At a point in the race it was clear that we were really under represented in the front of the race... With so many of us tired from VA or those crits it was not gonna be that easy... But i was feeling confident and zac was very motivated... It had been hard and obviously to me with only 30 minutes to race it was the time to make the race...
There had just been a regroupment and i looked around and made eye contact with zac... Its nice to be able to that ans know thats all it takes to be on the same page... I knew that he knew that i was going to drill it hard all the way into the hill and try to snap it so that he could make the resulting group... So thats how it happened.. But the problem was that i thought roman was also close but he wasnt..and with his level of fatigue he was needing to directly on the wheel to follow an attack... So then we ended up with the right guy in the wrong move with 2 sierras...
It was a lap later that i knew that we would need to make a chase group with no sierra so that one of the sierras in the break would have to commit to making the huge effort to keep us from coming up, thus lessening their numerical advantage... It was better to make that pressure on them than to allow them to have two guys that could win... It was a way that we could keep a foot in the door for zac... rather than have the door be closed by the numerical advantage...
So then, the decision that i had to make was weather or not to just go and make the effort to cross when we were close... I think i should have... But i would have paid a lot for it... And i would have HAD to win... But i wasnt feeling like it was right to ride over top of zac in his own race... So it was going to be good enough just to have mitchell make the sacrifice for jackson... He did, in order to keep me away.. And that left zac to deal with jackson on a more even field...
A bit of tactics for you... And why its not bad to chase your teammate...
Sent with my Treo 650
8 comments:
hey erik,
thanks for being a total pro when I was sittin on. you'd just come right through without any lip. you're all right. too bad i didn't have the gas to be of any help... Your tactical analysis was right of course. And ride to win not to place (unlike some teams...)
Never mind doing commentary - you should be a coach. You understand tactics so well (as long as you don't come down too hard on yourself). Hell, I'll be your PR/webmeister/gofer is needed.
On a side note, I met some great Saul fans at the Tour de Georgia (I 'worked' as a traveling marshall). Saul does have some die-hard fans, including myself now. I talked to some of his teammates and soigneur, and he is even well-liked by his team - yep I speak fluent french.
Thanks for sharing. Was wondering what was going on with the chase group cause it went from fifteen then got within five seconds at one point then went back up to twenty right after that.
It is cool to have the tactics story because everytime I hear a stories from people who can actually write/speak clearly and intelligently about tactics, I learn a ton for myself as a racer
The best part was when the webcor DS told Ben he to do what he needed as BV was not going to make it across. Meaning drop Jackass or Zaxby, or attack. Then 5 seconds later Ben was almost OTB. I told him way to race for 3rd. That was a clasic Webcor tactic.
at that point we were all jacked because it was going to be tough to beat jackson even in a 3 man even contest... but yeah... i think webcor was lacking a little confidence...
gen (local guy)... you made the right move to be there for the second chance sweepstakes... bernard was a little too preoccupied with getting you to work and not focused enough on riding hard himself... i told him to quit hassling you actually...
they all did the same thing to my man pat at morgan hill.. they had 3 or something in the winning break and they thought more of hassling pat who was alone than of winning... and they went from 3 up to all getting dropped and not even making the podium...
at a point in cats hill too they had 4 in a move and didnt drill it like mad men... there was me alone and some local good amateurs and two sierras.. i thought that it was good for them to drive that... but they were thinking otherwise i guess...
webcor, see hamburger tactics
The problem with teams like Webcor, is that they gain reasonable success when the have good motivated riders, and then without those riders, they feel confident but, they think too much. I mean, the only reason those guys would sit on so much is to get a breather so they could get back thinking what they are going to do next, wgich is going to be sit on.
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