Definition of PELOTON

Did You Know?

If you've ever watched the Tour de France on television, you've seen the peloton, the brightly colored pack of riders making up the central group. You may have also gained some inadvertent insight into the word itself, which as you may have guessed is French in origin. In French, "peloton" literally means "ball," but it is most often used with the meaning "group." It's frequently used in the bicycling context, just as in English, but it can also refer to a group in a marathon or other sporting event. French peloton can also mean "squad" or "platoon," and since we’ve told you that you probably won’t be too surprised to learn that it is also the source of our word platoon.

Examples of peloton in a Sentence

He broke away from the peloton and sprinted into the lead.

Recent Examples on the Web

The first are longitudinal waves, moving back and forth along the peloton, usually caused when a rider slows to avoid a collision or brakes suddenly. — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "What we can learn about crowd behavior by watching the Tour de France," 19 Nov. 2018 Tour organizers said police used tear gas to move the protesters as the peloton approached. — Samuel Petrequin, The Seattle Times, "Tour riders sprayed with tear gas amid protest by farmers," 24 July 2018 Bagnères-de-Luchon, France The peloton has covered more than 1,700 miles over 16 grueling stages at this Tour de France, from the cobblestones of the north to the mountains of the Alps. — Joshua Robinson, WSJ, "The Stage that Could Decide the Tour de France Is Also Its Shortest," 24 July 2018 Sky has uncommon wealth, vast ambition and an ability to stock its roster with riders with the talent to lead any squad in the peloton——all of which has created an unexpected headache. — Joshua Robinson, WSJ, "Team Sky’s Tour Problem: Two Cyclists, Only One Yellow Jersey," 23 July 2018 Looking at how pelotons form is not just about helping cyclists become better competitors. — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "What we can learn about crowd behavior by watching the Tour de France," 19 Nov. 2018 With the headwind, the gas came back to the peloton. — Samuel Petrequin, The Seattle Times, "Tour riders sprayed with tear gas amid protest by farmers," 24 July 2018 Climbers, sprinters, all-arounders, Olympic medalists, Tour de France stage winners, world titlists, new pros and peloton veterans. — James Raia, sacbee, "Seven riders to watch in this year’s Tour of California cycling race | The Sacramento Bee," 11 May 2018 Since Wiggins won in 2012 wearing a Team Sky jersey, the richest team in the peloton has claimed every edition of the race except one, in 2014 when Froome crashed out and Vincenzo Nibali of Italy emerged victorious. — Samuel Petrequin, The Seattle Times, "Team Sky’s dominance at Tour de France set to continue," 30 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'peloton.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.