Sprint Techniques, Conditioning and Tactics
PERFORMANCE CONDITIONING FOR CYCLING — Vol. 4, No. 6 PAGE 6
Winning Sprinting by
Combining Techniques,
Conditioning and Tactics
Winning Sprinting by
Combining Techniques,
Conditioning and Tactics
Kevin Lippert- 1996 USA Cycling Expert Coach of the Year
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Do you want to go fast and beat
all your riding partners to the
finish line? Here are some tips on
technique, conditioning and tactics
to help you achieve your sprinting
goals.
Types of Sprinters
There are two extreme types of sprinters: very fast, short-term sprinters and slower, longer-term sprinters. Short- term sprinters usually have great attack- ing speed and can go faster than anyone for about 100 to 200 meters. These people have a predominately large muscle makeup of fast twitch type 1 muscle fiber. They don’t have great high-speed endurance and usually struggle during a race until the sprint comes and then they are gone. These people are the ones that profit greatly from lead-outs and have to make their opponents do most of the work during a race. They can bridge small gaps in lighting speed and make people think they are sandbagging when they really aren’t.
Longer-term sprinters are the ones that can sprint from about 500 meters and burn out their opponents. These people are made up of mostly slow twitch type 2 and type 2B muscle fiber. They are the ones that jump off the pack with about a half a kilo to go and hold everyone off, just enough to make you sick. They don’t need the lead-outs that short-term sprinters need, but are able to use to their fullest lead-outs that start about 3- to 5-kilometers out.
Most of us fall somewhere between these two extremes, and you have to remember that people have different physiological structures. Shorter muscle bodies, the amount of cross fibers in the muscle and enzyme efficiency are just some of the things that make people into great sprinters. However, you can beat anyone by using the right tech- niques, tactics and the right condition- ing to maximize your own performance.
How to Sprint Using the Right Technique
You are in your riding position, seated in the saddle, hands in the drops. You are getting ready to sprint. Your wrists should be on the outside of the handlebar, elbows bent. Your back is flat. You have your hands in the drops,
Types of Sprinters
There are two extreme types of sprinters: very fast, short-term sprinters and slower, longer-term sprinters. Short- term sprinters usually have great attack- ing speed and can go faster than anyone for about 100 to 200 meters. These people have a predominately large muscle makeup of fast twitch type 1 muscle fiber. They don’t have great high-speed endurance and usually struggle during a race until the sprint comes and then they are gone. These people are the ones that profit greatly from lead-outs and have to make their opponents do most of the work during a race. They can bridge small gaps in lighting speed and make people think they are sandbagging when they really aren’t.
Longer-term sprinters are the ones that can sprint from about 500 meters and burn out their opponents. These people are made up of mostly slow twitch type 2 and type 2B muscle fiber. They are the ones that jump off the pack with about a half a kilo to go and hold everyone off, just enough to make you sick. They don’t need the lead-outs that short-term sprinters need, but are able to use to their fullest lead-outs that start about 3- to 5-kilometers out.
Most of us fall somewhere between these two extremes, and you have to remember that people have different physiological structures. Shorter muscle bodies, the amount of cross fibers in the muscle and enzyme efficiency are just some of the things that make people into great sprinters. However, you can beat anyone by using the right tech- niques, tactics and the right condition- ing to maximize your own performance.
How to Sprint Using the Right Technique
You are in your riding position, seated in the saddle, hands in the drops. You are getting ready to sprint. Your wrists should be on the outside of the handlebar, elbows bent. Your back is flat. You have your hands in the drops,
wrists on the outside and elbows bent
because when you are in the drops, you
have more control, you have more lever-
age when you wrench on your bike and
your hands are next to the brakes if you
need to use them. Having your wrists on
the outside of the handlebar gives you
your upper body stable and your center
of gravity where it should be, so you
won’t crash. Having straight, stiff arms is
the number one cause of rider crashes
after not watching what you are doing.
Also, you can stick your elbows out to
psychologically hinder any riders that
are coming up from behind to pass you.
