I do not usually ride with breakaways, but when I ride with a breakaway no one does the pace and if I set my rider to normal relay he'll stay in front the whole time. What can I do?
This is making problem to me also,what is optimal effort for riding at breakaway,i mean changing every kilometer etc,i really cant find it out,sometimes its just too strong and my rider keep pushing by himself,sometimes he just does not go so hard. Btw,if i dont work anything and i am preparing for attack,sitting in E1 with 70% effort and E1 is even going slower than that effort (because if i press relay i would stay there for a long time) i just start losing time from them. Any "tutorials" for that? Thanks
You shouldn't relay at 65-75% in the breakaway, normally.
If you want them to relay too, you have to relay on about 50%.
Otherwise, it could be an option that the rider is a stage/GC favourite..
TTspecialist wrote:
This is making problem to me also,what is optimal effort for riding at breakaway,i mean changing every kilometer etc,i really cant find it out,sometimes its just too strong and my rider keep pushing by himself,sometimes he just does not go so hard. Btw,if i dont work anything and i am preparing for attack,sitting in E1 with 70% effort and E1 is even going slower than that effort (because if i press relay i would stay there for a long time) i just start losing time from them. Any "tutorials" for that? Thanks
I've found that in breakaways if you don't want your rider to relay the it's better to set him to relay at a low effort not hold position at a higher effort.
The tactic I find most effective is sending not one, but two riders into the breakaway. Let your weaker rider pace the group as long as he can while the stronger rider rests within the group, and then take over with your stronger rider towards the end.
Not sure how well it works on flat stages, but it's working well for me on hills and mountains.
First, only certain riders can join a breakaway. If you have someone in the top 10 of GC or someone who is considered a stage favorite, the breakaway won't work with you and the peloton will speed up until you are caught.
Once you get a rider into the break though, they group will usually use a tempo around 70 effort until a sufficient gap is created ~3 minutes, then will drop the tempo down to around 50. I normally will set my riders to about 72 while in the escape part, then down to 52 the rest of the time.
Next any mountain or sprint point will probably be contested, if you don't care about these, the best thing to do is just put your rider on sprint follow (for sprint points) or follow attack for KoM points. (On KoMs the riders may attack several times so you may need to do this several times) In both cases the sprint/attack happens at about 1.5 km away from the point.
Lastly in the last 3rd of the race the pace will pick back up, you can again go up into the 70s to help relay, and when the time gap gets cut down to about a minute expect some of the breakaway riders to attack trying to avoid getting caught.
For the whole event though, like what sammyt93 said, if you don't want your rider to do work, it is best to set him to relay at a very slow tempo (I normally use 30). He will just stay at the back of the group with this. But set him back on Hold Position with a higher effort shortly before sprint or KoM points because being at the back can make getting onto an attack or sprint much more costly, catching a rider as he goes by is far more effective and often won't cause you to use any red bar at all.
I do not fully agree with Kentaurus' advice on mountain sprints. In my experience, it takes much less energy to use the dot (75-85%) for a controlled ride to the top and, if needed, a very short attack to keep up or take the points. This way, your rider won't go into the red and you won't be dropped either.
Blueprint wrote:
I do not fully agree with Kentaurus' advice on mountain sprints. In my experience, it takes much less energy to use the dot (75-85%) for a controlled ride to the top and, if needed, a very short attack to keep up or take the points. This way, your rider won't go into the red and you won't be dropped either.
excellent advice! if you dont need the mountain or sprint points and just wanna go for the stage win its way better to just DOT back to the group. 9 out of 10 times the group will slow way down after a sprint anyway and you can dot back on going at like 70%
i would say that relaying at low effort is a really dumb way to stay with the group. alot of people dont understand how the "hold position" button really works. set your rider to the MAX effort level you want him to put out, then hold position. your rider will use THE LEAST amount of energy possible to maintain his position up to the effort level you set for him. so a rider in a break should "hold" at slightly above the pace of the other riders to ensure he wont get dropped but also wont overwork himself. to relay at a low effort is a great way to get dropped when youre not paying attention. you will also wind up using more effort than just sitting on "hold"
everything else Kent said tho was right on the money. breaks are scripted and it just takes knowing which one is the "real" breakaway that day.
top 10 of all time in no particular order, not including the cannibal cause hes automatically #1:
-Gemininani -Nencini -Anquetil -Coppi
-Kelly -Hinault -Zabel -Bettini -Rebellin -Magni
..and honorable mention to Tom Simpson whos career was cut short.
Top 5 noobs most likely to tear it up this season:
-Phinney -Moser -TJ -Guardini -DURBO!
