How Much Power to Ride a Pro Break? - 2019 Redlands Classic - Stage 4 Criterium

t-mike's bikes incredibly aggressive early on we saw some major moves from these guys getting off the front and that would cause them to have some company we are in Southern California today this is the Redlands bicycle classic and if you haven't heard of it this is a very big race a very big stage race what is it five stages five stages that that voic-- here is Chris Reichert by the way welcome back Chris hey guys when we're stage four here this is the critérium you've had some seriously hard racing before this Redlands probably half maybe even more of the people who are listening to this is are gonna know what Redlands means when they hear Redlands but for those of you who don't know it's it's a very difficult stage race won by the likes of Chris Horner more recently who won it in the last couple years Phil Guymon Phil Gaiman's wanted a couple of times I think it's a big time race TJ Eisen hurt TJ eyes and hearts wanted a couple of time once once once it's a Vinny quit to go surf or find gems or something I'm not sure so like whatever it's a very difficult race like we're at the point of this stage race where I would on be supporting handing out bottles at this point because some about the day before is a gnarly hilltop vintage right yeah so so this is stage four and you know leading up to this there's a phenomenal circuit race called Highland it's a two two and a half hour race that's really fast got a super-sharp hill in it it's it's like a long creek course it's so good than a time trial that that this year in 2019 was like on a cliff face I don't know they made it on a windy cliff face that's the best way to describe it and then the day before this the third stage is called Yucaipa and it's a massive day of climbing it's a 95 hundred foot day it's a hundred miles and total length and it finishes up a pretty famed climb down in Southern California called Oak Glen and it's the day that the climbers really set the tempo for the G see and you guys are doing well right you had a tenth place yeah I I I did not have a tenth place my teammate Sam Anderson Moxley was riding I think in tenth place on the overall and so you know that really sets up what our strategy is for this whole race right Sam had been riding out of his mind all year and we we knew that he was gonna have such a good reason so that was really our our primary objective we wanted to have a good result on the overall and then we wanted to go for some stage wins and ride some brake ways as we could you know as you guys will see in this video like there's elevate KHS action Hoggins berman the teams that race here are big and so you know whereas maybe in Northern California we get to field six riders and and and get to play that team role when we're here we really play second fiddle to a lot of these bigger teams and so it changed their tactics and you were you were trying to get in a breakaway right I mean you have a you have a powerful sprint but it's not a field sprint it yeah but few times that I've been dumb enough to sprint against real sprinters it very much differentiates my sprint from their sprint so yeah so on the day before on the Wednesday on Yucaipa that big hilltop finish I think I lost two minutes to the leaders and so I'm still sitting in the top 20 on the overall but nobody's really gonna pay attention to me you know if I go up the road the the leader which is Kevin p'march from action Huggins Berman they aren't going to lose their minds and try to chase back a breakaway so you know we went into this day with Sam needing to ride a really protected race to stay good and in Nice position and stay fresh because the fifth day of the stage race is a doozy but for me it's a great opportunity to gain some time to be out in the breakaway that's an important important point though that you are not a GC threat at this point in the stands and you can win from a smaller group so let's talk about how you managed to make your way into a smaller group because I think that's your strong suit so I want I want you to talk me through that let's fast forward a little bit totally okay so we're still really early on in this race and you've been making your way up towards the front and I just want you to talk us through because you seem to find your way into breakaway and a lot of races you compete in so I just want like you're I want to get your take on like how you make that possible well I mean like for one like let's be clear I I go into breakaways when it's like my responsibility you know I think it's really important especially for us on Team Mike's Bikes you know we want to go into every race with a plan and for this that was the plan right and I think a lot of people don't realize that when you're trying to get into a brake the brake doesn't like find you you end up having to make some moves and doing it right now right here I'm trying to get up to a move that I see going up the road I'm doing almost 600 watts like making a brake whether whether it's in a big race like this here at Redlands or you know at a local race you're gonna have to punch a ticket or two you're gonna have to light a match and wait do we have anymore analogies for you're gonna have to ride the rivet I think I just hit bingo on and you're gonna hit bingo you know you that's the thing the brake doesn't come to you you kind of have to go seek it out and so you know my responsibility I had to get to the front and then I knew that I needed to pay attention and like not just follow everything but like pay attention and in that move right there there was one of the land of cycling riders which Quinn Simmons who's now on Trek Factory Racing world was up the world to a rider is up the road right those are the moves you got to start paying attention to and start thinking about like I need to get to well that's an interesting thing you brought up because you kind of just glossed right over but I think it's worth repeating which is you weren't looking at just the rider in front of you you were looking at what was happening at the riders 510 wheels in front of you and you saw a gap open up you saw who was up there and and that all happened in an instant and you realize this is a good time to burn a match I think a lot of people especially early on people just starting racing they're looking at the wheel right in front of them and they're focusing on kanya stay in the draft