Tactics

I’m a fan of clever racing and tactical nous, so I like to watch the pro riders that take a chance and shake up the status quo a little. If nothing else, it makes for good watching.

So what tactics may work?

Sometimes teams need to look at something different and thereby risking a little to make things happen. Maybe work over the race by setting a high tempo over the climbs to shell all but the contenders, therefore isolating the race leader or favorite. Once they are isolated one/two them with repeated attacks on the flat sections, forcing them only to chase.

Generally a team or rider needs to look at the conditions, terrain, competitors or other factors that may help a certain tactic. When this is combined with various strengths of the team or rider, a specific tactic can be designed.

Some Historic Examples:

Tour de France Stage 9 2013 – Garmin Sharp

On this stage Garmin set a ferocious pace with Jack Bauer and David Miller escaping, stringing out the bunch in chase. Once caught though, Garmin repeatedly attacked and forced the pace, quickly isolating Froome entirely from his team mates.

This is where I think the

main contenders dropped the ball though. Here were 30 riders with only Froome left from Sky. There was a significant amount of flat terrain, so the main GC rivals and teams should have attacked him on the flat, forcing him to chase and eventually putting time into him. Instead they waited till the main climb (where there is no benefit from drafting for the others to capitalize on) and attacked him on his favorite playground. All he needed to do was up the pace and this discouraged attacks, limiting any losses. Opportunity lost (although Garmin scored a deserved stage win).

Here’s a video on how Team Garmin purposefully planned for this stage

Tour de France Stage 17 2006 – Doing A Landis

This stage may forever be referred to in future using the words of George Bennett: “doing a Landis” when he referred to Froomes exploits on stage 19 of the 2018 Giro. The example by Froome is also worth looking at as team sky goes all in with planning, timing and their nutrition strategy.

The original “Landis” example of this is the infamous Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France. This tactic utilized the terrain with the stage profile was either going up or down, therefore enabling a strong individual to ride as fast as a group…e.g. no flat terrain for drafting to assist. Note in the video that Landis had allowed a rider 28 minutes down on GC to gain 30 minutes on a stage a couple of days earlier and how that worked out for him on the next couple of days.

Stage 13 2013 – Using Crosswinds

To use Crosswinds to your advantage, you need to be paying attention to the course and it’s likely wind direction. Here are a couple of examples:

Here crosswinds isolate Froome and the others capitalize on it (especially Contador) on stage 13 of the 2013 Tour de France.
Maybe Contador had learnt his lesson on Stage 3 of the 2009 Tour…. where he was schooled by none other than Lance Armstrong. Fairly straight forward, but taking advantage of a situation as it happens on the road.

Great Tacticians to Watch

While you are looking for classic races or rides to watch on the trainer, some of the best riders to search for would be:

Alberto Contador – One of the best riders to try and shake things up and do things outside the box. Often during the Paris Nice or Vuelta he would be less conservative.

Vincenzo Nibali – From making the most of the cobbles during the Tour to using descents to his advatage, Nibali is a joy to watch.

Jumbo Visma – This team has done some interesting things this year, from Paris Nice early in the season to isolating Pogacar in the Tour de France to Roglic at the Vuelta.

Laurent Fignon – Old school, class act and willing to take the race to them.

Chris Horner – Always a thinker, Chris Horner wrote the book on tactics…literally.

Remco Evenepoel – Clearly a very strong rider, but he also uses his head to make the most of his strengths and isolate the opposition.

So when you are watching those big pro races or even another grade at the club race, look to see what tactics are used and if you may be able to employ them in the future.

References

YouTube

How the Race was Won YouTube Channel (My favourite: discussing pro race tactics)
The Butterfly Effect with Chris Horners YouTube (Discussing pro race tactics)
Lantern Rouge YouTube (Discussing pro race tactics)
FitlabTV Tactics Playlist (Miscellaneous clips of tactics and tactic lessons)

Tactics – Thinking Outside The Box

Tactics

So what tactics may work?

Some Historic Examples:

Tour de France Stage 9 2013 – Garmin Sharp

Tour de France Stage 17 2006 – Doing A Landis

Stage 13 2013 – Using Crosswinds

References

YouTube

Books

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