Now it’s time to sprint. Come smoothly up off of the saddle a couple of inches without throwing your bike backwards. Throwing your bike back- wards can cause you to slam your rear wheel into the rider behind you, caus- ing them to crash from losing control. You may also crash from this, by having your rear wheel knocked out from under you. Keep your back flat and your weight back over the bottom bracket. In the beginning of your sprint as your pedal goes down, push the bike a little to the opposite side. Remember, I said push your bike over a little! That means about three to four inches. Keeping your weight over the bottom bracket and off the saddle a couple of inches, you’ll keep rocking your bike from side to side to help you accelerate. As your pedal revolutions increase after about 25 to 50 meters, stop the rocking motion and let your bike become stable underneath you. You’ll want to have as maximum a weight transfer to the ped- als as possible. This is accomplished by keeping your weight back over the bot- tom bracket, with your hips over the bottom bracket, and not rocking your bike after you get this initial accelera- tion. If your rear wheel starts to skip underneath you, your weight is too far forward over the bike.
Now that you have accelerated on top of the gear, shift up to the next biggest gear. Keep your leg speed up. This is very important, as too low of a leg speed will cause you to bog down at the end of a sprint. Too high of a leg speed will be inefficient, causing you to not be as fast as you could be. Make sure you keep breathing during your sprint. This is very important! You may be anaerobic, but the small amount of oxygen that you receive from breathing may get you that extra one to two meters that wins the sprint.
Remember to keep your head up and to look down the road. Concentrate on what you are doing. A classic exam-
Now it’s time to sprint. Come smoothly up off of the saddle a couple of inches without throwing your bike backwards. Throwing your bike back- wards can cause you to slam your rear wheel into the rider behind you, caus- ing them to crash from losing control. You may also crash from this, by having your rear wheel knocked out from under you. Keep your back flat and your weight back over the bottom bracket. In the beginning of your sprint as your pedal goes down, push the bike a little to the opposite side. Remember, I said push your bike over a little! That means about three to four inches. Keeping your weight over the bottom bracket and off the saddle a couple of inches, you’ll keep rocking your bike from side to side to help you accelerate. As your pedal revolutions increase after about 25 to 50 meters, stop the rocking motion and let your bike become stable underneath you. You’ll want to have as maximum a weight transfer to the ped- als as possible. This is accomplished by keeping your weight back over the bot- tom bracket, with your hips over the bottom bracket, and not rocking your bike after you get this initial accelera- tion. If your rear wheel starts to skip underneath you, your weight is too far forward over the bike.
Now that you have accelerated on top of the gear, shift up to the next biggest gear. Keep your leg speed up. This is very important, as too low of a leg speed will cause you to bog down at the end of a sprint. Too high of a leg speed will be inefficient, causing you to not be as fast as you could be. Make sure you keep breathing during your sprint. This is very important! You may be anaerobic, but the small amount of oxygen that you receive from breathing may get you that extra one to two meters that wins the sprint.
Remember to keep your head up and to look down the road. Concentrate on what you are doing. A classic exam-
There are two extreme types
of sprinters: very fast, short
term sprinters and slower,
longer-term sprinters. Short-
term sprinters usually have
great attacking speed and can
go faster than anyone for
about 100 to 200 meters. These
people are the ones that profit
greatly from lead-outs and
have to make their opponents
do most of the work during a
race. They can bridge small
gaps in lightning speed and
make people think they are
sandbagging when they really
aren’t.
Longer-term sprinters are the ones that can sprint from about 500 meters and burn out their opponents. They are the ones that jump off the pack with about a half a kilo to go and hold everyone off, just enough to make you sick. They don’t need the lead-outs that short-term sprinters need, but are able to use to their fullest lead-outs that start about 3-to 5-kilometers out.
Most of us fall somewhere between these two extremes.
Longer-term sprinters are the ones that can sprint from about 500 meters and burn out their opponents. They are the ones that jump off the pack with about a half a kilo to go and hold everyone off, just enough to make you sick. They don’t need the lead-outs that short-term sprinters need, but are able to use to their fullest lead-outs that start about 3-to 5-kilometers out.
