Stage 1

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Stage 1

Day 2 - Liege-Charleroi ? 202.5Km

Set Up

First, I want to make sure you did your set up right because you use this set up when riding, coaching, or watching any stage race. There are a number of items I have found important and very helpful in working or even just watching any good stage race. These include the Route showing all the daily stages with days of the month, stage number, and distance for each stage; printouts for all of the stages showing the profile with markings for the KOM and road primes (if coaching, I also want to note the feed zones); official start list with the teams and riders for each team; and the daily standings lists.

On the Route, I put notes for the most significant stages and order my most significant stages. For example, for this Tour, I have numbered my top four significant stages and marked the TTT, all mountain stages, and the two TT's because I am watching for GC.

For the profile printouts, I make notes about where attacks will most likely occur based on event format and whether the breaks are likely to win the stage. I use this information to set my daily team strategy and then watch for unexpected events. Along with the profiles, you also need the route maps so you can mark such things as feed zones, if you are coaching.

On the Official start list, I will make notes about key riders and teams before and during the race. I make most of my notes in pencil so I can make changes during the race. Before the race, I like to make notes about riders and teams whom I expect to have to compete against to win the title(s) I am going after. During the race, I make daily notes about riders in the top five to 10 for each title to show where each team will most likely put their emphasis for the next day's stage. These notes tell me what I should expect from each team on a daily basis and I use this information to help set my team strategy for the next stage.

Every day, you get a copy of the daily standings and study who will most likely be expected to make what moves in the next stage AND refer to those standings as the race develops to help understand what a particular coach is up to because all coaches use the standings to help set their team strategy for the next stage and rest of the stage race.

That is all you need to properly manage a team during a stage race or watch it as a spectator. Anything else just adds unnecessary complexity and creates confusion. One of the rules I try to live by which I have found really works best is, ?Keep it simple, stupid.? You keep everything as simple as possible to help prevent confusion and mistakes.

FYI, I have found this to be true with coaching forms also. For example, I have seen some of the forms used or provided to you by some of these coaching or self coaching sites on the Internet. They are too complex providing spaces for needless information which just creates confusion for the rider/coach. In contrast, the free forms that come with my ebook have been created from 35 years of racing and coaching with each form having a specific purpose and only recording the information required to help achieve that purpose. You will find the training tools are all simple, easy to use, and based entirely on function. They work great for both competitive and recreational cyclists. You should keep your racing information tools the same way. Keep out the needless information, keep it simple, and decrease the potential for mistakes or ?Keep it simple, stupid.? J

Race Analysis

The stage started with the first attack at the four kilometer mark because there were three KOM primes in the first kilometers of the stage. The peloton permitted this group to escape and gain significant ground up to over 3 minutes in order to use the break to control the peloton and discourage further attacks. This keeps the pace much more steady for the day saving legs and decreasing the potential for crashes.

The five riders who were in this break, Voigt, Bettini, Renier, Tombak, and Eisel, took advantage of this to fight for the KOM primes, and try to win the stage, all of which will greatly increase their income potential for next year and increase their potential of getting a more favored position on a team which can provide you with increased opportunities for winning more races instead of just being a domestique for the rest of your life. That is why these riders fight so hard for the subtitles and stage wins. Just to briefly lead a subtitle or win a stage provides your sponsors with more exposure and gets you more opportunity to provide them with even more exposure by winning more significant races. Sponsors really like that because that is what they are paying you for.

Cancellara started the stage with the Yellow Jersey and his FAS team let the break go up the road until just after the first road prime. Note that they wanted the break back in before the second road prime because the best placed rider in the break, Voigt, started the stage only 11 seconds down on Cancellara and each road prime provides the winner with a 6 second time bonus. Winning just two road primes would have put Voigt in the lead by one second over Cancellara so FAS brought the break back in before the second road prime and Cancellara was able to pick up a few time bonuses himself to protect his lead and keep the Yellow Jersey for one more day providing his sponsors with more exposure. We call this paying rent.

After the road primes, the sprinter teams began to control the peloton and keep it together for the final sprint. These teams will drag race at the front until one team takes control just before the sprint. At that point, the sprinters for the other teams will start jumping into the line behind the dominant leadout team. The sprinters fight for position and wait until they think it is the right time to start their sprint making tactical adjustments every second. Suddenly, it all comes down to a powerful drag race between the fastest and strongest sprinters.

I want you to notice how these pro's work this system. They try to get into a break when it is just leaving the peloton. They don't like to expend too much energy by bridging minutes up to a break unless it gets late in the stage race because they know that bike racing, and especially stage racing, is mostly energy efficiency. If they don't make a break today, they quietly sit in the peloton saving energy for tomorrow or work for the team. If they do make a break today, they will ride hard to make it a winning break and to do the winning themselves, they will rest the next one or two days in the peloton, and try to make another break. They don't waste energy trying to race hard in every stage or doing things that are stupid.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow's stage, Charleroi ? Namur, is relatively flat and 197 kilometers long. There is one cat 4 KOM prime at 7 kilometers, one road prime at 53 kilometers, and the rest of the primes are after 120 kilometers. Most likely, there will be a very early break to win the stage either just before or just after the first KOM prime. They will probably let it go up the road unless there is someone in the break who is too threatening to some one else. FAS will probably want the break back in before the 120 km mark, control the peloton down to just before the last road prime, and then the sprinter teams will take control for the last road prime and final sprint. If the break stays off, the peloton will work to bring it back in until they realize it is too late at which time the sprinter teams will set up to sprint for the pack finish.

Watch for riders like Hushovd to attempt to make the early break for a stage win. It will be more fun. See you back here tomorrow.

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