Definition: the main body of riders in a bicycle race

Riders in competitive races move in flocks for a reason: the front riders break the wind and those behind don’t have to work so hard to keep up. As they rotate, this allows for a much higher average speed for the group. A lone rider would quickly become exhausted trying to maintain a similar pace. They have to stay very close together for this to work well, and good riders know how to hold a very straight line and not wobble slightly to the right and left, as most recreational riders do.

In French, this group is called the peloton, and that word has become the English term as well. It came into English with the meaning “the main body of riders in a bicycle race” in the mid-20th century, but the French word was originally less specific; it meant simply “a group of people” and then “a group of soldiers.” This was the meaning that was first borrowed into English in the 1500s, when it was slightly altered as platoon. Thus, the same French word was borrowed twice into English, with different meanings and spellings.

Peloton was used of the main group of riders in a horse race before it was transferred to cycling.