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Lance shows his experience

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Chris Carmichael (File)
Chris Carmichael (File)
Chris Carmichael

Patience, tactics and a great racing sense allowed Lance Armstrong to pace himself back into the yellow jersey group and stay in second after a flurry of attacks in Stage 16.

There's nothing petite about the Col du Petit-Saint-Bernard. It's a difficult ascent, made even harder by the fact the riders already had the even taller and harder Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard in their legs on Stage 16 of the 2009 Tour de France. In the end, the stage didn't cause very much of a shuffling in the top 10 overall. But that was only due to some very smart riding in the group chasing the yellow jersey pack.

As expected, Saxo Bank set a furious pace on the final climb of the day in an effort to put their leader, Andy Schleck, in an optimal position to attack. And once the attacks started, they continued for a while, as the biggest names in this year's race tested each other and searched for signs of weakness. After a flurry of accelerations, the yellow jersey group split, and there were a few notable names missing from the front group. Defending Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre, two-time runner-up Cadel Evans, last year's fourth place finisher Christian Vande Velde, and Lance Armstrong were all behind the split. Andy Schleck, along with his brother Frank, was accompanied by Alberto Contador in yellow, Bradley Wiggins from Garmin, Andreas Kloden from Astana, and Vincenzo Nibali from Liquigas.

For Schleck to win the Tour de France or even move up past Wiggins and Armstrong into second place, he has to gain time in the mountains. His accelerations were set up by the pacemaking efforts of Chris Anker Sorensen and Nicki Sorensen, and then assisted by their man from the breakaway, Jens Voigt, when they caught up to him. But even after both he and brother Frank launched their own accelerations, Contador was still there. The selection had been made and the pace settled down. It didn't necessarily slow down that much, but it became more consistent once it was clear that further aggression wasn't going to crack the man in the yellow jersey.

In the group behind, Armstrong was able to maintain a relatively steady pace as the attacks and accelerations were going on a few hundred metres up the road. That's not to say he purposely stayed behind, but he showed tremendous patience by waiting in the chasing group until he felt it was the right moment to accelerate and cross the gap.

When you look at power files from races, the hardest portion of the event is typically the five minutes before and after a major selection. This shouldn't be too surprising, because it's only the hardest efforts that eventually separate the best riders in the race. Experienced racers can use this information in three ways: obviously you can be the one to push the pace so high that you cause the selection, or you can dig deep to match the efforts of that driving force and make it into the lead group. And finally, if you don't make the initial selection, you can wait for the pace in the lead group to settle down and then attempt to move across the gap.

Lance didn't make the initial selection and he called upon his years of experience to find a way back into the yellow jersey group. One of his wisest choices was to wait. It's very difficult to watch a group of great racers accelerate away from you and resist the urge to immediately dig as deep as you can to stay with them. But digging that deep with 3-4 kilometres left to climb on a mountain that reaches almost 8 000 feet above sea level can lead to big problems. If you spend too much time over lactate threshold, especially if you're far above your lactate threshold power output, you will be forced to slow down dramatically. Instead of a 40-second gap between you and the yellow jersey group, it could grow to two or three minutes in just two kilometres.

By waiting, Lance was able to ride at a pace he knew he could maintain without digging into his energy reserves. Once the action in the yellow jersey group settled down - and it almost always does because there are only so many surges and attacks that riders can execute on major climbs before they get tired - they were likely to ride a fast tempo for the rest of the climb. When the aggression ceased at the front and the gap between the yellow jersey group and the chasers started to stabilise, Lance knew it was a good time to try and cross the gap.

For Lance, that meant he had to find a good place to leave the chasing group. The Col du Petit-Saint-Bernard is difficult, but it's not terribly steep - especially as you approach the summit. That put Lance in a difficult tactical position. If he accelerated on a shallow grade, there was a good chance he'd drag a large portion of the chase group with him across the gap to the yellow jersey group. He needed to find a steeper section of road so he could take advantage of the grade and launch a sharp and violent attack. Eventually he found a suitable spot, and when he accelerated, Garmin's Christian Vande Velde was one of the only people able to go with him. Vande Velde soon dropped off his wheel and Lance continued on, past Frank Schleck, and back into the yellow jersey group.

There was also an issue of timing. Whether you're on a climb or a flat road, you have to evaluate the possible consequences of launching a move to bridge a gap to a breakaway. If the gap is too small, you may not be able to separate yourself from your fellow chasers before reaching the break. If this happens, you'll essentially "fill" the gap instead of crossing it, and bring the whole group back together. On the other hand, if you let the gap grow too big, you may not have the power to make it across on your own. Today Lance decided to make his move when the gap was about 40 seconds. A few riders stayed with him across a portion of the gap, but he eventually reached the yellow jersey group alone. However, Vande Velde tagged onto the back of the group shortly thereafter, and the entire chase group rejoined the yellow jersey pack at the summit.

Lance crossed a 40-second gap to rejoin the yellow jersey group today, and while the effort to bridge that gap wasn't easy, it was wise. The contenders' group may have come back together at the summit, but when the gap between the chasers and the Contador group grew to 40 seconds, there was no guarantee that would happen. Lance made one significant effort - as opposed to half a dozen or more if he had attempted to match Andy Schleck jump for jump - and was back alongside the yellow jersey.

If you thought there was some good action today, just wait for tomorrow. With four Category 1 climbs and a Cat 2, Stage 17 is a classic Tour de France mountain stage. I rode a good portion of Stage 17, and the last two climbs are very steep and difficult - and they come after you've already climbed three other mountain passes. It's going to be a very tough day for the peloton, and if you have trouble early - or even on the second-to-last climb, there may be no coming back. It may not be a summit finish and it may not include Mont Ventoux, but Stage 17 is a hard, hard day that can't be taken lightly.

Source: www.bicycling.co.za

Chris Carmichael has been Lance Armstrong's coach for 20 years and is the founder of Carmichael Training Systems (CTS). Chris's newest book, "The Time Crunched Cyclist: Fit, Fast, and Powerful in 6 Hours a Week" (Click here to purchase) has just been released and signed copies are available at www.trainright.com. There you can also get information on CTS' Create Your Own Comeback program, the free Do the Tour...Stay at Home(tm) training programme, and the free CTS Tour de France Newsletter. You should also follow Chris at www.twitter.com/trainright.
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