Most of us fall somewhere between these two extremes.
more handling control and puts less
stress on them. Putting less repeated
stress from angular pressure on your
wrists helps prevent the development of
carpal tunnel syndrome. Having your
elbows bent also gives you more han-
dling control. If someone bumps you
during the sprint, your elbows act as a
cushion or shock absorber, keeping
PAGE 7
PERFORMANCE CONDITIONING FOR CYCLING — Vol. 4, No. 6
ple of not watching the road in front of
you are Wilfried Nelissen’s Tour crash of
1994 and Djamolidin Abdujaparov’s
Tour crash in 1991. If they would have
taken personal responsibility and
watched where they were going, they
both would never have crashed. If you
don’t believe me, watch the tape and
see that both of these riders have their
heads down and are not watching
where they are going, especially when
Nelissen ploughs into the policeman.
When sprinting uphill at the front of a group have your hands on the top of the brake hoods and move just a little forward with your weight. Having your hands on top of the brake hoods is a bit more dangerous. However, it opens up your rib cage, lets you breathe easier and is more efficient when going uphill. Make sure you are very careful and you only use this technique when sprinting uphill. Trying this on the flat in a pack will not be too smart; you will not have as much maneuvering control as if you had your hands in the drops and your elbows bent. Plus, you do not have as much accessibility to the brakes.
Conditioning
You now know how to sprint, but what about getting faster? Making your- self faster is not that hard, however you have to be consistent with your training and you need to eat correctly. To quote a gentleman that I met at the CABDA bike show, “There are too many fast food bike racers. You see them at Burger King before the race and you see them there afterwards”. Is this like anyone you know? To make muscle stronger so you can sprint faster, your muscle needs to be more efficient (recruitment of motor neurons) and larger (hypertrophy). The way these two things happen is by training and diet.
First, let’s tackle the diet thing. You need to eat whole foods that have nutri- tional value, like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, a lot of extra protein, good fat (canola oil, fish oil, olive oil, and flaxseed oil) and take your supple- ments correctly.
To make muscle, you need to take in more calories than you expend. The extra protein is because of the fact that you are an endurance athlete and you burn protein as you work out. Body builders don’t need that much more protein than the average person. However, endurance athletes need more than twice the amount of protein than does a body builder.
Next: training. The best thing you can do is to weight train in the off sea- son to get stronger and increase the muscle size. In the season you should do a sprint workout after you get better at riding hard, usually about a month or two into your season, perhaps in April.
Weight training for sprinting is best summarized by doing a good periodiza-
When sprinting uphill at the front of a group have your hands on the top of the brake hoods and move just a little forward with your weight. Having your hands on top of the brake hoods is a bit more dangerous. However, it opens up your rib cage, lets you breathe easier and is more efficient when going uphill. Make sure you are very careful and you only use this technique when sprinting uphill. Trying this on the flat in a pack will not be too smart; you will not have as much maneuvering control as if you had your hands in the drops and your elbows bent. Plus, you do not have as much accessibility to the brakes.
Conditioning
You now know how to sprint, but what about getting faster? Making your- self faster is not that hard, however you have to be consistent with your training and you need to eat correctly. To quote a gentleman that I met at the CABDA bike show, “There are too many fast food bike racers. You see them at Burger King before the race and you see them there afterwards”. Is this like anyone you know? To make muscle stronger so you can sprint faster, your muscle needs to be more efficient (recruitment of motor neurons) and larger (hypertrophy). The way these two things happen is by training and diet.
First, let’s tackle the diet thing. You need to eat whole foods that have nutri- tional value, like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, a lot of extra protein, good fat (canola oil, fish oil, olive oil, and flaxseed oil) and take your supple- ments correctly.
To make muscle, you need to take in more calories than you expend. The extra protein is because of the fact that you are an endurance athlete and you burn protein as you work out. Body builders don’t need that much more protein than the average person. However, endurance athletes need more than twice the amount of protein than does a body builder.
Next: training. The best thing you can do is to weight train in the off sea- son to get stronger and increase the muscle size. In the season you should do a sprint workout after you get better at riding hard, usually about a month or two into your season, perhaps in April.
