Road Cycling - Sprints

I am getting ready to do some intervals next week for my training, I have never done sprints on my bike, just long endurance rides. I was wondering where my hands should be when I start sprinting, I was watching the Tour de romandie and they looked like they sprint with their hands in the drops :o , how hard is that :eek:, Any other advice would be great :)
Thanks :D

I was watching the Tour de romandie and they looked like they sprint with their hands in the drops :o , how hard is that :eek:

Your hands should be in the drops when sprinting: most power and control. For training purposes, make sure your sprint is not too short; power at least for some 200 metres. Experiment a bit with your gearing; pushing the 53x11 straight away is probably not a good idea; a too light gear will not work well either (especially out of the saddle).

put your hands in the drops. on ergo-bend bars, i find it's easier to stand with my hands on the bottom of the drop than in the bend... ymmv. spin up to a sprint. practice by drafting one of your buddies up to about 45 km/h and then come around him. you'll find that will slingshot you past at very, very high speed.

I agree; it's much more efficient on the drops. If you're inexperienced, it's also easier if you do a long
wind-up with a tail wind over a few hundred meters, rather than exploding into a full sprint from 20mph.
I'm getting a bit old (in my thirties :) ) and if I do jump sprints, I feel like I'm gunna hurt myself.

It's also more fun using the tail wind :D

What ever you do, check your cleats and pedals. Make sure you tighten your release point of your pedals to the max. and if you have look type pedals, make sure they still have enough meat on them to keep you in your pedals as you stomp and pull up on them. I also recommend you stay close to home when you're doing your intervals...you may find yourself pretty tired afterwards. ;)