tactics

Why the Break was Made

Nearly every professional bike race features an hours-long, almost certainly doomed breakaway. The odds against this move are terrible, and yet riders always seem willing to make it. Why? Lots of reasons, it turns out. Cosmo Catalano explains. Copyrighted material has been used under Fair Use. If you are the copyright holder and believe your material has been […]

How to set up a breakaway

The early breakaway is often the one that makes it all the way to the finish of the race. Judging the right moment to breakaway takes experience, but once you’re there, being off the front of the race is one of the greatest rushes in road racing.

How To Move Up In A Bunch

A great race result is usually due to being in the right place at the right time. GCN’s Matt Stephens takes you through the essentials of good, safe, successful bunch positioning.

Anatomy of the Leadout With Mark Renshaw

Mario Cipollini was the first to master the leadout train to win an enormous amount of sprint finishes. Giovanni Lombardi is often credited as being one of the best leadout men back in the day for sprinters such as Cipollini and Zabel. Before Cipollini there was Jean-Paul Van Poppel who had a good leadout train […]

Turning Around Negative Racing

One complaint I often hear about Masters racing is that it’s negative. In my limited experience with racing against the old codgers, I couldn’t agree more. In less than a month I’ll be racing at the Tour of Bright in the Masters category. I’m the first one to admit that I’m not getting any younger or […]

The Art Of The Counter Attack

I learned the art of the counter-attack from my teammate Duncan Smith. He’s the master of reading the race and hitting the bunch at the right time. Photo by Leigh Schilling. Do you ever wonder how some guys have all the luck when they attack and the bunch just sits there looking dumbly at each […]

Blocking

Photo by Leigh Schilling Blocking is a race strategy you may have heard of before. It involves riders with the same interests moving up to the front of the main field while they have a teammate ahead in a break. The riders at the front will disrupt the pace so that the breakaway has a […]

Climbing strategies

To be a good climber you need to build a foundation of strength. Strength is the component of fitness that allows you to climb faster. You may have heard of “strength endurance” (SE) intervals before. SE intervals are performed at a slow 40-60rpm cadence for 10-20 minutes. I like to do sessions of 2x20mins sets, […]

Melbourne to Ballarat - Crosswinds and Number Crunching

Once thing I love about racing here in Australia is the history behind some of these events. Some of these races have been going on for a hundred years! For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Melbourne to Ballarat Classic Handicap, it’s a race that started in 1908. I wish I could find […]

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The Final Corner

Aussie Ben Kirstin comes first at the US Crit Championships. Photo courtesy of Velonews - Casey B. Gibson I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m not a good sprinter. It’s one skill that I’ve always wanted more than anything and haven’t been able to acquire. This basic fact makes me watch and […]