Magnus Cort is on fire at the moment and that's the main reason he won stages 2 and 3 of Volta ao Algarve on Thursday and Friday; no gimmicks, just class. However, there are two things well worth taking note of from his win yesterday and anyone can apply them to their own racing.
No matter what level you race at - from newcomer A4s to the top riders in the country - the two takeaways from his win are perfect for all types of road racing. Let's focus on the role Tobias Foss played in Cort's win (something you can easily replicate). And then let's look at why so many of the breakaway men - even though they were caught by the bunch - still finished in the top 10 in the bunch sprint.
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Breakaway men's finishing positions. Why?
Let's start with this point because it's absolutely tailor-made for amateur racing, especially in Ireland where so many races end in a sprint from a bunch or a smaller group. Yesterday on stage 2 at Volta ao Algarve there was an intermediate sprint with 25km to. That sprint saw the six riders who contested it open a gap on the bunch. And once they saw that gap, they decided to ride as a breakaway. In that group were: Cort (EF Education-EasyPost), Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Tom Pidcock, Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), Tobias Foss (Jumbo-Visma) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ). They started working and opened a gap of almost 30 seconds. But as the finish approached, the bunch closed up on them.
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The peloton latched onto the breakaway with about 400m to go. Yet five of the six breakaway men still finished in the top 10. Why? Because they started the sprint at the front. Let's have that again: they still placed in the top 10 because they started the sprint at the front of the bunch. The six riders had ridden hard in the final 25km so they should have been too tired to sprint to a placing. Behind them, Soudal-QuickStep - the only big lead-out team in the race - fired all their bullets closing down the breakaway. It meant when the breakaway men were caught, there was no lead-out train on the front of the bunch ready to fly past them. There also won't be any big lead-out teams on the front of the bunch in amateur racing in Ireland (or most other countries) this season. And no matter who you are, you can take advantage of that.
We often look to pro riders to pick up tactics for our own racing. But in sprinting we shouldn't do that because a pro sprint is completely different to a sprint in an amateur race. In most amateur events, the finishing sprint will be more like the finish in Algarve yesterday; no big lead-out dominating and every rider for themselves, more or less. The fact five of the six breakaway riders finished in the top 10 yesterday, despite the bunch catching them with about 400m to go, shows the benefits of starting a bunch sprint on, or near, the front. Don't hang back and assume you are going to get a great lead-out and pass lots of riders just before the line, like Sam Bennett does. That scenario is really only for the pros, who are sprinting much faster than you and whose lead-outs are dialed to perfection.
Rather than hanging back looking for shelter or a lead-out, try and hit the front early. At the very least, be at the front and be among the first riders to kick for the line. By doing that, you are giving yourself the best chance of placing in a race. In many amateur races, the positions of the riders on the road don't change a huge amount between the start of the sprint and the finish line. This is especially the case in shorter races where fatigue is less of an issue. You may die before the line and riders may pass you. But if you are a decent rider, you should hang on for a placing, or even a win. If its's a headwind, try and go as late as you can - but still don't be afraid to get very close to the front and stay there for the sprint. And if it's a sidewind, try to sprint with riders to your right or left, so they block the breeze a little. But still be at the front and kick early, just like the breakaway riders did yesterday. If you hang back in a sprint in most amateur races, you are simply giving up too much ground to most of those ahead of you. Magnus Cort won yesterday because his form is so good. And you don't have his legs. But that fact so many of the breakaway men placed on the stage is definitely something you need to keep in mind. It wasn't luck, it was because they were in front of everyone else on the road when the sprint began.
Tobias Foss
The Jumbo Visma rider won Tour de l'Avenir in 2019 and is the reigning TT world champion; a top tier pro rider. However, when he let the wheel go in the final corner yesterday, it gave Cort a huge advantage in his bid to win the stage. Take a look at the video above and you'll see Foss is on Cort's wheel as they go into the final corner. But by the time they rounded the bend and straightened up, Cort is several lengths ahead of Foss, with all the other riders in the breakaway behind the Norwegian.
If you look closely, Foss freewheels around the corner, perhaps not realising the sprint would start immediately they exited the bend. Other the other hand, Cort rides the corner - he continues to pedal as he turns right; he attacks it. That means he exits the bend with much more speed than the other riders. And because Foss was so slow, Cort already had one hand on the winner's trophy. Nobody racing in Ireland at present has Cort's legs. But most riders have a team mate that can play the Tobias Foss role for them.
If you are riding a race with a corner close to the finish line, or even inside the last one or two kilometres, put your team mate behind you as you lead into the corner. And tell your team mate to let your wheel go as you attack the bend. You might find when you straighten up you have a gap. And perhaps nobody else will want to commit to chasing you. Even a gap of a few lengths so close to the finish creates a major problem for the riders behind you. If they take up the chase, and tow everyone else across to you, they've very likely given away their chance of victory to one of the riders sitting on their wheel. It means the riders behind you may all stall because none of them wants to close the gap. And if they do stall, the speed you carry out of the corner may just mean you open a crucial gap. So come to an arrangement with a team mate. Get him or her to let your wheel go on a late corner and block the road a little, just like Foss did for Cort (even though he didn't mean to!).
