eprintid: 34996
rev_number: 18
eprint_status: archive
userid: 3114
dir: disk0/00/03/49/96
datestamp: 2024-06-24 11:30:21
lastmod: 2024-06-24 11:30:46
status_changed: 2024-06-24 11:30:21
type: workingPaper
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Matthes, Julian
creators_name: Piazolo, David
title: Don’t Put All Your Legs in One Basket: Theory and Evidence on Coopetition in Road Cycling
subjects: ddc-330
divisions: i-181000
keywords: Coopetition; Free-riding; Diversification; Coordination; Sports Economics
abstract: Road cycling races, although won by individual riders, are a competition of teams. Riding behind other riders significantly reduces the energy required to hold a given speed. These races thus provide free-riding incentives. We introduce a game-theoretic framework of this strategic setup to analyze a team’s winning probability in various race situations and to examine group characteristics facilitating coordination. We complement our theoretical results with an empirical analysis using data from more than 40 seasons of professional road cycling races. Our model suggests that asymmetry in rider strength or team strength within a group is favorable for group coordination. Also, adding teammates to competing groups is beneficial because it leads to strategic benefits, increasing the free-riding opportunities in both groups. We find empirical evidence that a teammate in a group behind has a positive impact on win probability, indicating that such an effect indeed exists.
date: 2024
publisher: Universität
id_scheme: DOI
id_number: 10.11588/heidok.00034996
schriftenreihe_cluster_id: sr-3
schriftenreihe_order: 0751
own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-349965
language: eng
bibsort: MATTHESJULDONTPUT2024
full_text_status: public
series: AWI Discussion Paper Series
volume: 0751
place_of_pub: Heidelberg
pages: 51
citation:   Matthes, Julian ; Piazolo, David  (2024) Don’t Put All Your Legs in One Basket: Theory and Evidence on Coopetition in Road Cycling.  [Working paper]     
document_url: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/34996/7/Matthes_Piazolo_dp751_2024.pdf