Weight training for sprinting is best summarized by doing a good periodiza-
tion weight program with an emphasis
on doing heavier weights with less rep-
etitions during the last two phases of
the training cycle. This is in combina-
tion with high-speed spin sessions on
the wind trainer before the leg weight
training session or after 2 to 3 days of
recovery from the leg weight training
session. You should only weight train
each muscle group on your legs once a
week so as to give them sufficient
recovery before the next weight training
session, because you are doing a hard
ride or hard training once more during
that week. Repetitions and rest during
the strength cycles would be as follows:
about 200 meters, followed by about 10
minutes of rest between sprints. If you
aren’t sure how far 200 meters is, it’s
about two telephone poles in distance.
You can do sprint training by doing downhill sprints, flat land sprints or uphill sprints. Mix it up and work on the type of sprint that you will have in the upcoming race that you want to be outstanding at. The sprint training for that should start about three to four weeks before the race you have chosen for greatness.
Mountain Biking
How does sprint training relate to mountain biking? The type of strength required for doing small climbs is the same as doing road sprints. If mountain bikers want to climb faster, doing road sprint workouts help.
Tactics
Tactic one - Attacking
Attacking when you sprint is as important as how you sprint. If you don’t time your attack well, you will increase the chance that you will lose! Sprinting is an art of utilizing your physical and mental capabilities to max- imize your performance. By sprinting too soon or too late, you will lose. By not using the wind in your favor or not using the draft of others, you could lose. Do things right and you will most likely win, even if your opponent is stronger or more experienced than you.
You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of the riders in your race, as well as your own strengths. The more you ride with others and the more you race, you will find out if you have a very fast short sprint or if you are not as fast but can hold top speed for a long time. You will be able to use this infor- mation about yourself to make the race your race, not dictated by someone else. Also, if you race enough, you will know from experience who the racers are and who the tourists are, those out to have a nice day riding as fast as they can. Once you know who is good to have in a break that you can beat in a sprint, who is a long slow sprinter or who is a short, very fast sprinter, you can make the mental choices that will help you win.
Attacking on a hill is the hardest thing to judge, unless you ride the course before your race and sprint up the finish. Testing the finish gives you a good idea of when to start your sprint. You will know if the others are sprint- ing too soon, so you will be able to draft until it is the real time to go, leav- ing the others behind.
Attacking on a downhill is just as important. Most of the time the lead rider, or the second or third rider, is in the best position to win. The steeper and shorter the downhill, the more you need to be at the front. It is still a good
You can do sprint training by doing downhill sprints, flat land sprints or uphill sprints. Mix it up and work on the type of sprint that you will have in the upcoming race that you want to be outstanding at. The sprint training for that should start about three to four weeks before the race you have chosen for greatness.
Mountain Biking
How does sprint training relate to mountain biking? The type of strength required for doing small climbs is the same as doing road sprints. If mountain bikers want to climb faster, doing road sprint workouts help.
Tactics
Tactic one - Attacking
Attacking when you sprint is as important as how you sprint. If you don’t time your attack well, you will increase the chance that you will lose! Sprinting is an art of utilizing your physical and mental capabilities to max- imize your performance. By sprinting too soon or too late, you will lose. By not using the wind in your favor or not using the draft of others, you could lose. Do things right and you will most likely win, even if your opponent is stronger or more experienced than you.
You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of the riders in your race, as well as your own strengths. The more you ride with others and the more you race, you will find out if you have a very fast short sprint or if you are not as fast but can hold top speed for a long time. You will be able to use this infor- mation about yourself to make the race your race, not dictated by someone else. Also, if you race enough, you will know from experience who the racers are and who the tourists are, those out to have a nice day riding as fast as they can. Once you know who is good to have in a break that you can beat in a sprint, who is a long slow sprinter or who is a short, very fast sprinter, you can make the mental choices that will help you win.
Attacking on a hill is the hardest thing to judge, unless you ride the course before your race and sprint up the finish. Testing the finish gives you a good idea of when to start your sprint. You will know if the others are sprint- ing too soon, so you will be able to draft until it is the real time to go, leav- ing the others behind.
