Battle stations
Israel Start-up Nation sports director Cherie Pridham explains the intricate planning that goes into a race such as the Tour of Britain
I’ve always looked forward to the Tour of Britain – an opportunity to show the world our quaint Britishness, ancient architecture and stunning countryside. It’s a chance to see some of the world’s greatest riders tackle the very same roads that we ride, so as you can imagine I was absolutely thrilled when I was made the lead sporting director for Israel Start-up Nation at this year’s race, especially as it meant far less time spent in airport lounges, aeroplanes and taxis.
My job started weeks before the race, a meticulous process of researching every stage in detail so as to provide as much information to the riders as possible, then combining this with our team strategy to form a presentation prior to each stage.
Most Worldtour teams use a digital application called Veloviewer, which is a sort of amalgamation of Strava and Google Maps. As soon as a race organiser releases the route, the team at Veloviewer overlays the stage routes on a map and then graphically represents the elevation of the stage. At first glance you can see whether it’s likely to be a flat stage for the sprinters, one that might suit a breakaway or a day with lots of climbing.
My other major information source is the Race Road Book, supplied by the race organiser, which examines each stage in detail, highlighting climbs (categorised and uncategorised) with their respective gradients, and detailing where the sprint points are. But it’s not all about the obvious.
I need to study the feed zones to decide how best to deploy my support staff, right down to making sure they have time to get between zones. I need to pay attention to all climbs, because perhaps the day could hinge on an uncategorised one, and to pay special heed to the road itself – is there a bridge that could mean a dangerous pinch point, for example?
I always highlight road furniture that may be difficult at speed, and I also look for areas where wind may cause a split in the peloton. I screenshot all such elements using Google Street View and include them in my final presentation. If the run into the finish line is tricky, I may even create a Google Earth flyover video to show how it looks from above.
The process is painstaking, particularly when a lot of the stages are around 200km in length and the
Tour of Britain has eight stages.
My next job is to double-check everything on Veloviewer with the
Race Road Book and to investigate any potential discrepancy. I don’t want to tell a rider that a sprint point is 100m further down the road than it is!
Having completed my due diligence I then create the stem mounts for the riders – the writing and numbers you see stuck to their stems. These incorporate the start, finish and average gradient of the GPM/KOM climbs [Gran Premio della Montagna and King of the Mountain], sprint points and feed zones.
In the last few days before the race I start to put the finishing touches to the individual stage presentations, inputting any last-minute route changes and including weather and wind maps relative to each stage and finalising in my own mind the general team race strategy, right down to which is the shortest route around a traffic island.
Despite all the planning, however, a crash, puncture, mechanical or a sick rider can throw everything into disarray within an hour of the start. That’s where you have to be able to think on the spot, and very quickly implement a plan B.
The process is painstaking, particularly when a lot of the stages are around 200km in length and the Tour of Britain has eight stages