Just a quick follow up to yesterday’s post when I questioned Liquigas’s tactics — well, today they got it perfectly right. In the closing kilometers there was a small group off the front with 2 LG riders in it, meaning that the rest of the team didn’t have to chase to bring it back. That group was caught with ~2k to go and then the rest of the team launched the train with 3 guys left to get Bennati to the sprint. Petacchi was second, Greipel 3rd, Farrar 4th — of course there was a crash @ ~3k to go that seems to have taken out most of Petacchi’s train and I’m not sure who else (Boonen was no where as far as I could see), but still, a perfectly executed lead out is a thing of beauty — the LG riders were celebrating with 50m still to go. Go have a look for yourself at www.universalsports.com/cycling
Archive for March, 2010
Liquigas gets it right
Friday, March 12th, 2010Sprint Tactics in Stage 2 of Tirreno-Adriatico 2010
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
I just watched the end of the second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, won by Tom Boonen. What struck me was the work done by the Liquigas team. They were the only team to have a real train organized, leading it out from at least 3k out, and yet their guy, Bennati, only managed third. But guess who was attached to Bennati’s wheel the whole time — Boonen. So my question is whether or not pro-teams employ a "sweeper" on their train; that is a guy who sticks to the sprinter’s wheel and prevents another rider from essentially getting a lead out from the team’s effort. It seems a fairly basic tactic, if one only rarely executed well at the amateur level. Perhaps it’s considered amateurish and that’s why we don’t see it more often in the pro-ranks? or is it because the pro-level leadouts are so long and intense that they need every rider doing his turn on the front?
I don’t think this stage was a case of Liquigas getting it wrong leading it from too far out and exhausting the lead out men — they still had two guys with in the last kilometer, but Boonen starts his sprint before Bennati and Bennati never comes close to coming around.
Have a look a the stage here or if that link is no longer live at universalsports.com and let me know what you think.