Stage 14
July 20 Lavelanet - Beziers 171 km
Before we discuss today's stage, I want to address an issue I have
been forgetting to discuss because I was so disappointed about the
tactics used (or not used) by ONCE which a site reader reminded me
about. Since the Team Time Trial, I have been discussing that I felt
ONCE should have not defended the Yellow Jersey for six days of flat
road racing before the first mountain stage and what it would
probably do to the team and its ability to win the race.
When you look at how competitive ONCE is now with two riders in the
top three on GC and two more in the top ten, you know they have the
climbing strength to be competitive with USPS. But anyone who has
towed the peloton for any reasonable distance knows that towing the
peloton for six days covering 935 kilometers (about 585 miles) will
take a lot out of your legs. This is especially true for chasing at
speeds of from 25 mph to over 30 mph.
The question we have to ask here is how much stronger would they now
be, how much more competitive would they now be, and how much better
tactics could they now use if they had not spent all those days
towing the peloton all those miles to defend the Yellow Jersey in
the flats? It is not a matter of if that towing decreased their
performance in the mountains but how much did it decrease their
performance in the mountains.
This stresses the importance of what I have been teaching you about
learning to understand course and event formatting and the strategic
implications presented by it. Bicycle road racing is a matter of
energy efficiency, especially stage racing. Within any given period
of time, any given rider can only expend a given amount of energy.
If you expend that energy in the wrong way at the wrong time in the
wrong place, you will not have that energy to expend in the right
way at the right time in the right place and you WILL lose the race,
especially in stage racing.
That is why we develop strategies and tactics, to make sure we
expend the energy in the most efficient way possible. That is why I
also keep stressing that every one should study and practice proper
riding discipline because you don't want to waste energy with bad
riding habits. Energy wasted with bad riding habits is just as
wasted as energy wasted with bad tactics. It is not good energy
efficiency and, therefore, is not good bike racing.
The significance of energy efficiency is why I keep stressing such
things as course analysis, event formatting, strategy and tactics,
riding discipline, and other things. The better you learn these
things and the better you get at these things, the better you will
be at winning bike races, especially stage races. DON'T NEEDLESSLY
WASTE ENERGY!!! Every use of energy should have a purpose, whether
for training or racing. THAT is smart bike racing.
For example, if you are using a race for fitness development, you
will get a better workout if you decrease the energy you waste with
bad riding habits because good riding habits will make more energy
available for when you want to attack, sprint, or do other training
techniques in the race which will result in a better quality
workout. Learn good bike discipline.
Now, in all fairness to the ONCE coach, the decision to defend the
Yellow Jersey too early in the race and for too long is not always
made by the coach. This is one of the things I hate about bike
racing. Some times, the sponsors and/or team manager make the coach
use tactics the coach knows are wrong because they want to milk all
the publicity they can out of an event not realizing that by getting
"greedy" for press exposure, they actually decrease their potential
press exposure by losing the event because they wanted their cake
and wanted to eat it also. You can't have both and must make a
decision. You will either get a lot of exposure by winning the race
or get less exposure by leading the race too soon and then losing
the race.
The intelligent decision is to go for the win and get the most
press. But, some times, the sponsors and/or manager are insecure or
not confident in their team so they don't believe the team can win
and they insist on using the wrong tactics causing the team to lose.
In other words, the team gains the lead, the sponsors and/or manager
are afraid the team MAY NOT be able to regain the lead if they lose
it, so the sponsors and/or manager force the coach to hold the lead
at the wrong time for "some exposure" causing the team to lose the
race and more exposure.
Unfortunately, the coach has to do what the boss tells him to do or
he gets fired. All too often, he still gets fired anyway because he
lost the race using the tactics he was forced to use by the sponsors
and/or manager. It is all too often a lose-lose situation for the
coach because of bad sports management by people who don't know what
they are doing making the decisions for the coach.
The obvious truth is that ONCE would definitely be stronger now and
be able to use better tactics now IF they had not spent those six
days in the flats towing the peloton for hundreds of miles before
the mountains. This is the second time ONCE has lost the Tour in the
last three years using that stupid tactic of defending the Tour in
the flats following the Team Time Trial. Will those decision makers,
regardless of who they are, ever learn? I bet USPS hopes they
don't....along with a lot of Americans. :-)
Yes, as an American, I want Armstrong to win but I also want to see
a better battle. As a coach, I hate bad bike racing.....unless it is
done by my competition against me. Then it makes me look better than
I really am and I love it. :-)
For today's stage, the KOM racers and those wanting a stage win went
on the offensive in the first 4 kilometers of the race. USPS decided
to use this break as a control group especially when the best placed
rider in the group was Jalabert at over 17 minutes down on GC. (The
more time you can lose to a break, the easier you can chase and the
less the chase will tire your legs.) USPS knew that the eventual
control of this break would be taken over by some team which did not
want their top rider dropped down on GC so USPS permitted the break
to grow large and fast. Remember that fifth place is always
threatened on GC before first place.
Finally, with Rumsas in Threat of being dropped from fourth on GC,
Lampre came to his rescue and brought the break back down enough to
ensure that Jalabert would only move up to nineth on GC. USPS was
able to limit the damage to their legs by using the break, which was
racing for KOM and a stage win, as a control.
And I keep hearing novices say those subtitles and stage wins are
meaningless. With out them, it would be many times more difficult
for a team to defend the lead in GC. Anyone who tells you the
subtitles and stage wins are meaningless and refuses to learn to
read them is telling you they are clueless about bike racing. Just
think about how much better the coverage would be for the Tour de
France if others also covered these subtitles and stage wins the way
I do. Wouldn't that be nice?
