"When they're young and dumb, they don't care if they hit the ground" - Lance Armstrong on what makes successful sprinters

Lance Armstrong was never a top sprinter, but having spent many years in the peloton alongside them - specially at the Tour de France - the American has seen what makes a successful sprinter, and one specific detail which sees the fast finishers lose their competitive edge.

"So these dudes at the end of the race that are sprinting at 40 plus miles per hour, rubbing elbows, bump and grind and you can sprint at 40 miles per hour," Armstrong said in a recent interview. "When 200 guys are going for the line, it's like NASCAR, right?

"And so, but when they start having kids, like without naming names, I mean 'kid one' they go from first to third to seventh because they lose that fearlessness, that sort of gladiator just like 'fuck it, whatever it takes to win, I don't care if I hit the ground'. When they're young and dumb, they don't care if they hit the ground."

Whilst the rule does not apply to all riders, there is definitely a pattern in which the successful sprinters are emerging younger and younger in the current peloton; as well as sprinters who come from other disciplines of cycling.