Watching the Tour of Flanders last weekend and then some highlights since, I’m fascinated by how some riders can take off alone after gaining what looks to be a relatively small bit of distance over a climb. Two examples would be Pogacar dropping van der Poel this weekend and Cancellara dropping Sagan in 2013. It’s not like they have anyone in front of them to catch their slipstream. Once they gain a few metres on a climb, these guys look unstoppable. What’s happening here?
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As someone who has actually broken away from the pack during a crit race, I feel uniquely qualified to answer this. I didn’t engineer the breakaway, it just happened. Once it did, however, I struggled to maintain my lead. I stood up and sprinted during the straightaways and took the corners at full speed. While the pack would gain on me on the straightaways, I managed to maintain my lead for about two laps just on cornering alone: I didn’t even touch the brakes on the corners. So there’s that: sometimes the lead rider is just better, on that day, for one reason or another. And sometimes the pack is just too lazy to chase the lead rider down.
Most breakaways happen on the climbs, where aerodynamics is less of a factor. Here, the rider with the best power-to-weight ratio is always at a distinct advantage.
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