Attacking on a downhill is just as important. Most of the time the lead rider, or the second or third rider, is in the best position to win. The steeper and shorter the downhill, the more you need to be at the front. It is still a good
✏ Repetitions
✏ Sets
✏ Rest between sets
✏ Sets
✏ Rest between sets
4 to 8
3 to 4
3 minutes
3 to 4
3 minutes
Exercises in order:
✏ 45 degree leg press
✏ Leg extensions
✏ Leg curls
✏ Seated or standing calf raises ✏ Crunches
✏ Oblique crunches
I don’t believe in doing power cleans, squats or lunges with heavy weight for cycling training because most people don’t do the exercises in a man- ner bio-mechanically correct for their body. Also, your body was not con- structed to do these types of exercise with a heavy weight in a proportionate body/lifting weight ratio. Long-term damage to your back is very likely if you use too much weight and lift incor- rectly. I think these exercises are great during the learning or transition phases with light weight, but not the more intense phases.
What you can do on the road to improve your sprint is sprints.
What you can do on the road to improve your sprint is sprints. You need to do sprints, not intervals that you think are sprints. The best way is to get a training partner and drag race, not using each other’s draft. If you have a group ride and you want to do sprints, it needs to be a big drag race. You can simulate racing and sprint training, but not all of the riders will be doing sprints. They will be the lead-out people and they will be getting in interval training. You should only do up to six full-out sprints in a sprint session, because you are breaking down muscle tissue and you don’t want to break it down too far.
You can also do a motor pacing ses- sion with sprints. Have the motorbike lead you out to a speed that you can sprint by and drag race the motorbike. Sprints should be an all-out effort for
✏ 45 degree leg press
✏ Leg extensions
✏ Leg curls
✏ Seated or standing calf raises ✏ Crunches
✏ Oblique crunches
I don’t believe in doing power cleans, squats or lunges with heavy weight for cycling training because most people don’t do the exercises in a man- ner bio-mechanically correct for their body. Also, your body was not con- structed to do these types of exercise with a heavy weight in a proportionate body/lifting weight ratio. Long-term damage to your back is very likely if you use too much weight and lift incor- rectly. I think these exercises are great during the learning or transition phases with light weight, but not the more intense phases.
What you can do on the road to improve your sprint is sprints.
What you can do on the road to improve your sprint is sprints. You need to do sprints, not intervals that you think are sprints. The best way is to get a training partner and drag race, not using each other’s draft. If you have a group ride and you want to do sprints, it needs to be a big drag race. You can simulate racing and sprint training, but not all of the riders will be doing sprints. They will be the lead-out people and they will be getting in interval training. You should only do up to six full-out sprints in a sprint session, because you are breaking down muscle tissue and you don’t want to break it down too far.
You can also do a motor pacing ses- sion with sprints. Have the motorbike lead you out to a speed that you can sprint by and drag race the motorbike. Sprints should be an all-out effort for
PERFORMANCE CONDITIONING FOR CYCLING — Vol. 4, No. 6
PAGE 8
idea to test the sprint area to see when
the best time is to start the sprint. You
might have your top speed for a longer
time than you think.
Tactic Two - Two-up sprint
Two-up sprints usually occur when there are two people in a break, in a match sprint, going for a prime with a wheel sucker, or maybe just two people on a training ride. Two-up sprinting is knowing when and how your opponent in going to sprint and what you are going to do about it. Are you going to initiate the attack or are you going to respond to one?
If you know that you are much stronger than the other rider you are going against, it might be a good idea to attack earlier and burn your opponent out; they won’t be able to keep up with you. Nelson Vails used to do this in downhill street sprints. He would go to the front and hold off the other riders. Part of this is the downhill attacking technique and part is because he
knew that he could hold off any increases of speed by others.
If you are going to start the
sprint from the front and you are
a fast short-term sprinter, you must keep the other riders at bay. Start
from the front and keep the speed at
a slower pace, but not too
slow so that your opponent
just wants to go to the front.
You need to keep them
pinned in behind you.
Riding on the opposite side
of the road or track from
which the wind is blowing
does this. The other rider
will want to draft and keep
out of the wind, which pins
them against the curb. It also
limits the rider to start the attack
from one side, which you will be able
to see when it happens. If you let the other rider attack from this situation, and you know that you are stronger than they are in the distance left, just as the attack starts, attack yourself. Keeping the other rider behind you and make them come around you. This will waste more of their energy, while saving yours.
On the other hand, if you know that your opponent has started the sprint too soon and will burn out, you can use their draft to save your energy and to slingshot around them.
