At some point in July 2008, bored and watching TV at home, I came in contact for the first time with the Tour de France... And I never stopped watching it ever since!
Absolutely astonished with the strength required by the cyclists, and the rythm acquired in the different stages, I started studying every singularity included in this competition.
This way, I learned how groups were formed, and how every team played specific strategies, some aiming to win the general competition, other ones to win the Points race, and so on.
The same happened when I understood how different ground conditions were addressed, in order to reach the finish line with the better physical condition, or how other cyclists sacrificed theirselves going out in front of the group so as to win intermediate points.
Once I learned some of this particularities, I continued watching other competitions, such as La Vuelta a España, Giro d'Italia, Liège-Bastone-Liège and the Paris-Roubaix... and I decided to make my own Tour.
This is how I started working on an agent-based model, which intended to address these behaviours, and generate the basis for a future platform where different group strategies could be tested.
The Tour Model is the result of this development... and in the future will evolve to more complex behaviours and group dynamics!
Here is the link to run the model:
We hope you enjoy it!
