I decided to get to the bottom of it and done some testing.
Below you'll find the result and pretty surprising , there's no diffrence between protect and follow.
What is explaining this is the fact that going 85 with your stronger rider protected put the rider up front in the red a lot quicker because he his weaker and your are just going faster. Doing the opposite and get the leader to follow the weaker rider at 85 make you go slower therfore having your weaker not blowing out early. (leader going 85 vs domestic going 85, differential in speed)
You save about 5% yelow bar over 10km.
doing a train of 3 is an advantage as each echelon is saving 5%.
Look at the climb time.
You realy save energy when going on very hard effort, you spend alot more but you save alot more.
Stage 17 TDF first climb 9.8km
A Bardet
B Latour
Bardet protected by Latour
Effort 85
Speed ? 24km/h 2:21m
Bardet at the summit 9.8km (yellow 5%)
Latour blow 2.7KM red empty (Bardet is 80% Yellow)
Bardet follow Latour Effort 85
Speed ? 21km/h 2:30
Latour yello bar empty at 9.0km and red empty at 9.8KM
Bardet at the summit : yellow 40% and red 100%
Latour protected by Bardet
Effort 85
Speed ? 24km/h 2:21m
Latour at the summit : 9.8km (yellow 5%)
Bardet at the summit :9.8 (yellow empty, red full)
Latour follow Bardet
Effort 85
Speed ? 24km/h 2:22
Bardet at the summit : 9.8KM yellow empty (red full)
Latour at the summit: yellow 2% and red 100%
Bardet protected by Latour Effort 75
Speed ? 21km/h 2:30m
Latour blow at the summit 9.8KM red empty
Bardet at the summit is yellow 40% and red 100% (Same as follow :first test up above)
Bardet going alone
Effort 85
Speed ? 24km/h 2:22m
Bardet at the summit : Yellow empty 9.8km (red full)
Train: Geniez, Latour, Bardet
Geniez going 90 and blow
Latour going 90 and blow
Bardet going 85 until the summit at 9.8 (10% yellow, red full) time 2:17 sec
Bardet follow Latour
Effort 90
Speed ? 24km/h 2:21
Latour red empty at 4.0 KM Bardet at summit 9.8km is yellow 10% and red 100%Edited by Patb095 on 29-09-2020 11:23
2% to 5% is probably what can make a difference between the first and the 10th place.
I’d say that the physics of the game is pretty good and what apply on flat is exactly the same on climb but the effect is reduced.
This is real time , not the in game time as the in game time is really faster like 1 second in real time could be like 15 second in game time.
Edited by Patb095 on 29-09-2020 15:32
Please note that when I tested in the peloton « stay in place » I kept the peloton steady. In race situation the peloton is having change in pacing frequently.
Edited by Patb095 on 30-09-2020 12:08
2nd
Pulling with the train of 3 rider, leader in 3rd position.
This would avoid change in pace, therfore losing energy.
In increasin order from the lowest to the best saving energy situtation :
1. Protect or follow alone
2. train of 3 rider
3. Dot effort protected in the peloton.
Thank you, good stuff. Looks like the age-old question about follow or protect is settled, they are really equal. The rest makes sense, too. A Sky (or now Jumbo) train is efficient.
I noticed too late in the process to put it in the result but to get an instant quick shot of your strategy being efficient or not you can check the heart rate of your riders.
Pretty useful to know if your train is set in the right order as the rider up front should have the highest heart rate , 2nd 2-3 beat less and so forth.
