Road Bike Racing - The Peloton And Breakaways

I don't know if this has been addressed before, but I have yet to see it; and, if it has, forgive my rehashing. I'm an avid daily "sports/fitness" cyclist and am familiar with the principles of pacelines and drafting. However it continues to puzzle me how the peloton consistently catches breakaways, seemingly no matter what their lead.

Is there some added wind displacement from the larger number of riders in the peloton (physics is not one of my strong suits) as opposed to that of the 5 or 6 (working together) in the usual breakaway that makes it so much faster than them, the additional number of riders available to work on the front in the peloton, some weird psychological disadvantage of knowing that 150 + riders are climbing up your back or possibly a combination of any or all of these factors.

Btw, I think (and non-cycling friends have expressed these sentiments also) that considering the lack of interest in this sport in the U.S. as opposed to the rest of the world, that commentators would be well advised to explain this and other idiosyncracies that occur. It's rather disconcerting to be watching as a sizable attack by a number of riders is/has distanced itself from the peloton, only to return from a commercial to find them swallowed up again with no real explanation of how and why it occurred. Maybe aficionados of the sport know the what and how; but, most of us would welcome explanations. This would greatly increase interest and viewership of the telecasts.

i think being in the peloton DOES help that much..... read this:

"3h54 - Petacchi Riding At 36 Per Cent of Maximum Heart-Rate
The winner of yesterday's stage, Alessandro Petacchi, is riding in the middle of the peloton. His heart-rate is currently 63 beats per minute. His maximum is 201bpm... the shelter he is given by those around him is allowing him to ride at just 36 per cent of his maximum. ."

that's like.... sitting on the couch and scratching your butt!!! at 30 miles an hour!!!!

The more riders in a breakaway, the more chance it has to succeed. Riders in the draft are working 20-30% less than the lead rider. If more riders are sharing the load, they will wear down slower.

A breakaway of less than 7 or 8 riders is ususally doomed - but not always. Frequently, the riders don't, or won't work together, or the stronger ones drop the slower ones. As the breakaway dwindles in size, the chance of success is reduced.

The more riders in the break, the more aggressively the peloton will chase. One or two riders can get a lead of 10 minutes, and still not be a threat. However, a strong 5-man break with 10 minutes will make the peleton nervous.

Also, when a break happens teams will throw a rider into the break, but tell him not to work for it. Interesting tactic. So, he sits on and lets the other riders drive the break. At the end of the stage they will be fatigued from driving the break for dozens of kilometers, but he'll be fresher from drafting the whole way. He will win the stage. In this case, the break may sit up and allow themselves to be caught as they don't want to do all the work so a rival team can win the stage.

Later in the race riders who are very far down in the standings - 10 minutes and much more - may breakaway successfully. However, the GC contenders won't chase as they are no threat to claim the yellow jersey, they're just too far behind. The sprinters teams will be left to chase it down.

If a GC contender went on a breakaway, you can be sure his rivals would work their butts off to chase it down. This is why you never see LA, Beloki, Ullrich, Simoni, et.al. go on breakaways on flat stages. The other big guns would not allow it.

Finally, many riders go on breaks knowing of their ultimate failure. Winning the stage was not the reason for the break, but, rather, gaining exposure for their sponsor. The lead rider(s) received a lot of TV time, which may be enough of a reason to spend 100k alone in front. You know. . . keep the sugar daddy happy.

lol so the racers are not really anything but slaves of their sponsors. yall know the tour is rigged right?

lol :beer:

Originally posted by deliriou5
lol so the racers are not really anything but slaves of their sponsors. yall know the tour is rigged right?

lol :beer:

Hope you are not serious....

Thanks Woody!!! That was very informative. I trust I'm not the only one here who benefits from your expertise.

Sorry Delirou5. Your comment was well received also.

Originally posted by mjolnir2k
Hope you are not serious....
the beer mugs belie the facetious nature of my comment

Hate to be serious , but if you ever have a chance, you really must get into the middle of a pack of 100 bicycle racers in flight. A rider in the middle of this pack quite literally has to do little or no work. It's mostly all freewheeling and just touching the pedals trying to maintain a safe position without touching your brakes. It's like riding in the eye of a hurricane, calm. Now when they stretch out in a long line and chase?, that disappears and the riders all focus on the wheel in front and staying on it.

The other dynamic at work in the group, the interplay between the cyclists, always feels like an electron/neutron dance to me(break out in Pointer Sisters chorus here). There is a kind of magnetism/elasticiy between the bikes and riders. If you watch a peloton closely, there is a constant shifting and positioning going on between each bike. Incredibly dynamic situation. It is a peak experience.

that's why you get dropped if you're in the back!!! i was on a really tough training ride a couple weeks ago... and i decided to stay in the back to be polite since i'm very very undertrained.... and i got dropped like i was standing still.... according to what you're saying i'd've had a better chance of hanging on for a little longer if i'd stayed in the middle of the pack...

The other problem of being in the back is that on every sharp corner you basically have to chase to get back on.

The large peleton has two physical advantages over a breakaway, even a breakaway with several riders in it.

(1) In the interior of the peleton, the draft effect is significantly greater than in a breakaway, even a breakaway with seven or eight riders. While a rider drafting in a break might use 70% of the energy required to maintain his speed if he were alone, those in the interior of the peleton can sometimes use much less, 50% or so sometimes.

(2) Many more riders in the peleton means that turns at the head of the peleton can be harder, because shorter. Notice this happened today. Several _teams_ did their bit at the front, without any one team working for a significant fraction of the time the two riders in the breakaway rode.

So when breakaways succeed, it's because of decision problems within the peleton. Who will do the work? What about rivals taking advantage? Perhaps it's better to let things go a bit and let another team do the work?

An organized peleton can catch any breakaway. So when a breakaway gets away, it's because the peleton isn't so well organized. Nowadays the peleton is much more organized than in the past, so breakaways succeed much less often than they used to. In the Tour, especially, all of the teams are good, organized, and disciplined. They keep a sharp eye on the front of the race.

Not sure I agree that the peloton is more organised than in the past, just different, tactically. Were there ever better organised teams than Raas'/Post's Raleighs, Van Looy's Flandrians or Merckx's Moltenis? The blanket TV coverage and the radio access Directeurs have to the riders has changed the tactics. For example, you often see the teams of lesser sprinters helping to bring back a break. In the past, those teams would have been more likely to try to get a man in the break -or send someone across when it was establishing, or attack before the finale. There were also conventions which don't always apply now: a sprinters' stage, a climbers' stage, a transitional stage for all-rounders- the classic long break stuff, say between the Alps and Pyrenees. Truces were more common, after tough days (or before them). Teams bought and sold stages. In this era when the Patron is supposed to be a figure from the past, when everyone needs UCI points and public exposure for the sponsor, there still seems to be a lot of the negativity and conservatism which Anquetil and Hinault, amongst others, were criticised for- although blocking the road to allow breaks their head is a rarity today.

...........and I'm sure stages are still bought and sold- but the price is higher.