11 tips to make you a better crit racer

Don’t get excited too early

The opening 15 minutes of the race will always be fast and furious with attacks and breakaways. A famous saying goes: “He/she who pedals the least, wins the race.” The intuition being that attacking off the front from the gun feels good, but it doesn’t maximise your chances of victory; rather it lessens them.

A great tip is to sneak out to Glenvale crits on Sunday morning (for Melbourne-based readers), and watch Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge). He is one of the smallest guys in the field, who should be getting smashed by the bigger, stronger guys and yet he always manages to slip into the right move at the right time. He makes one big attack, and he makes it count.

It takes great patience to wait until the last third of the race to start your attacks, but the feeling when you ride away from your legless competition is worth waiting for.

Attacking

If you are going to wait out the first half of the race, and have one or two big attacks late in the day; you want to make them count. This time it’s all or nothing. Don’t attack from 40 or 50 riders down, and don’t attack from the very front either.

You want to be sitting around 10-15 wheels back, with the highest speed you can muster up so that you can get a good gap from that acceleration. Wait for the pace at the front to lull, and just as everyone starts feathering their brakes waiting for someone else to go to the front… BANG! Hit ‘em with everything you’ve got. If you attack while the pace is fast, then you’ll never get away and it’s all for nothing.

If you’ve attacked, it’s OK to look behind

Once you’ve made your bid for glory, keep an eye on what’s happening behind. If you’re just dragging 50 riders around with you, maybe you should kick in the clutch a bit. But at the same time, don’t swing right across the road and stop pedalling totally. Because then you’ve just set the launch pad for someone else’s counter-attack.

_JXP0019

Get back in at the front!

Go full gas when you attack and keep jamming it, but if you’ve had no success, swing off and be ready to jump back into the line quickly.

If the crit is moving in single file and going full pace, you’re better off to make a 10-15 second effort to get back up to speed and force your way back in within the top 20 positions (after you’ve attacked but been brought back), than drop back to 60th where you’ll spend the next 20 minutes trying to get back up the front.

Obviously, the “get back in to the front of the peloton after I’ve just attacked” effort hurts like no other, but it’s a worthy investment.

Cornering

Hold your line and follow the wheel in front. You can burn all your energy by accelerating out of corners. Observe the power files of two similar-sized riders; one who corners well, and one who doesn’t. Over an hour your can see a 20-30 watt difference in their average power. If you can’t corner you burn precious kilojoules that your competition isn’t burning.

Additionally, if you don’t corner well good riders will never let you in on the right wheels. This only compounds the efforts you have to make to be in a race-winning position.

Try and get down low with your weight on the front wheel to get grip, and glide through the corner in the slipstream.

Don’t go into a corner hard on the wheel in front

When coming into a corner, leave half a wheel to the rider in front, then at the last moment kick in half a pedal stroke so that you accelerate up to that rider during the turn. You are almost starting your ‘out of the corner acceleration’ as you go into the corner.

What you don’t want to do is sit right on the wheel in front, only to have to wash off speed to avoid hitting that wheel in the corner. In that situation you come out of the corner with even less momentum, and have to sprint even harder just to get back up to the rider in front, let alone moving up the bunch.

Don’t dive-bomb!

Don’t overtake on the inside. This is a contentious one because for the top riders at the biggest crits, the last-lap dive-bomb is a legitimate race-winning tactic. And it’s incumbent upon whichever team is leading out, to close the door HARD so no other teams can take the inside line.

If we are talking club crits, seriously, don’t dive-bomb the inside of corners. Everyone knows everyone, and if you do that repeatedly you can guarantee you will have no friends in the bunch. Then when it’s lined out in the gutter with a crosswind, and you need someone to open a door to let you back in, that door will never open.

Know your competition

Before blowing all your biscuits bridging up to a breakaway, you’ve got to think about the riders in it. Are they the riders that regularly win at this crit? How far up the road are they? How long have we got to go?

They say the true mark of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly whilst expecting a different result. Yet week in, week out, at crits around the world, we see people attacking at the same time, chasing the same rabbits, and always coming home empty-handed.

