Lead out argument

by Andy Shen

Section head text.

What does your team do for a lead out? Do you coordinate the entire team for a storming train to the finish? Do you have a couple of racers bring your sprinter to the line? Or do you let your sprinters fend for themselves like a pack of Artful Dodgers released from the foundling school? And when your pull is done, what do you do? Do you pull off to the side and pray or do you let the pack swarm around you like a Lycra lichen?

41 Comments

Jeff King

Andy, that “Jeff King” post below wasn’t me. Evil MH told me about it today. Can you please remove it?

People, please don’t use my name when you post.

Anonymous

They were a small squad but definitely drilled it for Jeff. It was an awesome display of commitment that few other teams had. Too many times, I’ve seen teams go 4 wide than in a row because they haven’t committed to one guy.

If you have a decent sprint, find a teammate that has a better sprint, and latch onto the train. Try to time it at about the same time, and you might give your guy a fighting chance.

MH

I wouldn’t say our team was as strong as Leon’s in 2002, but we won four club races last season, thanks to a very fast sprinter and good team work. We had a small squad and didn’t have the firepower to string out the field for miles, but we knew if we gave our sprinter a clean shot at the line, he would probably win. Here’s a picture from the year before:

http://www.banditcycling.com/14

There are four of us in that shot (and another one just down the hill, spent from his effort). The guy celebrating with his arms up in the back was on the front at the boathouse. A lead out like that when it works is incredibly satisfying.

jft

“Any teams in CRCA now really that selfless.”

Sure. The problem is that having a sprinter that can often win isn’t so easy – and that’s important to really gel the team. And also really knowing what to do. One of my teams wasn’t as good as Think Racing, but there was a time when we had a guy who was riding and sprinting really well – plus he was good at directly us. So it was “easier” for us to step up. At a small stage race he won both mass start stages after long, fast leadouts from the rest of us. He might have won one or perhaps both without us and surely would have been top three, but the combination of a fast guy plus another three guys drilling it in the right way made the result almost inevitable.

Cav

Interesting to note that a real lead out usually means 1 winner and no other placers for that team. Any teams in CRCA now really that selfless. I think having someone like Smilie in there showing the ropes and the benefits of being a real team must have helped enormously. No doubt Empire now could do similar but their strengths seem to be across the board in so many areas not just a dominant sprinter.

Any more stories? DJ / Kev? Karl ?

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Nico

I rode with the C field last year as a coach and was pleasantly surprised when there was a very nice leadout at the finish. I think it was Organic Athlete (sorry my memory is dominated by the crash in the sprint) and they did a very nice job of moving up just enough and not trying to string it out at the front for mile after mile.

Anonymous

Yeah Stagg is out. He lead me out to cheetahs because we tried Flashdancers, turned out he owed like $1,400 from the mid-80s. Then we rode around til 9 AM looking for some diner near Idlewild airport….I didnt have the heart to tell him it was gone….

Nico

Yeah, Smilie, DJ, George, Paul (Shervyn) Albert, Dan Schmalz, Rodger Aspholm, Pete Barlin, Thomas Pennell, Mike Henson, Todd Herriot, David Sommervile (.com), Chad Davis and I think Mike Gacki were awesome that year, 2002. I’m sorry if I’m forgetting someone. I didn’t realize all of us were on the same team in one year.

Check it out at CRCA results page. We won a bunch of mass starts in a row and an ITT and TTT. Also one in the spring.

Smilie in particular was really on in those days. He knew just how much time he could let the break get before he would get the guys on the front. And the guys were so good that they would catch the break on horseshit alley and just keep going into a leadout. The poor bastards in the break would be so demoralized as we rode past them.

The level of sacrifice and team effort really shows in the results. Although one time Smilie went so well that he held on for 8th after the chase and leadout, it’s otherwise just my name in there. That really shows how much they really did the complete sacrifice for the leadout. Knowing how much they were sacrificing was a huge part of my own motivation to get my ass in gear and get up to the front on the last lap even when it hurt and I secretly hoped the break would stay away. It was a real team effort. I might have been able to win one or maybe two of those races without that kind of help but those guys really made that kind of consistency possible.

It is indeed a tribute to Anthony Alessio’s power and technique that he can come from so far back and do so well. I see that he won two club races that season. In the August 24th race, we sort of misfired and I got held up a bit behind one of the guys. I saw Anthony fly by, just as the road turns right. I thought, damn that’s early and I still have to back up a bit to get around my leadout, but managed to claw my way up to and past him. This was after having won a few, which gave me lots of confidence to keep trying. As I review the results of that race I see three ReMax guys in the top ten – that suggests they could have put Anthony way out of reach for me if they’d sacrificed their own chances like the ThinkRacing guys did for me.

I remember after the first time we won one, people (like Inson I recall in particular) tried to push me off my wheel. He didn’t succeed at that, by the way. And after we won a couple more, I think people resigned themselves to our leadout and the fighting moved behind me. I didn’t notice it or pay attention to it going on behind me and only heard later that it was going on, but nobody challenged me for my wheel after Inson that first week.

Thanks for the memories.

#24

“Nobody is strong enough to set up a leadout around here. Most of the fast finishers are good enough to finish it on their own. Though, it is amusing to watch an entire team get on the front and totally fuck it up and not get anyone in the top 10…”
I don’t think you know what a leadout is. Or even why it is attempted.

Anonymous

He celebrated at the line not before and it was a photo finish. Very different. BTW – locally this is called a Lisbon. See Battenkill 2007…

Anonymous

Nobody is strong enough to set up a leadout around here. Most of the fast finishers are good enough to finish it on their own. Though, it is amusing to watch an entire team get on the front and totally fuck it up and not get anyone in the top 10…

171

Disagree with LEad totally. Sure there are always weaker teams but there are also plenty of teams with depth to have 3,4 or even 5 guys strong enough to position, accelerate and pull through. Basically if you’re finishing the race, you have enough juice to participate, even a little.

Anonymous

They exist. I remember fighting for position (laste year) and all of a sudden an Organic Green train of at least 2 leadout guys pulling Abraham Soler to the line. That was just one recollection of many.

What’s the deal with all the lower cat bashing and self bashing? We do the same things that 1’s, 2’s, and pro’s do, just a lot slower and sloppier.
They crash also. What’s the deal with all the finger pointing? Crashing is a part of racing, get over it.

Anonymous

I need a lead out for Battenkill and a puch up that long dirt road.

Lead outs are for the pros. Most Lower Cat teams dont have the fitness at the end of even a park race to have multiple guys on the front. Tactics are cool but in the end, most do not have the fitness of the the top guys to carry out plans.

Anonymous

Think Racing before they became VisitBritain were the lead out kings of CP – Dave Jordan / Smilie etc. dropping Leon off at the Cat- didn’t he win 5 or 6 races in a row or something following this format.The opposite was Antony Allesio – no lead out – no team mates, started 20 bike lengths back and just blasted it.

Anonymous

Do any teams do lead outs? Seems like NYC racers are all out for themselves and noone is sacraficing a sprint for another teammate. The only leady out I saw this year was Sakkonnett at GT.

Anonymous

Bjorn Haake spoke with Salvatore Commesso (Preti Mangimi) at the start of the race. “I am hoping for no wind,” said the Italian. “I think it will be a race for Boonen.”

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