Catching a breakaway

Tony said:

So I am amazed that the peleton can catch a breakaway that has a 10 minute
lead.

Why? Given roughly the same level of individual ability, a larger group
will always eventually catch a smaller one thanks to more drafting. But
sometimes the finish line intervenes :-)

--
bpo gallery at http://www4.tpgi.com.au/users/mvw1/bpo

Tony said:

I have been hooked on to watching Cycling.

What amazes me is that a breakaway can occur, now some of these breakaways
get a 5 to 10 minute lead.

I am talking elite tour riders, now these guys are super fit, all of them
are.

So I am amazed that the peleton can catch a breakaway that has a 10 minute
lead.

It´s amazing just how hard the the peloton can go when they want to but its not that amazing i dont feel when they catch a breakaway. Breakaway´s can be doomed right from the start and riders in it will know. Alot of the time they are let go because the riders are up there getting airtime and advertising the teams sponsers. Depending on what teams/team are chasing and what for they will have lots of reasonably fresh riders, who have saved energy riding in the bunch, mostly out of the wind, whoes job it is to get on the front and ride a bloody fast tempo to catch a breakaway. Instead the breakaway have been going as hard as they can most of the race, they have been out in the wind taking lots of turns each and are hurting big time.

A good example like at the Tour for instance would be a flat stage for the sprinter´s. Maybe the peloton let a break of 5 or 6 guys go then the break eventually gets a lead of 8 mins to 10 mins. Now the sprinters like McEwen, Boonen, Petacchi (not to mention other sprinters) think ok i want this stage under control they will just send team mates to the front who then really give it full gas taking turns off the front. Some of these teams will have 7 or 8 guys ready to do this, now add to that 3 or 4 other teams contributing riders and working together you have alot of horsepower there to mowdown the breakaway. Teams do mess it up though and breaks make it all the way but mostly the break is kept in some sorta check. Its really more amazing if breakaways make it to the finish.

I know this might be difficult but if you ever get a chance watch last years Paris Tours race. Won by a constant attacking Dekker in a breakaway. It was pretty amazing and probably the best racing moment of the year. Teams not taking enough control, some unwilling to work, attacks, a crash, lots of drama .

or read the race report

oely said:

Its really more amazing if breakaways make it to the finish.

Yeah. It's even harder for breaks to succeed in the tour (compared to
club racing) because the teams _know_ how far up the road the break is
and often how good the breakaway riders are. Win in a break in the tour
you are a legend! 🙂

You will often hear Phil and Paul talk about the 10k/10min rule(?). I
think that if the break has less than 10k's to go and the peloton is
more than 10min behind - the break will likely succeed? (someone correct
me if you know the theory).

Club racing doesn't have the radios, tv coverage, team directors and
race intelligence to be able to control the breaks so much. Once the
break is out of sight it has a better chance than a tdf break does.

hippy
- sticking with bunch sprints from now on 😉

quote='hippy'oely said:

Its really more amazing if breakaways make it to the finish.

Yeah. It's even harder for breaks to succeed in the tour (compared to
club racing) because the teams _know_ how far up the road the break is
and often how good the breakaway riders are. Win in a break in the tour
you are a legend! 🙂

You will often hear Phil and Paul talk about the 10k/10min rule(?). I
think that if the break has less than 10k's to go and the peloton is
more than 10min behind - the break will likely succeed? (someone correct
me if you know the theory).

Club racing doesn't have the radios, tv coverage, team directors and
race intelligence to be able to control the breaks so much. Once the
break is out of sight it has a better chance than a tdf break does.

hippy
- sticking with bunch sprints from now on 😉[/QUOTE]

Are there crit racing circuits with a hill that could create some sorta winning selection? Im hoping to get into some as low a grade as possible racing when/if i return to Aus and i can´t sprint for [censored], will this mean id never stand a chance of winning? or will i need to pay off some stronger riders to get in a break with me?

oely said:

Are there crit racing circuits with a hill that could create some sorta
winning selection? Im hoping to get into some as low a grade as possible
racing when/if i return to Aus and i can´t sprint for [censored], will this
mean id never stand a chance of winning? or will i need to pay off some
stronger riders to get in a break with me?

one word.. one hill.. Kew... oh and they sprint up the hill to the finish :|

Not much chance of tonights Kew crit going ahead, hasnt stopped raining
for about 15hrs and there is no clear sky in sight 🙁

cheers,
GPL

oely said:

Are there crit racing circuits with a hill that could create some sorta
winning selection? Im hoping to get into some as low a grade as possible
racing when/if i return to Aus and i can´t sprint for [censored], will this
mean id never stand a chance of winning? or will i need to pay off some
stronger riders to get in a break with me?

If you can't sprint, racing crits is gonna mean lots of losing. But,
hey, I'm supposed to be able to sprint and I lose all the time!! 😄

There's always winter road racing where power/weight is much more
important for the hilly circuits. Leaner, stronger climbing type guys
often 'tend' to do better in these.

Kew Crits, assuming you're returning to Melbourne, have the largest hill
of any of the circuits I've seen. Nyadale Drive (I think) has a [censored]
uphill finish too.

hippy

quote='hippy'oely said:

Are there crit racing circuits with a hill that could create some sorta
winning selection? Im hoping to get into some as low a grade as possible
racing when/if i return to Aus and i can´t sprint for [censored], will this
mean id never stand a chance of winning? or will i need to pay off some
stronger riders to get in a break with me?

If you can't sprint, racing crits is gonna mean lots of losing. But,
hey, I'm supposed to be able to sprint and I lose all the time!! 😄

There's always winter road racing where power/weight is much more
important for the hilly circuits. Leaner, stronger climbing type guys
often 'tend' to do better in these.

Kew Crits, assuming you're returning to Melbourne, have the largest hill
of any of the circuits I've seen. Nyadale Drive (I think) has a [censored]
uphill finish too.

hippy[/QUOTE]

The Oakville course that Parramatta CC uses has a bit of up and down - usually a small break will get away (though not a solo break). You don't always need hills though, Heffron Park seems to get its fair share of successful breaks/splits when it's windy. The course is quite exposed to wind and splits in the bunch can get hard to close down.

When I think back to last year, I won a C-grade race at Marconi with a break of three that took off around a lap and a half to go (about 5km per lap). It wasn't super hilly, but it had a bit of up and down.

Ahh, past glories...

Ritch