Road racing bicycles are designed with the performance of the bike being the primary objective, as such there is nothing on a race frame / bike that doesn’t need to be there. Clearances are kept to a minimum although reasonable, as the shorter the tubes are the more rigid and lighter the frame will be, there are no provision for mudguards, brakes are short reach caliper brakes.
Again with performance in mind race frames are predominantly built using carbon fibre, although cheaper race frames are manufactured in aluminium, steel and titanium are also used but as steel and titanium frames are generally a little heavier and a bit less rigid steel and titanium tends to be more often used for sportive frames.
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