Working over

MANILA, Philippines - There’s a cycling term in English called, “working him over”. This happens when everyone in a breakaway is attacking a superior rider (usually the fastest rider in a sprint during a flat stage) in the hope that a few of them can get away and leave the sprinter behind.

There was a 6-man break and with no one in it a threat to the top 10 overall, it was allowed to go. Among the 6 was a Samuel Dumoulin, the fastest in the group but not in the same tier as Mark Cavendish. For the most part, the 6 took turns in setting the pace for they know that it was the only way to distance themselves from the chasing pack.

The disinterested peloton gave them an 11+min lead with 10km to go and at that point, everyone in the break knew that it was now everybody for themselves. They also knew that Dumoulin was the fastest therefore they had to drop him to be able to improve their chances winning. And that’s when they worked him over.

In road racing, an attacking rider who gets a 50-meter lead in the last km can be hard to reel in since the rider who’ll lead the chase must expend energy against the wind to chase (while the others are safely tucked behind him). So when Pierreck Fedrigo and Christian VandeVelde got a gap with 6 kms to go, it was good. Nobody from the four wanted to commit to a chase since the dangerman, Dumoulin, was there.

In the end, Fedrigo easily beat VandeVelde, who is a better climber and a time-triallist than a sprinter. It was a cycling 101 on how to work over a sprinter from a small breakway.

Froome’s frustrations

You can’t be two ways about it but Froome is frustrated for being held back by his team and at the same time saying that he is 100% behind Wiggins.

Jealousy and greed can destroy friendships, companies, kingdoms and even cycling teams therefore Froome should have thought hard before signing a 3-year contract with SKY last year after finishing runner up in the Vuelta A Espana. 

If you ask me, Froome should just zip it. Unless Wiggins suffers a monumental collapse, before Sunday, SKY will never support his mutiny. He can try next year- with another team. (FREEMAN)