Cinch Cycling

Could this be in the cards as a UAE strategy for tomorrow’s stage 13?! What do you guys think?

Why is UAE racing so intensely for Tadej the first half of the Tour? I share some of my thoughts here.

Have you ever under fueled on your rest day and then couldn’t hit your numbers in your workout the following day?

Yes, we all have been there!

Well this is a major concern for the riders in the Tour de France on today’s rest day as well!

The post ride meal is critical on the rest day for carbohydrate replenishment from the days prior and loading for the days coming.

Take your rest day fueling seriously just like the riders have to in the Tour de France.

When I watch these sprint finales in the Tour de France all I can think about is how crazy they were to be a GC rider trying to be up there and not lose time.

In this clip I am sharing a story about how when you are in the peloton you feel like the passengers in a crazy flight where the sprinters are the pilots. But instead of looking for the smoothest safest options they instead are seeking out the most crazy path possible. Sometimes that path results in big crashes!

If you are watching the TDF you will see two key concepts we use in our coaching and training methodology.

The first one is the importance of “failure.” So many athletes are afraid of failure and let this fear dictate their effort level. But what I learned on the TDF and training for it is that to find your limits and learn what you must work on next you must put yourself in situations that test you. Test you to a point where many times you fail. Take Tadej’s solo win today. I believe this whole ability was created from him getting fang up on and attacked by three Visma riders, then dropped and lost the TDF. He found a place of vulnerability that he ended up converting to one of his most powerful weapons.

The second concept is this idea we call the “fall to factor.” This is the pace you can hold AFTER the “chips fall” in the key moment of the race. This ability is a part of performance in modern cycling where the key moves are coming far out from the finish, both in amateur and professional racing.

In this video we have one of our athletes talking about a part of his workout where he had a massive race defining effort which pushed him to the limit followed by a longer F2F (fall to factor) effort.

These two concepts work hand in hand because often times we sit up or give up early on the first part of the effort as we don’t meet our expectations. But the reality is, in races much of the time we miss our best and must keep the pressure on not feeling as if we are having the “day we wanted” for the rest of the race.

One mtn stage in and already Remco is throwing jabs at Lipowitz saying he asked him for a lead out and Lipo refused!

Well, I think Lipo was right to say no for two reasons.

1. Del Toro was there (sitting on) and has beaten Remco so far in all of the uphill sprints so far.

2. During the Stage Remco was already dropped from Lipo and didn’t seem to be climbing as well.

The reality is Lipo struggles with the explosive stuff and if he did a lead out for Remco he likely would have lost time. And he’s lead out would also not have really helped Remco beat Del Toro so it would have likely been for nothing.

For sure it is tough having two leaders on one team, but Remco is not making it easier on himself by taking jabs at a rider who potentially could make his life easier the next two weeks just one mtn stage in!

Pay attention tomorrow on the Tourmalet in the TDF the pedaling technique of the top climbers. You will notice Tadej, Jonas, and Del Toro (to name a few) pedaling with Plantar Flexion. This is locking out the calf and keeping the heel up during the downstroke through the bottom and into the upstroke.

In this video I show one of the benefits. This is that you are able to extend the strong downstroke using your glutes and quads all the way down to the bottom of it and through the bottom well into the upstroke.

The other advantage with this technique is you are able to grab the upstroke with a strong part of your hamstring and rocket it up more quickly.

This technique increases your power by adding more torque to the pedal stroke AND being able to drive that torque with a high cadence as there is little interference from the opposite leg getting in the way (at the bottom of the pedal stroke.)

Give this a try and see the difference. It takes a lot of work and specific training to be able to do it well but you will be able to feel the differences right away.

There was actually lots to talk about after today’s Stage 5 sprint! A new winner, a big crash, but two rule changes have led to some very different strategies from GC teams during these sprint stages compared to when I raced.

I go into detail on how moving the 3k rule to 5k and changing the sprint time gap rule from 1 to 3 seconds has shifted the GV strategy to more relaxed riding and further back in the group.

But in today’s finish, there ended up being a missed opportunity to grab key seconds, 14, by being ahead of the crash.

Will we now see the GC teams back at the front in the final kilometers or will they continue to ride further back?

How in the world did a massive breakaway of over 30 riders get away in the first 20 minutes of the race? On a stage that most teams targeted to get a rider in the move to contest the stage win?!

I explain why this happened here and detail the entire stage masterclass of strategy by Trek on today’s podcast. Check it out.

The Stage 3 of the TDF results of course check out when you see them after the race, but the performances and timing in this race definitely exposed some key questions we all have.

The biggest questions most have are, why would UAE be so aggressive if it is their race to lose? Why be so proactive if you can afford to be more reactive?

I share what I saw today and what key actions that happened today could answer the proactive approach. If you listen to the full podcast I break down a possible deeper motive as well!