and I need to stay on this wheel and the races might be just getting away from them or they might be losing an opportunity in front of them I have a funny little aside a little anecdote yeah I did there's a group ride we do around here and really hard really fast group ride and there was a guy wearing this big like it was a camping backpack that was enormous because he was apparently going up to visit pants whatever and I was like this is a good draft I'm gonna jump on this wheel so I jumped on his wheel and yes it was a good draft but I'd the weirdest thing happened it took me like 10 minutes to realize this is the worst wheel to be on because he was holding a good power and he was holding the wheel in front of him but the problem was and I didn't realize this like I said for about 10 minutes I couldn't see the riders in front of him and I take that for granted right like I'm always scanning what's going on in front and you can kind of get the rhythm of the road so what was happening with me is a gap was opening up because I couldn't see the riders in front of him and then I'd sprint hard to get back up to his wheel and then I'd be on the brakes because I couldn't see that there was a slowdown in the group and it's always dynamic and you're always looking at the riders way up the road I guess is the point yeah I mean you know that's so much of what racing is you know if you're racing just the rider who's in front of you you miss those opportunities where you can find a hole that you can fit through or where you find the momentum right like so much of good crit racing and of good racing in general is is finding the flow like I I I think you know for me as I've become an OK racer i watch guys like danny holloway or justin williams the way that they navigate and they so aggressive they use no energy and and you know that's kind of what you have to do you have to be looking ahead and so when you're stuck behind that big backpack like yeah you can't see anything you're just stuck and those moments when I was in his draft like it was fantastic but they were that was 10% of the time and meanwhile we'll all we've been talking it looks like you're getting counter-attacked here and the the breakaway is kind of falling apart right so let's go ahead and let's go see when the breakaway actually goes because this one didn't just got caught yeah all right Brad but you know what as quickly as that goes away it comes back because they've got a really good access to the reset but when a Volo moves up to the front all right we are we are not much further like four or five minutes later you've been caught you're you you maintain your position up towards the front which sometimes can be really freaking hard oh yeah likely when you've done a big effort and like you get caught like you all you want to do is you want to go to the back and just like check out what's back there like is there ice cream but but instead you take the front and you're like hey if at first you don't succeed well I guess you might as well tack again right good one just like we were talking about a second ago you know I'm trying to look forward right if my responsibility is getting the brake I can't let something go that's gonna be dangerous otherwise it just leaves without you and I see that Alex home from a Velo is up the road and I think it's Zach near from what's he on 303 I think but so I think they're they're cruising up the road and I realize like I have to go if if you don't go now you're not gonna make it and the other thing to just right before we went a no manzil in here action Huggins berman who has the race leader has also taken the front and what they're gonna do is they're gonna try to set the pace and make sure that the tempo is high but they're also going to monitor who goes into the break they look at me who's two two and a half minutes down on the overall and they're like whatever who's that chump let him go that's fine they just don't want someone who's in striking distance of taking their GC over all right so you were aware of who was in the brake and you knew I'm assuming the either of those guys are not threats to the GC otherwise trying to bridge up to it's an exercise in futility it totally right like if you've got someone that's in the top 10 on the GC and they're up the road and you bridge to them you know that action is going to shut that down but right now you know we've got a couple of guys that are further down there working for other teammates and this makes for a really good composition of the brake you've got action you've got 303 Harley Davidson now you've got Landis track both that's Quinn Simmons and his teammate right there we've got a lot of the teams that are already here we need to make sure that Floyd's is going to get there we need to make sure that elevate gets there but for the most part we're starting to get all these teams now the other thing that Jeff was making fun of me for here is what do you call the pain dangled the pain dangle it looks this looks so painful to me the pain bangles when you I guess it punched your own ticket and you're dying yet you can't go back because your friends will make fun of you so you just have to keep riding as high as you can and then and then once you finally close that gap what often happens is is that you get elbowed through like okay now take a poll once you once you finally close that gap down take a poll like hit like he's just letting a gap above Sue's teammate now and I like that you know it's clean air I don't want to breathe this air that's fine again you know I think so many people think that making a break away it's just gonna come to you but you know you're gonna have to ride you know whether again whether it's Redlands or your local race you're gonna have to ride really hard for a while to make sure that that break settles in and you guys still aren't settled in by the way no but you've caught those two guys so now this is the front of the race well we went right through them why didn't we slow down that seems like the better idea in retrospect you get to this point though where all of a sudden you're gonna realize the composition and everybody's gonna calm down and you get in and you settle down to that pace and that's what you have to get to you have to kind of get your mind over them the mental game of it and make sure that you're not giving up before the break starts to settle in and I think so many people do that you have to do