page_title: Climbing specialist
section_title: Types of climbers
hierarchical_section_title: Climbing specialist / Types of climbers
caption_attribution_description: 358 quintana
context_page_description: A climbing specialist or climber, also known as a grimpeur, is a road bicycle racer who can ride especially well on highly inclined roads, such as those found among hills or mountains.
context_section_description: Climbers tend to have a lot of endurance and specifically developed muscles for long hard climbs. They also tend to have a slim, lightweight physique, but some can become good climbers through concerted training.
  The most successful climbing specialists come in different shapes and specializations.  Climbers with very small physique such as José Rujano (48 kg), Nairo Quintana  (58 kg), Roberto Heras  (60 kg), Alberto Contador  (61 kg) and Gilberto Simoni (58 kg) thrive when the climbs reach dizzying heights and incredibly steep slopes where their low weight makes them more efficient and able to put in repeated acceleration runs. Their endurance also makes them good stage race specialists.  Marco Pantani, champion of the 1998 Tour de France, was able to make attack after attack to quickly tire out his opponents.
  The other type of rider or puncheur have similarly small physiques to climbing specialists but possess more power which may give them an advantage in short but steep climbs in races including the Ardennes classics. Examples of such hills include the Mur de Huy in the Flèche Wallonne and the Cauberg in the Amstel Gold Race. Examples of such riders include Julian Alaphilippe, Philippe Gilbert, Paolo Bettini and Danilo Di Luca, who are able to sprint their way up the shorter climbs to win a stage or a single-day race. However, their lower endurance is a disadvantage in stage races where the climbs are usually longer, albeit at lower gradients. Many climbers cannot sprint very well because their relative small size does not allow them to possess the strength of the bigger, more muscular sprinters.
  The last type of climber is the breakaway specialist who can ride aggressively with many attacks and sustain their lead over ascents, descents, and flats. Famous examples include Laurent Jalabert and Richard Virenque both of whom earned their King of the Mountains jerseys in the Tour de France by day-long breakaways amassing points at every summit.  Most notably, Laurent Jalabert started his career as a sprinter but later transformed himself into a different type of rider. Rafal Majka won the Polka Dot jersey at the 2014 Tour de France and 2016 Tour de France in a similar manner.
  Many riders who are primarily time-trialists have also been able to compete in everything but the steepest climbs because of their good power-to-weight ratio. Tour de France winners Miguel Indurain, Jan Ullrich and Bradley Wiggins were primarily time-trialists but were also among the best in the mountain stages during the years in which they won the Tour de France. Likewise, Tom Dumoulin was able to win the 2017 Giro d'Italia by defending the lead he had built in the individual time trial in subsequent mountain stages.
caption: Nairo Quintana climbing in the race leader's Maglia Rosa at the 2014 Giro d'Italia
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 7D", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2016:05:01 17:22:25", "Image ExifOffset": "206", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "842", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "17876", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/2500", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Shutter Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:05:30 16:50:05", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:05:30 16:50:05", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "352741/31250", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "119/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "105", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "12", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "12", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "5184000/907", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "691200/119", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "0580510537", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[24, 105, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM"}