What is the best way to climb the mountains with your team?
The way i usually do it is:
Protect my leader from the start of the race.
Protect my second best climber from the start of the race.
I protect 2 other good climbers from the start of the race
When the first protectors get tired, i set the 2 good climbers to protect my leader and my second best climber.
And on the final climb i protect my leader with my best climber.
But on youtube movies from multiple people (like benji or timowski) they set their best climber to follow (sprint follow) their second best climber.
Their second best climber follows the 3th best climber
And so on.
The Second option looks the most like the sky train, but which option is the best to save as much yellow as possible?
- how hard is the stage in general
- how hard is the last mountain
- how steep are the gradiants
- is it more of a steady or a sticky climb
- how good your rider is compared to the opponence
- what is the ratio of mountain to hill of your rider
- with how much energy does a rider approach the climb
- the quality of your domestiques
I individually choose between the 2 tactics you mention and a third, very sticky tactic
A Sky-Train type of way works the better the steadier the mountain, the more energy is left in your riders and domestiques, the easier the race was before, the better your leader and your domestiques are.
A protecting type is better the stickier the climb is, the worse your helpers are, the more you are an underdog type of rider, the harder the race is. With this you should be very careful in terms of the general effort you put your main leader in, to make sure he doesn't burn out too fast.
The third type of riding works best with punchy climbers (Gaudu or Pozzovivo f.e., in my recent save I got Pozzovivo to finish 2nd on extreme at the Giro basically by pushing this type of tactic to the extreme) 1-mountain stages, a sticky climb and good domestiques. In this you ride the steepest parts very hard, by burning your helpers on a 90+ effort. The main aim is to make sure that your opponents try to follow you and burn out while doing so, as you bet on your superior hill stat. Don't attack this style, just make them crack on these parts. Make sure that you don't loose any of your yellow bar then on more flatter sections, meaning that you could even ride them on sth like 60 effort, just to up the pace ferociously on the steeper parts again.
I hope that helped you. I guess you tried the first two tactics frequently, hence less explanation on them. If you have more questions, feel free to ask.
- how hard is the stage in general
- how hard is the last mountain
- how steep are the gradiants
- is it more of a steady or a sticky climb
- how good your rider is compared to the opponence
- what is the ratio of mountain to hill of your rider
- with how much energy does a rider approach the climb
- the quality of your domestiques
I individually choose between the 2 tactics you mention and a third, very sticky tactic
A Sky-Train type of way works the better the steadier the mountain, the more energy is left in your riders and domestiques, the easier the race was before, the better your leader and your domestiques are.
A protecting type is better the stickier the climb is, the worse your helpers are, the more you are an underdog type of rider, the harder the race is. With this you should be very careful in terms of the general effort you put your main leader in, to make sure he doesn't burn out too fast.
The third type of riding works best with punchy climbers (Gaudu or Pozzovivo f.e., in my recent save I got Pozzovivo to finish 2nd on extreme at the Giro basically by pushing this type of tactic to the extreme) 1-mountain stages, a sticky climb and good domestiques. In this you ride the steepest parts very hard, by burning your helpers on a 90+ effort. The main aim is to make sure that your opponents try to follow you and burn out while doing so, as you bet on your superior hill stat. Don't attack this style, just make them crack on these parts. Make sure that you don't loose any of your yellow bar then on more flatter sections, meaning that you could even ride them on sth like 60 effort, just to up the pace ferociously on the steeper parts again.
I hope that helped you. I guess you tried the first two tactics frequently, hence less explanation on them. If you have more questions, feel free to ask.
Cheers!
Great response! I'll try it out in a couple of days when my classics rider develops into a Grand Tour winner-caliber climber! :-)
- how hard is the stage in general
- how hard is the last mountain
- how steep are the gradiants
- is it more of a steady or a sticky climb
- how good your rider is compared to the opponence
- what is the ratio of mountain to hill of your rider
- with how much energy does a rider approach the climb
- the quality of your domestiques
I individually choose between the 2 tactics you mention and a third, very sticky tactic
A Sky-Train type of way works the better the steadier the mountain, the more energy is left in your riders and domestiques, the easier the race was before, the better your leader and your domestiques are.
A protecting type is better the stickier the climb is, the worse your helpers are, the more you are an underdog type of rider, the harder the race is. With this you should be very careful in terms of the general effort you put your main leader in, to make sure he doesn't burn out too fast.
The third type of riding works best with punchy climbers (Gaudu or Pozzovivo f.e., in my recent save I got Pozzovivo to finish 2nd on extreme at the Giro basically by pushing this type of tactic to the extreme) 1-mountain stages, a sticky climb and good domestiques. In this you ride the steepest parts very hard, by burning your helpers on a 90+ effort. The main aim is to make sure that your opponents try to follow you and burn out while doing so, as you bet on your superior hill stat. Don't attack this style, just make them crack on these parts. Make sure that you don't loose any of your yellow bar then on more flatter sections, meaning that you could even ride them on sth like 60 effort, just to up the pace ferociously on the steeper parts again.
I hope that helped you. I guess you tried the first two tactics frequently, hence less explanation on them. If you have more questions, feel free to ask.
Cheers!
I’m using an hybrid tactic between your 1st and second tactic. On the previous climb I do a train with 3 climbers and I got on dot effort with my leader back in the pack with my second best climbers that are both protected by the 2 domestic left. As I damaged the peloton I reorganized my team with the riders left keeping the hybrids tactic until last climbing where I use my best protected by my second best rider.
Edited by Patb095 on 21-08-2020 14:40