it until you get to that point it's two parts right like you said there's that crazy kind of like the who's who okay who's actually gonna commit themselves to this break and then the second part of a breakaway is like oh you're all basically riding like a team time trial at that point everyone who is working is in the rotation and then you settle into a manageable pace at that point right pay attention to the composition you're looking for what teams are represented you're looking for who is represented are there people that are dangerous that that other teams are maybe gonna be worried about and then you've got to actually commit right you get up there and this is the one that I'm gonna put all of my eggs in and you know what sometimes it doesn't work sometimes you ride this for five ten twenty minutes or you know in a big Road race stage maybe you ride it for you know twenty thirty miles and then you get brought back but that's part of the game right you have to find that composition and you've got a you've got a at some point bet your chips scared money don't make money I don't know what that means but it sounds smart exactly exactly like what we're talking about let's let's find out if this works out for you it's fast forward a bit I'm actually on second thought I don't think we have anything to fast forward to right didn't your GoPro ran out of batteries well GoPro ran out of batteries and we'll spoiler alert this one I won the race yeah just just check on Wikipedia go ahead and check Wikipedia second second thought done yeah let's take our word for it no what happened to last lap give us like the thirty second alright thirty thirty second the last lap we come into the finale and I think the break was eight of us oh you're absolutely right somebody has to attack here somebody has to go because not everyone in this group is a sprinter there's a lot of good sprinters here there's a lot of guys who are thinking I'm not gonna win this one out of a bunch of guests that win Simmons attacks with two laps to go the guys here we go which forces a Velo Michael Hernandez and Alex hone to react they set a tempo that I didn't actually think was humanly possible absolutely putting on behind the 8-ball here and now a follow has to make a decision they're gonna let Alex do it another plan they split the group that we're in which causes me to cramp flogging himself like a reddit bill that's due back at five o'clock tonight this kid is given everything for his team leader Miguel Hernandez so it's about 5:15 and rechlicz new cornea all right now moving up Eric Brunner doing a good job he and grounding of the two buffaloes in this field sitting right in the middle of that group so Brad they've got a problem and Darius Red Alert red alert as we have Quinn Simmons attack is just one of two ways for Quinn sentence either really great or really poorly he is gonna win this bike race or die trying' solo he goes to the whip one more time this man is a human wattage cottage there is a lot oh boy Quinn Simmons now opening up a gap that looks like he's gonna take this down to one to go Brad we got ourselves a Donnybrook going Rutland's right now although it's gotta be panicky drive down said man we knew this had to be coming we knew they didn't want to sprint against Hernandez he's gotta throw himself on the sword when you talk about Alex Horne he is right now they're gonna be the difference-maker he's done it all day if he can't make this catch his teammate will not sprint for the win Miguel Hernandez is reliant is cracking the whip giving me a little more a little more from Alex Hong I don't know how much floor horn has left to tank I mean right now they eat the gauge reads empty and Hernandez is gonna have to go around him here in just a moment is they're not making the catch this mat goes one more time to another level unbelievable ride from quince Evans but everyone knows you can go ten more miles after your tanks as empty and that's exactly what Quinn Simmons is rotting on right now runner coming up and over the top they couldn't get it done it looks like a bolo getting caught out now they are in trouble it's here we go into the thousand meters of this course they're one kilometer from the finish line gap is coming down for Simmons here they come up to the front he's got about two bike lengths back to the group don't wobble those in trouble don't look baby that's Quinn students will go nuclear here can t do it two more turns and then they're all of the finishing stretch Simmons has been caught they're back together the front there's hold off this was perfectly timed team tactics from Brunner and Brannigan here in the white blue jerseys up on the front lawn recycling looking for the biggest win in their inaugural season 2019 who's gonna be another photo finish on the line too early you know what that's not too bad come on give me a success successful breakaway pretty good for a master's writer totally and I pulled back a minute on the field so good day all right thanks for watching guys thanks for sharing your footage Chris you bet and uh we'll see you guys the next one then go over a minute on the field and Brannigan seals the deal out of the breakaway Floyd's cycling wins the critérium at Redlands

Channel: NorCal Cycling

Views: 165,001

Rating: 4.9439507 out of 5

Keywords: cycling, criterium, tips, p/1/2, racing, strategy, gopro, win, sprint, leadout, crash, Pro cycling, bike, bikes, bicycles, bicycle, road bike, road bikes, American cycling, zwift, indoor cycling, road race, Tour de France, peloton

Id: ALmoq5BrPcc

Length: 17min 26sec (1046 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 22 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/nathantherabbi]

I love, love, love the long course. First year I did the non-stange p12, we got to ride the long course. Every year since has been the shorter one and it's not the same.

[u/SJClawhammer]

I was working for Floyd's last year, that was a wild day. I was in the med tent with another rider who crashed out, we heard "can Granigan take it to the line?" The injured rider and I just stared at each other and said "holy crap, we just won!"

[u/nonamecat1]

“scared money don’t make money”!!

[u/speedbrown]

Oh the PainDangle... I know the well haha

[u/tbast]

I miss crits so much. Every time I watch your videos I'm pretty sure my heart goes to at least zone 2.

[u/carpediemracing]

The power you guys put down is amazing, just amazing.