"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - My first Road Race (3rd overall) - what to expect? (Tour de Coppi)

I'm curious to know what I should expect at my first road race in July. I've done 2 crits so far and I think I pretty much get the gist of how Cat 5ers race. They're nervous, twitchy, and not very efficient.

How different will a road race be compared to a crit at this level? This one (Giro di Coppi) is about 36 miles, and I'm pretty sure it's hilly. I'll check out the course in the coming weeks.

I'm sure the sketchiness will still be present... but do breakaways stick? Will it be more likely that the pack will stretch out, or maybe even split? The Cat5ers in our team have been putting in some great teamwork these past few races, so I think we can really put the hurt on in a longer race if we work at it!

This is the only race I am able to do for a while so I'm focusing my training on it.

I'm curious to know what I should expect at my first road race in July. I've done 2 crits so far and I think I pretty much get the gist of how Cat 5ers race. They're nervous, twitchy, and not very efficient.

How different will a road race be compared to a crit at this level? This one (Giro di Coppi) is about 36 miles, and I'm pretty sure it's hilly. I'll check out the course in the coming weeks.

I'm sure the sketchiness will still be present... but do breakaways stick? Will it be more likely that the pack will stretch out, or maybe even split? The Cat5ers in our team have been putting in some great teamwork these past few races, so I think we can really put the hurt on in a longer race if we work at it!

This is the only race I am able to do for a while so I'm focusing my training on it.

Coppi is a good hilly race on narrow roads that I train on all the time. For some reason it's a race of attrition moreso than breakaways sticking. Why wait for coppi to do your 1st RR when smithburg is on 6/30 - do that one and get a feel for how a RR plays out and then you'll have some experience to draw on at the coppi race.

im so bummed to be missing out on these RRs

Do lots of 1-2 minute intervals in prep for Coppi. It's a pretty rolling course, and as MDCatV mentioned it was a race of attrition last year in the 5's. Just work hard to stay with the lead group and if it's anything like last year don't sweat it if a break goes OTF. One of the decisive hills will get them before the oh-so-painful uphill finish.

MDCatV, work keeps me from doing any other races until then! Grr...

Attrition I can hang with. Though I'm less experienced than alot of the guys in the pack, I think I'm as strong. I just need to race smart and keep my head out of the wind.

DrPete, I'm doing some shorter intervals (shorter than 1-2 minutes), but perhaps I'll start to incorporate those into my plans. Also doing hill intervals, which I think will really help me here. I'm a good climber and seem to recover quickly... hopefully I can handle the hills! Of course, watch me eat my words on the third lap :)

Anyone interested in riding the route sometime?

If you did well in sprints in a crit then just cover the meaningful, more than 2 people, breaks and wait til the bunch sprint in the end. You'll clobber them.