If you are pinned behind your opponent, have a long sprint and want to start it early, watch them until they lose their concentration. It might be that they look the other way for a minute, take a drink close to the finish or fum- ble with a misshift from their deraileur. These are just a few of the most com- mon things to look for when an attack opportunity opens up. You can usually get some distance from them while they
Tactic Two - Two-up sprint
Two-up sprints usually occur when there are two people in a break, in a match sprint, going for a prime with a wheel sucker, or maybe just two people on a training ride. Two-up sprinting is knowing when and how your opponent in going to sprint and what you are going to do about it. Are you going to initiate the attack or are you going to respond to one?
If you know that you are much stronger than the other rider you are going against, it might be a good idea to attack earlier and burn your opponent out; they won’t be able to keep up with you. Nelson Vails used to do this in downhill street sprints. He would go to the front and hold off the other riders. Part of this is the downhill attacking technique and part is because he
knew that he could hold off any increases of speed by others.
If you are going to start the
sprint from the front and you are
a fast short-term sprinter, you must keep the other riders at bay. Start
from the front and keep the speed at
a slower pace, but not too
slow so that your opponent
just wants to go to the front.
You need to keep them
pinned in behind you.
Riding on the opposite side
of the road or track from
which the wind is blowing
does this. The other rider
will want to draft and keep
out of the wind, which pins
them against the curb. It also
limits the rider to start the attack
from one side, which you will be able
to see when it happens. If you let the other rider attack from this situation, and you know that you are stronger than they are in the distance left, just as the attack starts, attack yourself. Keeping the other rider behind you and make them come around you. This will waste more of their energy, while saving yours.
On the other hand, if you know that your opponent has started the sprint too soon and will burn out, you can use their draft to save your energy and to slingshot around them.
If you are pinned behind your opponent, have a long sprint and want to start it early, watch them until they lose their concentration. It might be that they look the other way for a minute, take a drink close to the finish or fum- ble with a misshift from their deraileur. These are just a few of the most com- mon things to look for when an attack opportunity opens up. You can usually get some distance from them while they
are analyzing what just happened.
If you are pinned in from the rider
in front of you, you can start to slow a little to open about three to four meters between you and your opponent, then attack! By the time your opponent has time to react, you should already have a gap and substantial speed difference.
Tactic Three - Small Group Tactics
Small group sprinting is best done with a teammate or teammates. However, you can use your opponent’s or other team’s mistakes to profit and win the sprint.
If you are in a break with about eight or fewer people this tactic works well. Time your rotation in the paceline so you end up in the back at the time you want to attack. As soon as you get to the back, open about three to four meters behind the last person in line.
If you are pinned in from the rider
in front of you, you can start to slow a little to open about three to four meters between you and your opponent, then attack! By the time your opponent has time to react, you should already have a gap and substantial speed difference.
Tactic Three - Small Group Tactics
Small group sprinting is best done with a teammate or teammates. However, you can use your opponent’s or other team’s mistakes to profit and win the sprint.
If you are in a break with about eight or fewer people this tactic works well. Time your rotation in the paceline so you end up in the back at the time you want to attack. As soon as you get to the back, open about three to four meters behind the last person in line.
communication is key to this tactic.
Hand signals and verbal cues work well.
Tactic Four - Field Sprints
Field sprints can get pretty dicey and very dangerous. That is why having your team control the field by riding the last couple of kilometers at the front, going very fast, is so important. If your team is controlling the field, your sprint- er’s chances of winning are very good. You have to make sure that you have a designated sprinter and that they are feeling good to sprint, or you may have to pick someone else to do the job. Having another sprint, faking the other teams out by having your marked sprinter sandbag, is a good psychologi- cal weapon. The others will think your sprinter is going to sprint for the win and while they are watching, someone else is taking off for the win.
Here are a couple of tactics for field sprints. To be effective with field sprint- ing a team must have a lot of communi- cation and advance planning. The best way I have come up with is to have about five people at the front in the last two kilometers of a race doing a lead-
out. The first three riders are for lead- ing out, the fifth is for blocking. Just as the third rider from the front is
starting to die and the sprint is about to open up, the fourth rider takes off and the fifth rider just sits there, bock-
ing! The other teams will have to come around to chase. By that time, it is too
late and your team has won! If you are all alone, just
watch the other teams at the end for the lineup.
