu van der Poel Mathieu van der Poel (born 19 January 1995) is a Belgian-born Dutch professional Cycle sport, cyclist who rides for the UCI WorldTeam . He competes in the cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, mountain biking, Gravel cycling, gravel and road bicyc ...

, who are able to sprint up the shorter climbs to win a stage or a single-day race. Often these racers have had a career in mountainbike or cyclocross racing, where there are many shorter but steep climbs. However, their lower endurance is a disadvantage in stage races where the climbs are usually longer (5–20 km), albeit at lower gradients (5–10%). In stage races they often work as domestiques for team leaders, reeling in breakaways, or go on the attack to force rival teams to expend energy to chase them down.

Notes

Further reading