pelotons

Noun

peloton (plural pelotons)

1. (cycle racing) A group of riders formed during a cycling road race; especially, the main group of riders; the pack.
   • For the most part, though, the good stuff did not come in following a break of three riders, nor sitting 20 metres in front of the peloton watching its arrow head glide across the plains of south-west France. It was at the back of the peloton, in the engine room, where things really got...2006 July 15, “Tour de France 2006: Life is rarely dull among the bottle-carriers and peloton pushers”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived...
2. (historical) Synonym of platoon (“a small group of soldiers”) or section (cognate with the former; not invariably synonymous with it, depending on century of use).
   • And so here, I suppose you intend to make a stand against your followers, Ranald—voto a Dios, as the Spaniard says—a very pretty position—as pretty a position for a small peloton of men as I have seen in my service—no enemy can come towards it by the road without being at the mercy of cannon and...1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VI, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume IV (A Legend of Montrose), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for...

   Synonyms:

   platoon