In any sport, racing is where the demands on an individual's strength—and the display of that strength—are most apparent.
Whether it's cycling, running, or swimming, you can see exactly what an athlete is made of with your own two eyes.
While road cycling is technically a team sport, it's nothing like soccer or basketball.
A top-tier midfielder can set up a teammate for a perfect one-on-one with the goalie, or a star point guard can deliver a pass for a wide-open layup. If the teammate then shanks the shot wide or clanks the dunk off the rim, you can't say the midfielder or point guard played poorly.
But road cycling is a different story.
If a Core Commander's support riders have burned themselves out to escort him into a winning position, but he ultimately gets outsprinted by another team's leader and suffers a bitter defeat, it's purely a matter of his own strength failing him. There's no arguing that.
