Cycling News

10 March 2010

Graham Potts has asked Simon about getting in breakaways and whether this could be a tactic he could use to gain an advantage in a race such as Paris-Nice.

Getting in breakaways is definitely not a gift. Like sprinting or climbing, it’s something that you need to train to be good at. From early on in my cycling career I realised that I was a bit of an all rounder. There are many better climbers and many better sprinters in the peloton than myself so I figured that the best chance I had of winning races was from a breakaway, so that’s what I worked on.

You do need to be able to read a break well. There’s no point if the wrong combination of riders are trying to get away as the bunch will always bring them back. My ability to read this and other tactics has improved over the years but this has only come with gaining race experience. Unlike training to improving your speed in sprints or your strength climbing, improving your ability to get in a breakaway can only be worked on during races. You just need to keep trying and trying until you make the right move.

Racing GC can be compared to racing a one-day race. It is the same mindset however you need to maintain the same focus for several days. I find that mentally racing GC compared to a one-day race is the same however physically you need to be more conservative with your efforts.  

If I do fall behind on GC, then gaining an advantage by escaping in a breakaway could be used to my advantage and I could potentially get back some time on the main contenders. However you would need to be a fair way behind on GC for the bunch and leaders to let your break go away. A great example of this was how Oscar Pereiro won the 2006 Tour de France. Philip Deignan was also in a successful break at the 2009 Vuelta, where he won the stage from the breakaway and gained enough time to move himself back into the top 10 on GC.

Simon.

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