page_title: Domestique
section_title: Evolution of the domestique
hierarchical_section_title: Domestique / Evolution of the domestique
caption_attribution_description: English: Jan Ullrich and Udo Bölts crossing the Vosges mountains together in the 1997 Tour de France.
context_page_description: In road bicycle racing, a domestique is a rider who works for the benefit of his or her team and leader, rather than trying to win the race. In French, domestique translates as "servant". The use of the term dates back to 1911, although such riders had existed before then.
context_section_description: The UCI points system changed the relationship between domestiques and leaders. Previously, domestiques were not concerned with their finishing order.  However, riders now get points for their finish position. This presses domestiques to also consider their own performance in addition to their leader's.
  The 1990s saw the introduction of radio communication, allowing managers to assign tasks to domestiques wherever they are on the road. The influence of radios on race tactics is a topic of discussion amongst the cycling community, with some arguing that the introduction of radios in the 1990s has devalued the tactical knowledge of individual riders and has led to less exciting racing. In September 2009, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing body of pro cycling, voted to phase in a ban on the use of team radios in men's elite road racing. Finally radio found its undisputed place in peloton for good and, as some races with imposed radio ban proved, the ban changed nothing in racing tactics.
caption: Udo Bölts (right) riding as a Domestique for Jan Ullrich (the eventual winner) during the 1997 Tour de France. [12]
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