Artem Trofimov: tactics of amateur road racing — breakaways, attacks and etiquette

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Useful from the issue

1. Appoint a leader and a backup

   The team needs a leader to work for, a captain to manage, and a backup in case the leader is out of shape.

2. Disrupt the chase by getting on the wheel

   When a pursuer rushes off after your leader, sit on his wheel and don't work: it's not profitable for him to bring two from the same team.

3. A gap of four is the best

   The gap for three or four works more smoothly: at six or seven they start skipping shifts, and the chance for the podium motivates a small group.

4. Close the gap quickly

   The faster you jump into the gap, the less you will spend. The peloton gives up the chase when it stops seeing the fugitives.

5. Honestly say "no finish"

   If you can not work in isolation, warn that you will not fight for the finish — then you will not be dumped. Breaking the word is considered dishonorable.

6. Detach the silent man with attacks

   If someone is sitting on your wheel and not working, you can both shake them off by taking turns jerking: you rest on each other, and they have to catch up alone.

7. Do not catch up with your own

   If there is no clear leader in the new team, give everyone freedom, but observe the base: none of your teammates catches a teammate in isolation.

8. Adjust the bike to the gravel

   Artem rode the Tsar Grader on cyclocross aluminum: wide tires at low pressure, a long take-out and a slightly lowered saddle made 180 km comfortable.

9. Form — for a professional designer

   The whale must be recognizable in the peloton and not repeat other people's colors. The design made on the knee, according to Artyom's experience, does not work.

24 years in the saddle and cyclocross channel

Artyom joined the cycling section at the age of 13 when he saw that classmates went there — it was too late for cycling, but it took a long time. The sports school is over, there is a hobby left, and, according to him, a variety keeps him in it: highway, track, cyclocross. MTB-racing does not suit his profile.

Cyclocross in St. Petersburg used to differ little from MTB races. Artyom and Anton Davydov started riding in parks in winter, holding races and shooting training videos — there was almost nothing about cyclocross on Russian YouTube then. The channel grew, but they diverged because of the pace: Artyom wanted to upload more often, and Anton did not have enough time for editing. Relations, he emphasizes, have remained friendly — they sometimes appear on each other's channels.

How he believed in gravel

Gravel racing Artyom did not understand for a long time: why suffer for three hours in the swamps? The breaking point was the test of the Canyon Grail gravel truck with a double-decker steering wheel: he was surprised how he swallowed gravel, and realized that on a rigid aluminum cyclocross bike such races would be violence against himself. Then Ilya called him to the Tsar Grader, and he could not refuse a friend.

Artyom had not traveled more than 150 km before and did not know how to distribute his strength and food for 180 km. He put the thickest tires he found, a long take-out, lowered the saddle and went to help his teammate: to close from the wind, to help out with punctures. By the end, he says, the autopilot turned on, and the route without picking through the marshes became for him the standard of a gravel race. Artyom admits that he will go 250 km if there are a lot of strong rivals.

Team roles and basic schemas

The team needs a leader to work for, a captain who manages — often this is one person — and a backup option. It is best to learn from the broadcasts of professional races with an intelligent comment: after the finish, you understand why each job was. If the leader is a sprinter, the team must prevent the breakaways from leaving and take him to the head; if not, the leader must go to the breakaway, and the rest disrupt the chase.

One of the tricks: when someone rushes to catch up with your leader, you sit on his wheel and refuse to work. The pursuer realizes that he will bring two of the same team, and gives up the chase. The ideal gap is about four people: they are less likely to be free, and the chance for the podium motivates. The peloton almost never lets two or three of the same team go - everyone understands that the podium is leaving.

Techniques and unwritten rules

The main principle is not to waste your strength in vain: let go of weak breaks, and jump right after the strong ones. The gap needs to be closed as quickly as possible — track short power helps out here. The peloton psychologically gives up the chase when it stops seeing the gap, so you need to leave abruptly. Some riders play fatigue, and then leave fresh for the finish line.

Etiquette: if you do not pull the shift in the breakaway, honestly say that you are going without a finish, then they will not dump you; it is considered dishonest to snatch the finish after that. The one who sits on the wheel and is silent, it is better to land alternate attacks: together from the same team, you rest on each other's wheel, and he catches up alone. So Artyom and his partner broke away from their opponent on the Tsar Grader. And there is no need to swear and be rude in the peloton — these are amateur races.

Race information and lessons from the Tour de Selishchi

At the Tour de Selishchi, Artyom's breakaway, according to him, brought the peloton about seven minutes, but no one in the breakaway knew this, and all four worked to exhaustion out of fear that they would catch up. If the technician had shown a lag, they would have slowed down and arrived at the finish line fresh, and you need to arrive at the road finish fresh — otherwise you are an extra.

Walkie-talkies, like professionals, in amateur races, according to Artyom, will give little: too much chaos. He criticizes Moscow races for clusters that catch up with each other, and for a lot of age groups within the same start: you spend your strength on an opponent from another group, and you are bypassed by someone from yours whom you don't even know.

Coffee Riders, ClassTeam and Motivation

Artem was the captain of Coffee Riders while the team was developing as a common project. In the fall, a dispute arose about who distributes slots and solves team issues, and Artyom and his partner left. They were immediately called by the former professional Dima Strakhov to ClassTeam, a team that grew out of a triathlon. Artyom doesn't set any big tasks for the new team for the first year: people need to get used to it and understand who the leader is, and while there is no leader, just don't catch up with their own.

A new motivation helps him not to burn out every season: cyclocross, shooting, now morning coffee rides and camps. The uniform for the team, he believes, should be recognizable and made by a professional designer — and it's better not blue, everyone already has this color. The level of amateurs in ten years, according to him, has grown to cosmic: veterans used to race, and now many have 5 watts / kg.

Timestamps

1. 0:00Just improvisation
2. 1:33The main grandfather of the St. Petersburg party
3. 3:17Parting with Anton Davydov
4. 11:03Cyclocross is gaining momentum
5. 13:15Specialization and types of suffering
6. 22:46Doping
7. 25:34The main thing in the issue: tactics
8. 40:59A case study on tactics with the Tsar Grader
9. 44:41Tactical techniques
10. 47:13Acting
11. 51:36Coffee Riders and the past year
12. 1:02:19ClassTeam
13. 1:08:15Bike form
14. 1:13:57When the video
15. 1:16:11Memes from chat rooms and 250 km on the Tsar Grader

Mentioned in this episode

Coffee Riders · ClassTeam · Tsar Grader · Tour de Selishchi · Vyborg Tour · Mountain Peaks · Canyon Grail · Pinarello