Marcel Kittel wins stage 2 of the Giro d'Italia after resisting the urge to hold his place in the final in the way most of us would instinctively do (Photo: Sirotti)
We’re going to try something new over the next week or so by taking a clip from stages of the Giro d’Italia to discuss some of the key tactics.
On today’s stage the riders faced 190km from Arnhem to Nijmegen; a classic sprinters' race and one finishing with some short local circuits to keep the crowds happy.
In the end, Marcel Kittel stormed to a brilliant win as he easily took the bunch sprint that settled the race following a great lead-out from his Etixx-QuickStep squad.
In the clip just below, if you start watching at the 14:30 mark there’s just over 2km remaining.
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At that 14:30 point the FDJ and Cannondale teams have their lead-out trains on the front of both sides of the bunch.
It’s not until 2.2km remaining that two team mates of Kittel's hit the front, with the man himself around 10 riders back.
From that point onwards there’s a lot of chopping and changing at the head of the bunch, with no one team taking total control.
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With 1.5km remaining, Kittel’s team have a train of six on the front leading out the German and it starts to look pretty straightforward.
However, well inside the final 1km FDJ surge their way pretty quickly onto the front, clearly looking to lead out Arnaud Demare.
Kittel resists the temptation to continually jump from wheel to wheel to hold a set position at the front.
So rather than panic and try to jump into the three-man FDJ train when it passes him, Kittel stays cool.
Every time you press on the pedals a little hard to surge and keep your place as people come up alongside, you’re draining the kick from your legs that you should be saving for your final sprint.
And when his own team mate jumps hard back onto the front, with the three FDJ riders behind and then Kittel – fifth wheel as the sprint starts – the big German has still not put in any massive sudden effort that would drain the final kick from his legs.
He ensures he holds his place near the front but without surging to do so – something FDJ could learn from.
You obviously have to hold your place to an extrent; but you can do that with steadier efforts if you are willing to drift back a little rather than repeated sprints to maintain a 'not giving an inch' approach.
Kittel also positions himself on the left of the bunch. He’s in a spot where he can flick out into open road and have a clear run at the line the moment he decides to open up his gallop.
So the next time you’re sprinting remember what Kittel did:
- He didn’t surge and waste his kick as FDJ did – they put their max effort into getting onto the front of the bunch just inside the last kilometre and had nothing left for the actual sprint.
- Kittel had the confidence to drift back - just a little bit though – in the interests of avoiding the instinct to surge and hold his place.
- He ensured he was in a position with immediate access to open road when he wanted to open his sprint rather than find himself boxed in.
As with all parts of cycling, practice makes perfect.
So every time you find yourself in a position to sprint for even a minor placing in a club race, take it with both hands.
It will increase your sprinting confidence, you’re timing and you’re positioning.
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