I LOST count of the number of times non-cycling friends and colleagues have asked me “if Mark Cavendish is so fast, why doesn’t he just ride off and win the Tour de France?”

The answer to this question is useful as it opens up discussion into the many different nuances within cycling, different types of riders and different types of race.

The phrase “horses for courses” is particularly relevant to professional cycling.

Cavendish - or simply Cav - is widely acknowledged as being the fastest thing on two human-powered wheels.

The sight of the little Manxman crouched over his bars, turning his cranks at a phenomenal rate as he bursts into the last 200 metres of a stage is a sight to gladden the hearts of Brit cycling fans.

When the race is not too hilly and features a flat finish, you can more or less guarantee that Cav will be battling for the win alongside his German rivals Andre Greipel (owner of the biggest thighs in pro-cycling) and Marcel Kittel (owner of the best hair in pro cycling – think Ivan Drago from Rocky IV).

And this last point about hills and flat finishes is crucial as to why Cav (or any other sprinter for that matter) can’t win Le Tour.

Professional cycling is made up of a wide variety of rider types which can be broken down roughly into the following:

Sprinters – In the big stage races like Le Tour these guys are hunting stage victories rather than going for the overall win. They lack the climbing ability to get over the high mountains with the main contenders so will look to just survive when the gradients rise and grab the glory on flatter stages. Peter Sagan of Slovakia and the Cannondale team is a bit of an exception as he loves a bit of an uphill finish. Sprinters to look out for include Sagan, Cavendish, Kittel and Greipel. In Le Tour these guys are battling for the Green Jersey for most sprint points won.

Climbers – Generally very light and wiry, climbers come into their own when the roads start to head skywards. In the longer stage races they plan to stay safely in the main bunch on the flat stages, only coming out to play when the air starts to get thin. Massive time gains can be made in the mountains so you tend to see climbers higher up the overall classification than the sprinters. Current mountain goats to keep your eye on include Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana, Vincenzo Nibali and Joaquin Rodriguez. The leading rider in this category gets to pull on the rather natty Polka Dot King of the Mountains Jersey.

Time Trials – Masters of racing over a set distance against the clock, large amounts of time can be gained or lost during time trials; the longer the trial the more time can be won against rivals. Time trials are particularly brutal events, demanding maximum effort for a sustained period and it is a rare year when a rider not strong against the clock wins Le Tour (Italian climber Marco Pantani was probably the last in 1998). Reigning time trial world champion, Tony Martin, is the best exponent of the discipline, with riders such as Fabian Cancellera and our own Bradley Wiggins and Froome also strong against the clock.

General Classification – The handful of top riders who have a shot of winning the overall event, or at least riding for a top ten spot in the final event. That’s right… of the 180 or so riders who start an event such as le Tour de France, only a few will be trying to (let alone be able to) win the thing.

These are the rare riders who as well as being able to climb the high mountains can also time trial well. Depending on the number of mountain finishes or the number of time trial miles, the winner of the overall (falls and illness permitting) and wearer of the Yellow Jersey in Paris will either be the best climber who doesn’t lose too much time in the time trials, or the best time triallist who doesn’t lose too much time in the mountains.

This is why many are tipping Froome to be a multiple Tour de France winner – he climbs with the best and is among the strongest time trial riders. In fact, many of his strongest rivals are considering skipping Le Tour in 2014 to concentrate on other events such as the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a Espana.

However, a three-week stage race can be an unpredictable beast and even the very best riders are one fall away from a popped collar bone and forced abandonment from the event.

Froome cannot have been happy when the 2014 route was announced and included a stage over the notoriously difficult and dangerous cobbled roads of northern France.

A single mistake by any rider can result in a crash and catastrophe for others and Team Sky will not breathe easy until the first week of the race is negotiated and the mountains come into view.

Tune into this year’s Giro d’Italia (May) or Tour de France (July) and you’ll quickly see that cycling is a sport for a variety of shapes and sizes and that a three-week stage race contains a variety of courses for a number of different horses.