Newbie question on breakaways

[wannabecyclist]

Hi all, my husband and I are somewhat new to the sport of cycling. A family member who cycles introduced us to it and we are really loving it. However, we cannot figure out something about the breakaway. When the commentators mention that a cyclist is in the break, they usually say that this is good for the leader back in the peloton. We don't understand this. So what if you have a guy out front. How can he help his team leader later on in the race by being out front?

 

[Sciocco]

Hi all, my husband and I are somewhat new to the sport of cycling. A family member who cycles introduced us to it and we are really loving it. However, we cannot figure out something about the breakaway. When the commentators mention that a cyclist is in the break, they usually say that this is good for the leader back in the peloton. We don't understand this. So what if you have a guy out front. How can he help his team leader later on in the race by being out front?

Not sure if I'm 100% getting your question, but...

In the TdF say Nibali has one teammate from Astana in the breakaway during a stage. Astana would not "chase" the breakaway to try and reel it in before the end of the stage, because maybe that guy can win from the breakaway. Teams with teammates in the breakaway will let the breakaway go, whereas teams without teammates in the breakaway will chase if they think they can win the stage and/or feel like trying.

Alternatively, incase your question is asking something else. If Nibali has a teammate in the breakaway and decides to attack the peloton and is able to chase all the way up the breakaway than his teammate can try and pace him (save Nibali some energy) for a while before Nibali pushes on solo again.

I hope I answered your question, if not I'm sure someone else will.

 

[orangey]

Scioco hit it on the nose. It saves the team's energy not having to take pulls up front in the main peloton for a large distance of the stage. The peloton may split later on when things heat up, in that case the leader just has to follow wheel (saves his energy to stay out of wind). If the breakaway is caught late in the stage, the leader will have fresh legs relative to others in the chase group so he has the ability to do a late attack or sprint to the line and potentially win the stage even if the rider in question isn't known to be a good sprinter.

 

[wannabecyclist]

Yes, this makes sense. Thank you scirocco (and orangey too). Scirocco, it was your second answer that I was looking for. Although it seems that I have rarely seen a race where the guy out in the break stays out front AND his leader then manages to join him. I guess I have not watched enough racing yet!

 

[UpTheRoad]

Yes, this makes sense. Thank you scirocco (and orangey too). Scirocco, it was your second answer that I was looking for. Although it seems that I have rarely seen a race where the guy out in the break stays out front AND his leader then manages to join him. I guess I have not watched enough racing yet!

Usually the guy in front drops back to help his leader. Perhaps the other domestiques with the leader have dropped off, so the guy in front soft pedals until the leader catches up.

Contador won the 2012 Vuelta with a bridge to a break containing a bunch of Saxo guys. Can't recall who said it, but another rider in the break noticed a bunch of Saxo guys and thought, "Something's up, Contador is going to try something." Sure enough, a few minutes later there AC was.

 

[42x16ss]

Usually the guy in front drops back to help his leader. Perhaps the other domestiques with the leader have dropped off, so the guy in front soft pedals until the leader catches up.

Contador won the 2012 Vuelta with a bridge to a break containing a bunch of Saxo guys. Can't recall who said it, but another rider in the break noticed a bunch of Saxo guys and thought, "Something's up, Contador is going to try something." Sure enough, a few minutes later there AC was.

Yes, Saxo Bank on that Fuente De stage was a masterpiece. Pierre Rolland from Europcar also excels at this, he used his team to great effect at the Giro d'Italia and made up huge amounts of time in the mountains.

 

[Hakkapelit]

I have a memory of a Vuelta where Heras and his Kelme had like 4 guys sprinkled up the mountainroad wich he then leapfrogged through one by one.
Cant remember the outcome though -.-'

 

[Netserk]

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race.php?id=130858

 

[Pricey_sky]

Yes, this makes sense. Thank you scirocco (and orangey too). Scirocco, it was your second answer that I was looking for. Although it seems that I have rarely seen a race where the guy out in the break stays out front AND his leader then manages to join him. I guess I have not watched enough racing yet!

Have a look at Andy schlecks amazing win on stage 18 of the 2011 Tour it should be on YouTube, still one of the best performances of recent years. He attacked with around 60ks to go and had 2 team mates in the break that dropped back and helped him gain more time, one of them was Monfort I can't remember the other one.

 

[hrotha]

Have a look at Andy schlecks amazing win on stage 18 of the 2011 Tour it should be on YouTube, still one of the best performances of recent years. He attacked with around 60ks to go and had 2 team mates in the break that dropped back and helped him gain more time, one of them was Monfort I can't remember the other one.

Devenyns. 😀

 

[Pricey_sky]

Devenyns. 😀

That's the one, thank you.

