As you can see Frank Schleck is 36 seconds behind of Valverde
But there is a problem, Valverde is constantly pursuing Frank, if I attack him he attacks immediately right away and if I go to the sprint with him, the spanish always wins. The same happens with Cadel Evans.
There are some very skilled players over here who could manage to get the 36 seconds back easily. I'm not one of them, tho, but you can try a gamey strategy if you want to win Cataluña so badly.
You can use the 2 first 3rd category climbs as well as some other intermediate climbs to tire Valverde in a dirty way. Put Schleck protected at the head of the peloton since the beginning of the stage and leave his effort on 55-60. When the first 3rd category climb is arriving, put a nice puncheur at the front of the peloton and start relaying very hard, at about 80, even 90 effort. AI riders will likely try to mantain their position in the peloton and so will Schleck, but to a maximum effort of 55-60. Afterwards he will start losing positions (that's why it was important to be at the front), while Valverde will most likely do a higher effort to stay at the front. The idea is to force his heart rate to be at least 160 bpm for a little while, so he will be losing green bar faster, while Schleck slowly drifts towards the end of the peloton without losing contact.
After arriving to the top of each little climb, stop relaying and let the peloton to regroup and Schleck to recover his position at the front. Rinse and repeat for each suitable climb. Speaking of that, stage 5 was better to try this tactic because of the longer intermediate climbs. Anyways, the point is to minimize your bpm variations while causing Valverde's heart rate to fluctuate a lot.
At the bottom of the last 3rd category climb keep Schleck protected with your 2nd best climber and dot 70-80, the effort needed to drop Valverde without wasting too much energy. If you get to drop Valverde, keep it steady, increase your effort for the downhill and then lower it a little bit on the flat. With luck, the chasing peloton won't be able to catch you there. As you can see, this tactic isn't realistic at all and it is quite gamey, but it works. Good luck.
Edited by Ildabaoth on 03-09-2012 06:22
Disclaimer: The above post reflects just the personal opinion of the author and not a fact. But if you read it, you must accept it as the ultimate truth.
I did what you said and I think that resulted, because Valverde didn't won neither Cadel Evans, they're outside of top 10. Although Paolini won the stage, because Frank is very weak in sprint I think.
So, same 36 seconds to recover and this is the final stage :
Hi just won this Vuelta with Sky and Wigins.
I think the key stage is the 3rd one, with the finish at the top of a climb. This is the one to win.
Before stage 3 I had Wigins at 43 sec of the first one Leon Sanchez.
Tactic used:
1. Froome protect Wigins
2. In the 3rd before last climb, I use 3 riders (Not the best climbers) to relay at ~70.
3. In the penultimate climb, I use 2 good climbers to relay at ~75
4. In the final climb, I put Wigins in effort 75-80, still with Froome in protection, and the other riders are giving-up slowly (At a time Froome give-up too).
5. Then I play with the effort to have Wigins finishing successfully the stage.
After this stage I was the yellow shirt with 3 sec before Sanchez.
Then for all resting stages I do what Valverde is doing in your case, following Sanchez on every attacks.
I wasn't around, so probably you already played the stage. Nevertheless, this stage seems best suited to try to burn Valverde (but to be honest, it is likely he is in great form, so it will be hard). Again, save energy during the whole stage, having Schleck and Fuglsang protected. Some brief hard relays (80-90) from Voigt in the flat parts might tire Valverde a little bit while you leave Schleck to slowly drop to the back of the peloton by using keep position and 55 effort. The problem is, Valverde is good on flat, so you will get just marginal gains. Every bit counts, tho. Relay hard on the 2 3rh category climbs too, using the same principle. At the climb after the second sprint, use Hermans. I think he can last for 8-10 km pulling hard at 85. Finally, the last 3rd category climb is your only bet. Dot 80-85 while protected by Fuglsang and increase your effort for the last downhill. And hope for the best (including a miraculously +5 day form for Schleck).
Disclaimer: The above post reflects just the personal opinion of the author and not a fact. But if you read it, you must accept it as the ultimate truth.