Usually if you are four to seven riders’ back,
you can see who is
going to launch. Just jump on their wheel
and, when the road opens up in front of you,
go for it. If you do this, you have to be sure that the rider that you are using is going to be able to make an opening and is going to be able to go, or they may die out on you, leaving you in a bad position.
There are about a hundred different ways to play this out, so use your imagi- nation or learn from watching race videos.
One last thing to remember: to win a race with a sprint, you must be there with the first group at the end of the race. Good luck with your sprinting. O
More Information Please!
Kevin Lippert is the President of Lippert Sports, LLC, an a USA Cycling Elite level coach, N.A.S.M. Certified Personal Trainer and a Corporate Health Consultant for General Motors and the United AutoWorkers Union. Kevin can be emailed at KevinL61@juno.com
Tactic Four - Field Sprints
Field sprints can get pretty dicey and very dangerous. That is why having your team control the field by riding the last couple of kilometers at the front, going very fast, is so important. If your team is controlling the field, your sprint- er’s chances of winning are very good. You have to make sure that you have a designated sprinter and that they are feeling good to sprint, or you may have to pick someone else to do the job. Having another sprint, faking the other teams out by having your marked sprinter sandbag, is a good psychologi- cal weapon. The others will think your sprinter is going to sprint for the win and while they are watching, someone else is taking off for the win.
Here are a couple of tactics for field sprints. To be effective with field sprint- ing a team must have a lot of communi- cation and advance planning. The best way I have come up with is to have about five people at the front in the last two kilometers of a race doing a lead-
out. The first three riders are for lead- ing out, the fifth is for blocking. Just as the third rider from the front is
starting to die and the sprint is about to open up, the fourth rider takes off and the fifth rider just sits there, bock-
ing! The other teams will have to come around to chase. By that time, it is too
late and your team has won! If you are all alone, just
watch the other teams at the end for the lineup.
Usually if you are four to seven riders’ back,
you can see who is
going to launch. Just jump on their wheel
and, when the road opens up in front of you,
go for it. If you do this, you have to be sure that the rider that you are using is going to be able to make an opening and is going to be able to go, or they may die out on you, leaving you in a bad position.
There are about a hundred different ways to play this out, so use your imagi- nation or learn from watching race videos.
One last thing to remember: to win a race with a sprint, you must be there with the first group at the end of the race. Good luck with your sprinting. O
More Information Please!
Kevin Lippert is the President of Lippert Sports, LLC, an a USA Cycling Elite level coach, N.A.S.M. Certified Personal Trainer and a Corporate Health Consultant for General Motors and the United AutoWorkers Union. Kevin can be emailed at KevinL61@juno.com
Don’t
hesitate, attack!
Take off using the slipstream of the paceline to accelerate. About ten meters before hitting the last rider launch off to the middle or opposite side of the road or track. You do not want to give the riders in the group the chance to grab your wheel and use you. If you get a wheel sucker, your attack was not fast enough!
You can use this maneuver if you have one or two teammates in with you. Make sure that your teammate is in front of you and set it up so that as soon as you rotate back, your teammate opens the gap and you take off togeth- er. Your teammate will be leading you out. If you have a couple of teammates in the break with you, you can take off with one while the other is in front blocking for you. This is not that hard to do, but it takes practice and everyone needs to know their job and what’s going on at the right time. Discreet
hesitate, attack!
Take off using the slipstream of the paceline to accelerate. About ten meters before hitting the last rider launch off to the middle or opposite side of the road or track. You do not want to give the riders in the group the chance to grab your wheel and use you. If you get a wheel sucker, your attack was not fast enough!
You can use this maneuver if you have one or two teammates in with you. Make sure that your teammate is in front of you and set it up so that as soon as you rotate back, your teammate opens the gap and you take off togeth- er. Your teammate will be leading you out. If you have a couple of teammates in the break with you, you can take off with one while the other is in front blocking for you. This is not that hard to do, but it takes practice and everyone needs to know their job and what’s going on at the right time. Discreet
posted by pistolpete @ 8:39 AM
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