Macquet wrote:
I'm just saying he was having a hard time and was worried about achieving his goals. It is tool that you have available why not use it if you think you might need that little edge.
Speaking of training camps. How does those interfere with the training schedule the riders are on?
I'll probably use camps for those events where I suck. That is hilly races and mountain finishes. Sprints, TTs and Cobblestones are going well.
I just won the Giro with Voigt. Granted, I got lucky, because Cunego (who would otherwise have won) crashed on a mountain descent on stage 14 or so (don't remember the exact one) and never recovered losing more than 30 mins the rest of the way.
What I did is use Voigts strengths, i.e. I'd gain time on most of my key rivals (Cunego, DiLuca, Montfort and Contador to a degree) in the TTs. He was in top shape - 98% through most of the Giro. Obviously I wasn't a strong as Cunego or Contador in the mountains, so I tried to get time in on my rivals in the hilly stages. You can often get some time there. The key is to be close to the front of the peleton when you near the end of such a stage with one or two of your teammates forming a train. You can then attack if the hill is long enough and you can't start sprinting yet. This will give you a jump on the others for the sprint.
Another way to get time on your rivals is in stages that end at the bottom of a descent. Someone like Voigt is at least as good in descents as the others. Attacking on a descent doesn't use up a lot of your power and allows you to get 30 sec to a minute on others.
In the mountains conserve energy. Don't attack. Follow the favourites. Don't counterattack the first move that goes. In my case I saw Contador and Cunego as my key rivals. This meant that if anyone else attacked, I'd let them go. Often, Lampre or Astana would ride on the front and bring those guys back. If Cunego or Contador attacked, then I'd follow (if I had enough left). The key is to minimize your losses, because you know you won't gain time on them in an uphill mountain finish. Occasionally, you'll find that even "the best" have a bad day, miss a break, etc. The key is for you not to have any.
Kirchen is a great hill rider, so make sure you get time there and minimize your losses in the mountains. Some favourites always crash in a Grand Tour, that should help you as well, as long as you don't crash.
In a hilly TT, use more power the steeper the uphill and conserve energy on the DH. Sometimes I fall behind by 2 mins, in the first half, but catch up on the finishing uphill. The bi differences are made in the uphill.
Came through April with two classics win (Paris - Roubaix and Fleche Wallonne) and with two other podiums. So we are doing well.
Next task is my sponsors's objective to win a stage in the Giro. I had put all my cards on Cavendish to do that, as I couldn't spend my climbers in the Giro. Cavendish, however, got injured after a turbulent fall in the Schjeldeprijs and will not be back until early june - which makes his tour de france in doubt as well (depending on the form he has when he returns).
And still wondering about the rest of the season plan, as 'usual' amount of riding in the spring campaing plus the coming grand tours - means that my riders will get more than the 40 (youngsters)/60 races a year that I have seen recommended. Comments here suggest that I shouldn't take much notice to that, however...
Gonchar wrote:
Next task is my sponsors's objective to win a stage in the Giro. I had put all my cards on Cavendish to do that, as I couldn't spend my climbers in the Giro. Cavendish, however, got injured after a turbulent fall in the Schjeldeprijs
Well. That went well. In with my strongets time triallists to take the opening Team Time Trial - Mission accomplished
lechia wrote:
I just won the Giro with Voigt. Granted, I got lucky, because Cunego (who would otherwise have won) crashed on a mountain descent on stage 14 or so (don't remember the exact one) and never recovered losing more than 30 mins the rest of the way.
What I did is use Voigts strengths, i.e. I'd gain time on most of my key rivals (Cunego, DiLuca, Montfort and Contador to a degree) in the TTs. He was in top shape - 98% through most of the Giro. Obviously I wasn't a strong as Cunego or Contador in the mountains, so I tried to get time in on my rivals in the hilly stages. You can often get some time there. The key is to be close to the front of the peleton when you near the end of such a stage with one or two of your teammates forming a train. You can then attack if the hill is long enough and you can't start sprinting yet. This will give you a jump on the others for the sprint.
Another way to get time on your rivals is in stages that end at the bottom of a descent. Someone like Voigt is at least as good in descents as the others. Attacking on a descent doesn't use up a lot of your power and allows you to get 30 sec to a minute on others.
In the mountains conserve energy. Don't attack. Follow the favourites. Don't counterattack the first move that goes. In my case I saw Contador and Cunego as my key rivals. This meant that if anyone else attacked, I'd let them go. Often, Lampre or Astana would ride on the front and bring those guys back. If Cunego or Contador attacked, then I'd follow (if I had enough left). The key is to minimize your losses, because you know you won't gain time on them in an uphill mountain finish. Occasionally, you'll find that even "the best" have a bad day, miss a break, etc. The key is for you not to have any.
Kirchen is a great hill rider, so make sure you get time there and minimize your losses in the mountains. Some favourites always crash in a Grand Tour, that should help you as well, as long as you don't crash.
In a hilly TT, use more power the steeper the uphill and conserve energy on the DH. Sometimes I fall behind by 2 mins, in the first half, but catch up on the finishing uphill. The bi differences are made in the uphill.
Yep, on my first Career i did i picked Cofidis (I like Chavanel and didn't have the updated DB with him on QS =]) I got 3rd in the TDF with Chavanel just but being very careful and conservative and gaining small bits of time here and there where none of the other favorites attacked like on hilly or rolling stages or on stages that finished with a decent since Chavanel is quite the descender, Really as long as you probably have a rider with 76-77 or higher in both mountain and TT and you play to their strengths with a little luck you should be able to get a top 5 overall and a stage win or two i'd say