_JXP0233

“To win the race, you have to risk losing it.”

You know the feeling; there’s 10 minutes left, the group in front looks like it has a threatening gap (although none of those riders has ever won a crit). The riders near you that always win or podium aren’t chasing, hell they’re not going to take a turn. “Oh stuff it!” you think. “I need to go now or I can’t win. Three, two, one, attack!”

Oh wait: the riders who always win or podium just followed me, using my attack as a bridge to the leaders before going on to win or podium. Again.

Never forget: to win the race, you have to risk losing it. So that means the first week or two, when you decide not to be the sacrificial lamb, you will probably lose. Maybe that threatening break will actually stay away. But if riders around you know that you will always give in first, and try to bring a break back before them, you will never, ever, win a race. Because they will always outlast you, waiting for you to attack first. Look at Simon Gerrans for an example of this strategy in action.

Take a lap out

Don’t forget: for any legitimate mishap, you can take a lap out. So often we will see riders get held up in a crash only to chase the tail of the peloton for 10 minutes, sitting just 50 metres off the rear. Always take a lap out.

The Winning Sprint

Often the final sprint is won by being the first rider into the final corner. Most crits will have a corner before the final 200-300m drag to the finish line. If you don’t come into that corner positioned properly you’ll never win the sprint.

Guys like Shannon Johnson (CharterMason-Giant), Jono Cantwell (Drapac) and Anthony Giacoppo (Avanti) are renowned for their ability to be well-positioned into the final turn. The best position depends on the distance from the corner to the finish line. It could be top five (e.g. St Kilda/Port Melbourne) or it could be top 15 (e.g. Sandown).

Know your circuit. Do your research. Win the race.

About the author

Jonathan ‘Jono’ Lovelock has raced with a variety of Australian national teams, various continental teams and travelled the world a few times over.

While trying to find constructive ways of procrastinating during his commerce degree Jono discovered the art of blogging and the rest is history. When not busy riding he was writing and what started as nothing more than a fleeting foray has snowballed into regular features with a number of cycling publications, including CyclingTips.

After retiring from cycling earlier this year due to an ongoing knee injury, Jono started working as a consultant at Charter Mason, a “project execution specialist management consultancy”.

jules

good article Jono. with attacking, i find it’s sometimes good to let a couple of groups off the front early, then when they have been hauled in towards the end of the crit - an attack then can break the spirits of the bunch. in the lower grades, at least..

incidentally, being prepared to lose the race is a tactic Ayrton Senna used to great effect in Formula 1. he would barge his way past backmarkers he was lapping. he crashed out a fair bit, but they got the message - stay out of the way! very strategic, if a bit crazy..
- Dave
  
  And the lack of such Senna-style driving at the front is what makes F1 a bit sh1te these days.
Curmudgeon

“feathering their breaks” - these would be collarbone injuries then? FFS, it’s brakes
- http://cyclingtips.com.au Matt de Neef
  
  Easy now.
  - jules
    
    in fairness his name is Curmudgeon
    - Newbie
      
      How exactly does one “feather”?
      Serious question. I know it’s not squeezing them hard, but does it mean just lightly on the back or something?
      I’d rather not brake at all.
      Great article Jono!
- Sean
  
  You spelt your username wrong bro, idiot starts with an ‘i’ and ends with a ‘t’.
  
  Speeling aside, perhaps old johno reverted to his inner cyclingnews? At least his message is good, unlike anything those brain dead drones have published in the last 2 years.
http://conza.tumblr.com/ Conza

Thought this was pretty good “Criterium Racing Tactics Tips Carolina Cup”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C38Jp16FMtw
- Mark
  
  Great video
Limping Ox

Start out slow to the half way mark and then back off. My advice.
Dave

Tip #12 - go to a branch and get money out in smaller denominations than the $50 notes you get from an ATM. The extra weight may hinder your speed, but the smaller denomination notes will provide valuable flexibility for the moveswhich really matter with winning a crit.
Peter Dean

