Road racing tactics question

[Cunego22]

I see the dudes on Versus talk about the cycling teams and some guys "working for" the team leader. What I don't get is how does one person's actions contribute to the abilities of the other. So when the leader gets a flat tire and the teammates drop back to help him get back to the peloton, are they just setting a pace for him to match? Is the draft that big a thing that being protected makes a tangible difference? I am a casual rider who is totally ignorant to this, any explanation would be appreciated.

 

[Eden]

Yes! drafting and especially riding in the pack does let you save a lot of energy.
One of the ideas is to make your opponents work harder and tire themselves out more. So if my team sends a rider out on a break my team does nothing to chase down that break - its up to the other teams to do the hard work and chase down the person out front. If they can't or choose not to chase down that person my team wins. If they do chase then when the break is caught my team still has fresh riders. What we need to then do is immediately attack again - then all the other tired teams will have to chase again - tiring themselves out more.

If I have a sprinter on my team then the job is to get the sprinter to the finish with the pack - then give them a good lead out (and to be sure to be the ones chasing down any break aways so that there is a sprint finish). If I have a climber on my team I would want to get the climber to the base of that climb without having to to much work. If its a stage race and I have the leader on my team then the team should protect that person and make sure that no one close to the lead is able to get away.

This is all pretty basic, but I hope it makes sense and explains a little.

 

[carpediemracing]

There are sites that explain this thoroughly but it's easier to point out a few thoughts:

1. The most resistance a rider feels is from the wind. It's not rolling resistance, friction in drivetrain etc.
2. An illustration of this is the fact that the world record speed when drafting a vehicle is 152 mph. The record for a streamlined bike is something along 83 mph. And the fastest flat sprints in still air are somewhere in the 43-45 mph range.
3. Therefore any time a rider is sheltered from the wind, they save a lot of energy. If you could draft a truck and had the right gears, it would be highly probably that you could maintain 50 mph for a short time - but if you were on your own, you'd never be able to do that.
4. Problem is if the sheltering riders don't get out of the way - the rider who is saving energy is stuck where they are if the riders in front of them don't get out of the way..
5. A teammate is ideal to block the wind because they will have the same overall goal (team wins) so will move out of the way if necessary.

One place this doesn't help as much is on steep climbs where the rider is slowed most by gravity. This is not the case on the fast climbs where pros will climb at 40 kph or so, because wind resistance becomes significant again.

The other time it doesn't help is on rough roads (cobbles). Cobbles offer so much rolling resistance that sheltering from the wind is not as helpful as it is on smooth surfaces.

If you want to experiment with something other than bikes, try driving a lane over from the back of a big truck. Then, without adjusting your throttle, move over behind the truck. You'll find yourself accelerating even though you didn't do anything with the throttle.

Conversely, drive behind a truck, then pull out to pass without changing the throttle position. You'll find the car slows as it gets buffeted by the wind.

Virtually all tactics evolve from the combination of wind, hills, and rough surfaces. Racers have a limited amount of power and energy so they need to use it when it can make a huge difference.

hope this helps
cdr

 

[sogood]

One of the ideas is to make your opponents work harder and tire themselves out more. So if my team sends a rider out on a break my team does nothing to chase down that break - its up to the other teams to do the hard work and chase down the person out front. If they can't or choose not to chase down that person my team wins. If they do chase then when the break is caught my team still has fresh riders. What we need to then do is immediately attack again - then all the other tired teams will have to chase again - tiring themselves out more.

Read that and understand it in principle. But what happens when all 10 teams in the peloton have the same tactics? Wouldn't it just be a continuous series of attacks?

 

[JAPANic]

Read that and understand it in principle. But what happens when all 10 teams in the peloton have the same tactics? Wouldn't it just be a continuous series of attacks?

That's when the teams with the best chess players have the best chance of winning...the smart teams will know (guess) which teams are wasting more energy and have some trik up their sleeve... they'll all put on faces of agony and pretend they're going to give up... they'll say things like '**** this... or they may pretend they are in no pain at all...tht means they are about to give up...

I've been practising hiding the fact that I'm out of breath lately.... look cool breath through your slightly opened mouth and try not to make any whelping noises...smile like you just got out of a shower....

You or your team need to be an actor, an athlete & a Rhodes scholar...all in one...

 

[Eden]

Read that and understand it in principle. But what happens when all 10 teams in the peloton have the same tactics? Wouldn't it just be a continuous series of attacks?

Yeah that can happen, but often there are a few people from various teams in any break - it is really hard to do a solo break -which is why they usually make a big deal of it when someone wins like that. None of those teams will participate in chasing that break unless they have a really good reason to want to bring the race together again - say they have the leader in a stage race and the break is too far out for comfort. In a pro race where they can communicate a rider up ahead may just sit in and not help the break so that if someone can bridge then they will be fresh to help that person. Sometimes a team will intentionally send someone up with the idea that they will be caught later. Usually you'll see this on a mountain stage. A break will go early while its still fairly flat and start the climb before the peleton. When everthing starts to split the rider who is the climber will bridge up and then has a team mate to help make the pace for a while. They use that team mate until he/she's tired and falls off then go out on their own.

Teams usually have different strengths too - sprinters teams usually will try to wait to chase down a break until the last minute. They want the race to come back together so close to the finish that there is no chance for someone to launch another attack. Its pretty amazing how well they can time it.

But of course this is all in the realm of the pros. Down at my level - it usually is a series of attacks. In general one of them will work eventually, though this year the teams have been better orgainized and seem to be coming in with more tactics than just ride as hard as you can.... People do seem to be making fewer tactical errors too - less chasing of ones own team mates and more thought about who is in the race, who on your team stands the best chance of winning and who you need to watch on other teams. My last few races its been my team and one other pretty well controlling the races - mainly because we have the numbers to do it. (when you are there alone or with only one or two team mates, unless you are very strong your best bet is to sit in and just try to cover breaks, hopefully you'll get into a successful one) One team has a very strong sprinter, but the rest of the team is not so strong, so they have been doing a lot of sitting in. It's hard on them when my team and the other large team launch a lot of attacks so we've been doing just that. If we can keep the pace high we can wear down the strong sprinter and probably get someone off the front, rather than having to go head to head in a sprint. It's been working good so far. We're going to be getting into hillier races though and she won't be a threat anymore. She's big and strong, but can't climb at all.