Jalabert continued on the offensive for the KOM Title gathering all
the points he could. The rest of the riders in the break were there
for a stage win because they knew the sprinters' teams would (1) not
want to chase all day for points for the Points Title and (2) were
willing to permit those points to be absorbed by a break so they
didn't have to ride so hard the day before the most significant
mountain stage in this year's Tour. They took advantage of this and
went on a long break and fought it out for the stage win.
Did you notice that, at one point, Jalabert let the winning break go
and set back to rest and save it for tomorrow's climb? He wants to
finish that climb as well as possible so he doesn't lose too much to
anyone on points for the KOM Title. The title was more important
than the stage win. Good move. To have good tactics, you must have
priorities. You can't chase everything. Go for what you are most
likely to win and leave the rest for others to fight over.
Did you notice the big movement in Team GC? That one break with a
big gap made a big difference in the standings moving Cofidis ahead
of USPS into a podium spot and Banesto ahead of Kelme and within
reach of USPS and a podium spot. Some day, your team may find itself
racing for Team GC. Learn from these guys how to quickly move up.
One big break can do wonders.
Did you notice that Jacky Durand got disqualified for hanging on to
a vehicle during yesterday's stage in the mountains? That moved
Dierckxsens into the podium spot for the Combativity Title and means
that FDJ now only has Cooke fighting for a podium spot for the
Points Title and Vogondy fighting for a podium spot and maybe the
win for the White Jersey. You can bet that FDJ will put more effort
into the fight for the White Jersey tomorrow.
The only other worth while movement on the standings is that McEwen
is now tied with Zable for the Points Title. This is really turning
into a good battle AND you should know that McEwen is getting in
tactical trouble because he has lost two team mates who normally do
his leadouts while Telekom is still at full strength with nine
riders. This could determine the out come for the Points Title. Keep
those cheat sheets updated and handy.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow is the single most significant mountain stage and,
possibly, the most significant stage for the Tour this year. Lodeve/Mont
Ventoux is the second longest stage in the Tour this year at 221 km
with the first 200 km (125 miles) flat. There are two road sprints
for points before the only categorized climb at the end of the
stage. Either the sprinter teams will want to fight for these points
or will permit a break to absorb those points so they don't have to
go hard before the 21 km climb up Mont Ventoux. Watch for a break
for Combativity points or even some one hoping to be far enough off
to get the stage win.
If the break doesn't happen, the sprinter teams will be forced to
ride hard for the road sprint points because Zabel and McEwen are
tied and we are getting close to the end of the race with only one
really flat stage left in the Tour this year. Also, if there is no
break before the sprints, watch O'Grady try to break away to get
those points. If there is a break, O'Grady may join it to get those
points.
Watch the battle for the White Jersey to develop tomorrow. This is a
promising battle. You need to keep an eye on Basso (FAS), Nozal
(ONCE), Vogonday (FDJ), and Zubeldia (EUS) and their teams. This
could be fun.
Let me teach you a common technique for pro teams to use in setting
strategies when considering going for a stage win. They will often
sit down with their team the night before with the standings sheets,
look for riders who are riding strong enough to win a stage but are
far enough down on GC to present no threat to the top GC riders, and
tell certain riders to go for tomorrow's stage win. This is because
the peloton is more likely to permit a break to get off and gain
ground if there isn't anyone in the break who is a threat on GC and
smart teams will use such a break as a control. Who will try to go
up the road is normally planned out in advance.
Did you notice that most of the riders who tried for the break in
today's stage were good climbers because the first part of the stage
was in the mountains? It was planned by all those teams to send
those riders off the front today.
I keep getting emails from readers telling me how great my tactical
analyses are and that there isn't anyone out there, including OLN,
who is providing anything like what I am providing. People, I really
appreciate (and like) your complements and the fact that you are
learning and enjoying what I do but this is also an opportunity for
you to get better bike racing coverage from the other media and not
just for the Tour.
I have learned that the single biggest reason for the lousy coverage
is that the producers, editors, and journalists are so clueless
about what is really going on in a peloton that they don't KNOW
there can be better coverage much less what that coverage should
look like and what it should include.
Don't just email me telling me that you love my coverage and that it
is the best you can find (of course do that because it is really
nice :-)). You need to be telling all this to the other media and
you should be using my coverage as an EXAMPLE of the kind of
tactical analyses you WANT to see about the Tour and other bike
racing. Tell them about my site so they will be able to read it an
see what really goes on in bike racing and that there really is a
lot of information to be presented to you, the fans. They will be
able to realize they can do better coverage and what that better
coverage should include ONLY IF they can see an example of that
better coverage AND will only be motivated to even just consider
doing better coverage if you, the fans tell them you want this kind
of coverage.
You should have realized by now, with the kind of tactical analyses
you have seen on this site, that, with the right information feed, I
can do a blow-by-blow tactical analyses of a bike race the way US
announcers like John Madden do for sports like football, baseball,
and basketball. Could you imagine me doing a televised blow-by-blow
coverage of a two hour professional Criterium or road race? You need
to tell them you want that.
You also have to understand that I cannot do this for you because,
if I contact them, they will only think that I am trying to promote
myself and not the sport. If you contact them, they will know that
you are telling them what YOU want to see and they will know that
the first medium to provide that service will get the market share
for that service and, therefore, the profits. You must tell them
what you want. I can only be here as an example of what you want.
