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The Lanterne Rouge
The fine art of driving the bus in a stage race

  Written by Adam Hodges Myerson
  Cycle-Smart President
  April 18, 2003

I recently headed out west with my new team to compete in two early season California stage races. For many riders, these races are the peak of their season and they’re at the peak of their form, coming off a training base that began in November, perhaps, and included races like the Tour of Malaysia. For others, particularly riders from colder climates or with later-season goals, these races are primarily training, and an opportunity to escape a long winter. When you have such a discrepancy of goals and fitness levels within the same race, particularly over long, hilly courses like the ones encountered at these events, it’s a guarantee that there will be some riders off the back on the more difficult stages.

At Redlands in particular, I found myself as one of those riders. While getting dropped can be discouraging, it’s important to keep things in perspective. You have to remind yourself why you’re there in the first place, keep your own fitness level in mind, and stay focused on doing everything you can to complete the task at hand. For me, I was there to train, and perhaps see if I could test myself in the criteriums, so getting to the finish line on the hillier days was my primary goal. Riding off the back on one stage in particular where, after being dropped and then suffering a broken chain, I ended up the Lanterne Rouge, or last rider on the road. There’s a certain amount of pride to be had in being the last finisher, because it says that you plodded on in the face of adversity, where so many riders threw in the towel. I realized that many riders simply don’t understand how to cope with this type of situation, how to survive it, and how in the end to turn it to your advantage.

Cycle-Smart Training Articles A Case For Base    by Adam Hodges Myerson    February 2, 2007 Power, Stability, and Confidence    by Adam Hodges Myerson    September 20, 2006 Training While You Work    by Adam Hodges Myerson    April 25, 2006 Surviving The Trainer    by Adam Hodges Myerson    March 2, 2006 You Gotta Have A Plan    by Adam Hodges Myerson    January 8, 2006 Peaking For Cyclo-Cross Nationals    by Adam Hodges Myerson    November 29, 2005 How To Improve Your Starts For Cyclo-cross    by Adam Hodges Myerson    October 18, 2005 Interval Training for Cyclo-Cross    by Adam Hodges Myerson    September 9, 2005 Hang On To That Form!    by Adam Hodges Myerson    August 9, 2005 Resting Your Way To Fitness    by Adam Hodges Myerson    June 22, 2005 How Long, How Hard, and How Often?    by Adam Hodges Myerson    May 25, 2005 Warming Up    by Adam Hodges Myerson    April 11, 2005 "Training" in Training Races    by Adam Hodges Myerson    March 13, 2005 Preparing for a Cyclo-Cross Race    by Johs Huseby    November 16, 2004 Choosing Between a Club or a Team    by Kirk Albers    October 6, 2004 Running for Cyclo-Cross    by Adam Hodges Myerson    September 22, 2004 My Aching Back (and legs, shoulders, hips, feet, neck)    by Christine White    August 4, 2004 Key Workouts for Early Season Mountain Bike Racers    by Kurt Perham    July 14, 2004 The Philly File    by Adam Hodges Myerson    June 12, 2003 Training Weaknesses, Racing Strengths    by Adam Hodges Myerson    May 15, 2003 The Lanterne Rouge - The fine art of driving the bus in a stage race    by Adam Hodges Myerson    April 18, 2003 Choosing a Coach    by Adam Hodges Myerson    March 13, 2003

The first issue is to know your goals. Again, for me, training was of paramount importance at these races. I was dropped very early on one day on one of the steepest climbs of the race, and my first instinct was to pack it in. I thought about why I was there, and decided I had to finish. If you quit, you can’t race the next day. If you can’t race the next day, then you obviously can’t use the race for training. My new goal for the day became to simply make the time cut, and make an investment in my future results and fitness.

This is the situation where I feel many riders lack perseverance and tactical knowledge. If you’re a sprinter who might need to survive a hilly stage to make it to the flat one where there’s a chance for victory, making the time cut is an important tactic. For this to work properly, it requires a committed group of riders who understand the task at hand. To one younger rider in our group who repeatedly dropped us on the climbs, only to be caught by our “bus” later, I said, “trust me. I’ve been dropped in more races than you’ve started. If you want to get to the finish line and race tomorrow, you should stick with us.”

It’s important to understand that when you’re in a group where the only goal is to make the time cut, you’re no longer racing against each other. The bus is not a breakaway, even though it may look like one. You’re not competing against the other riders in this group; you’re united for a common cause--to make the time cut--and you need each other’s help to accomplish that goal. Everyone has to work to the best of their ability.

That means no sitting on, but also no hard pulls, and no attacks on the climbs. If you can climb fast, then you should have stayed in the field in the first place, and even so, you’ll go faster overall at this point by riding with the group. The point of the bus is to keep a steady, even, sustainable effort over the remainder of the race. To do this right, you have to go fast on the flats, but slow on the climbs, again, to keep the effort steady. It’s also crucial to keep the group as large as possible, which means only climbing as fast as the slowest rider in the group, within reason. Taking 10 extra seconds to keep one more rider in the group might mean gaining 30 seconds back on the flats when that rider starts pulling through again. If someone is clearly not going to be able to hold the tempo, though, the group may have to leave them behind.

Attacking or pushing the pace on the climbs only splits the group up into small pieces, leaving everyone to work on their own to chase after the climb is over, and perhaps jeopardizing everyone’s chance to get back to the field or make the time cut. Again, your goal is to keep the group as large as possible. If you’re strong, take longer, not faster pulls, so you don’t pop the other riders in the group who are willing to pull through if they can.

Etiquette is also important in the bus. If you’re in a group that’s close to getting back to the field after a climb and working hard together, don’t attack the chase in a panic to try to get back on. If the group has worked hard and shared the load to get back into contention, taking advantage of that by jumping across, rather than taking a hard pull everyone can benefit from, is the quickest way to get a water bottle thrown at you. Ideally, there should always be a “bus driver”, a more experienced rider who can manage the group like a shepherd, keeping everyone from going off the front or back of the group, and keeping things organized and on schedule to make the time cut.

The best motivation you can provide yourself with when you’re off the back in a stage race is the next stage. Just because you’re struggling one day, doesn’t mean you should always head for the car. You can have a good ride in the crit, or be there for a teammate who might be doing well on the overall. If the team’s counting on you to contribute, again, you can’t do that from the sidelines. Employing some of these strategies for getting to the next stage won’t just make you a better rider, it’ll make you a more valuable teammate as well.


To learn more about Adam, or for more articles by Cycle-Smart coaches, visit www.cycle-smart.com.

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