Getting dropped while minimising the blow to your ego is as much about timing as any other cycling skill, muses the Doc
The finish of the Strade Bianche race is always special – a stupidly steep hill, the narrow Siena streets, the way the winner bursts into the piazza with their arms already in the air. It’s always dramatic.
Especially, this year, for second-placed Julian Alaphilippe. Yes, yes, it was dramatic for Mathieu van der Poel as well, but he had the easy job – he just rode off for the win. Dropping someone is simple compared to being dropped. It’s one thing when a whole group gets dropped, because the inadequacy is collective. It’s quite another when it’s just two of you, and a few seconds later the lonely, defeated one of you.
What are you supposed to do when that sort of thing happens? Especially if you’re the current world champion?
You have to above all retain your dignity. Ideally you want to give the impression that you got dropped because you were the stronger rider, but this isn’t very easy. So stop staring in horrified disbelief at the turn of events and do the “I love it when a plan comes together” face instead. You might, at a pinch, be able to disguise your problem as gifting the win to the other rider with a cheery wave and a theatrical sitting-up.
If it works, you look generous (if patronising), and your rival looks like the sort of rider who can’t win unless someone hands it to them. You might even be able to make it look so odd that they end up getting investigated on suspicion of bribing you.
But that only works very close to the finish. Earlier than that and your options narrow. Your only real hope is that the other rider has the jump to attack, but not the engine to stay away. So the big question is: when to let go? The further you hang on the bigger an anaerobic hole you dig and the more of a disaster it will be if it doesn’t work. Equally, if you let go
sooner you’re in better shape, but even if your rival cracks further up the road, the chase will be longer.
My favoured method is to let them go early. If you’re sure the other rider has the jump on you it’s as likely to work as anything else, and (this is always my tie-breaker in any tactical decision) it’s a catch up later, or pretend it was a gift – if you’re dropped, you’re dropped. The finish line is as soon as the other git is three lengths in front.
Outside a race also carries the danger of the aggravated drop. This is getting dropped by someone with mudguards, panniers, a toddler in a child-seat.