Tip 13: at your next crit, assume everyone has read this and go early.
Mark

Tip #14: Constantly go to other clubs crit races and keep saying you are a lower grade than you actually are.
Ritch

Tip #15: Do everything with a purpose - if you aren’t the strongest in the race then you have to spend your resources wisely. Wasting them for no reason is a no-no.
Jeff Werner

Addendum to “Take a lap out”: not sure your rules down there, but in Canada / US you often must officially come to a stop and put at least one foot down if you’re stuck behind a crash or mishap. Had a few commissaires negate our riders’ free lap because they weren’t technically “held up” or in danger behind a crash. When in doubt, foot out.
- jules
  
  you see the pros deliberately fall over each other to qualify for ‘time freezes’ at the end of stages when a gap opens up due to someone else’s crash that they weren’t involved in.
Riccardo Ricco

Tip of the day: Don’t be a sniveler, no one likes them and no one respects there wins. Racing is about putting it on the line, pushing your limits, getting better and enjoying yourself. Who finds that same satisfaction in coasting around a club crit at 130bpm all in the name of getting results. WHO THE F&%K CARES, its a club crit!!

Different rules for the Pros etc, they MUST get results. But for the average punter in their local crit…….seriously. Nothing is more satisfying than soloing towards that win.
Now go out attack.
- Jono_L
  
  “Nothing is more satisfying than soloing towards that win.” Exactly my point ;-)
- Nick Squillari
  
  This includes not yelling out “YEP! YEP!” when someone attacks yet your poor (pick as appropriate) means you’re in no position to go with it or cover it.
  - MickyC
    
    Yep, sorry.. I mean yes that sh*ts me to tears big time
Nameless Pro

Drop into the corner late, don’t use your brakes. Chop anyone outside of you and don’t wash out your speed coming out of a corner, just take it wide and force the others outside you into the gutter or fence. If the other guys don’t like it, give them a tissue.
Prepare your victory salute in the warmup, tell the other guys how bad they’re looking.
Worked for Robbie..
- jules
  
  also point out mechanicals on other riders’ bikes to them during the race
Robert Merkel

Obligatory “Nice piece Johnno”.

I’d add an addendum to “know your competitors”: know your circuit.

St. Kilda’s Port Melbourne circuit is the least selective crit circuit anywhere; breaks only stick if the peloton sits up and lets them, and there’s so much shelter that it’s pretty hard to be dropped. So the algorithm for winning, at least in the lower grade men, is pretty simple: do no work, get through last corner in first ten, win the sprint.

By contrast, Sunbury’s new crit circuit at Essendon airport is quite brutal if the wind is blowing in the right direction; a narrow congested corner followed by a crosswind is quite sufficient to tear the field to shreds. Get up the front and stay there!
- Sean
  
  Good point regarding the port melb circuit, even fat guys can finish a race that averages 48kph, if they know how to follow wheels properly and race smartly. Pretty much the point of his article no? for what its worth, i’d race a st kilda crit any day over a bloody state open (crit) or any other crit except kew when i’m fit, i mean really fit.
Sean

Great article yet again, it’s filled with gems most of us can take on board.
Kevin Benkenstein

You forgot ‘Lose all regard for personal safety’ as demonstrated by all Belgians ever born.
Gavin Adkins

I’d add that if you have never won a bike race and have been doing more or less the same thing every week, whether that is sitting in or going from the gun, then next time you pin a number on, do the exact opposite. Have a crack, make it count.

Also, practice your sprinting with tired legs. At the end of a long ride with mates, have a hard fought grudge match town line sprint. Loser buys the drinks.
James Studebaker

what is the bikereg equivalent in Aus? I’m visiting Melbourne from the US and want to line up in a crit or road race. Where would I find and register for races in Melbourne? Also, does anybody know the racing license requirements? I hold a cat1 USAC license - but I think the license system is different in Aus? Any help would be appreciated. Thx.
- Pete
  
  http://membership.cycling.org.au/Packages/racing-469 most clubs have 3-race licenses available.