domestique

Meanings

1. A cyclist on a cycle racing team whose role is to assist the team's designated leaders (for example, by riding in front of them to create a slipstream, or to set the pace), even if at the expense of their own individual performance.

Etymology

Borrowed from French domestique (“domestic servant, maid”), from domestique (“domestic”, adjective), from Latin domesticus (“of the house, domestic; familiar; native”), from domus (“home, house; place of one's birth or residence, native country”). Doublet of domestic.