 

[Netserk]

That's the one, thank you.

You did get the joke, right? Posthuma was the second teammate.

 

[Pricey_sky]

You did get the joke, right? Posthuma was the second teammate.

Yes I do now, I've just finished a long night shift and need sleep! 😱

 

[vladimir]

I have a memory of a Vuelta where Heras and his Kelme had like 4 guys sprinkled up the mountainroad wich he then leapfrogged through one by one.
Cant remember the outcome though -.-'

It ws not only the Vuelta. I have fond memories of the Tour in 2000. Kelme had Heras, Escartin, Botero and Oxtoa (still wonder how good he could have become if not for the horrible car crash), and put two or three riders up the road early on on two consecutive stages in the Alps. They didn't win any of the stages (Pantani and Virenque won those) but at least showed that the likes of Armstrong and Ullrich could be beaten if they made the race hard early. Really miss the guys in white, green and blue😛

 

[trevim]

Devenyns. 😀

Lol good one 😀
[The other guy was Joost Posthuma though.]

 

[JayKosta]

A 'team rider' in a break can also slowdown the break slightly by not taking hard pulls when he is at the front - but not so obviously that he is abandoned by the rest. Doing that keeps the break from getting too far ahead.

He might also try to 'wear out' another team's strong rider by forcing an overly high speed and 'luring' the others to follow.

There are many tactics used within a single team, and when several teams work together inorder to improve their chance for overall success.
For example a not-so-strong team might work with a strong team so they can get 2nd or 3rd place. Lots of collusion and intrigue.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

 

[el_angliru]

Another example of how to use a breakaway rider succesfully was the Hautacam stage of the 2008 Tour de France. The stage profile was quite similar to this year's Hautacam stage, btw (Tourmalet before Hautacam). CSC had Cancellara in a breakaway and back in the main peloton (or GC group) Jens Voigt was riding a hard tempo on the Tourmalet, dropping Valverde! Now the GC riders (minus Valverde) caught Cancellara on the descent, and Cancellara helped distancing Valverde further as they were riding through the valley towards the Hautacam climb. It was an excellent stage by CSC, and they got both Frank Schleck and Carlos Sastre in a good position for the Tour win (Sastre eventually won)!

There's no way CSC could have had any use of Cancellara in the vally between Tourmalet and Hautacam if he wasn't in the breakaway!

 

[wannabecyclist]

More great answers .. thanks! We will be watching for these tactics in La Vuelta. Sometimes the commentators do a good job explaining what is happening and sometimes they don't! When you are new to the sport, it can be very confusing.

 

[ILovecycling]

Hi all, my husband and I are somewhat new to the sport of cycling. A family member who cycles introduced us to it and we are really loving it. However, we cannot figure out something about the breakaway. When the commentators mention that a cyclist is in the break, they usually say that this is good for the leader back in the peloton. We don't understand this. So what if you have a guy out front. How can he help his team leader later on in the race by being out front?

Hi,welcome to the great sport of cycling🙂
To your topic.Here you can watch how it looks when this tactics works (intentionally for leader) for 100%,its very rare but these are usually epic stages cuz it very often creates total chaos.

1st
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPEz84ZSo0A
2nd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys0KdeZHtq0

On the first vid there is an attack long way before finish and his bridging to a breakaway group.On the second vid there is an official broadcast and you can see how he finishes it off with one last teammate (Paulinho) and then a former teammate (Tiralongo) from Astana who is his friend.Finaly he solos to the finish.
Worth watching.

 

[UpTheRoad]

Hi,welcome to the great sport of cycling🙂
To your topic.Here you can watch how it looks when this tactics works (intentionally for leader) for 100%,its very rare but these are usually epic stages cuz it very often creates total chaos.

1st
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPEz84ZSo0A
2nd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys0KdeZHtq0

On the first vid there is an attack long way before finish and his bridging to a breakaway group.On the second vid there is an official broadcast and you can see how he finishes it off with one last teammate (Paulinho) and then a former teammate (Tiralongo) from Astana who is his friend.Finally he solos to the finish.
Worth watching.

IIRC, at Fuente De Movistar had some teammates in the break and helped Valverde once he could get away from Purito. The tactics was done by two teams on the stage! 😱

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yea, Movistar saw Saxo putting men in the break and followed suit, Valverde had Intxausti pull him all the way to the finish there.

Another favourite in that vein is Damiano Cunego winning the Giro into Pfalzen.

It doesn't always have to be about team leaders either - for example Euskaltel's great team time trial in the mountains in the 2010 Vuelta after Antón dropped out - sending Nieve out on the attack towed by a teammate, with Oroz (I think) and Txurruka dropping from the break to pull him up to the front of the race from where he did the rest.