The Perfect Deployment: Titan Racing Leverages Teamwork in Two-Pronged Attack
Plenty of times a team will roll up to a race with a full squad and every intention of winning in dominant fashion. More often than not those teams are sent home with shattered expectations and confusion about what could have gone wrong. This is not that story but one of how Titan Racing fielded a six man team at the San Luis Rey Road Race that brought home two age-group victories. This story is one of teamwork and resource allocation and utilization while having a lot of fun riding hard when we had to, easy when we needed to and being grateful the race wasn’t any longer (at least I was).
**If you like this, please read this other article about how to leverage team resources.**
Pre-race Meeting: Setting the Board
In our pre-race meeting Phil took the lead and laid out a strategy that allowed the team to utilize the assets of most or all of our roster that day. The roster that day consisted of (Phil Tinstman, Chris McDonald (team leaders), Randall Coxworth, Sol Cantwell, Shane Hamman, and Adam Mills (me). The strategy was to send 2-3 riders up the road early in a move that would force the race to use resources chasing while our finishers (Tinstman and McDonald) were able to sit in the peloton. At some point, as the peloton began to run out of gas, they would boost across to the break where our waiting assets in the break away would drive them up the road until they were able to make it to the finish line and win.
This plan works well on TV when watching professional bike racing but how would it work in real life? Our riders would need to be able to read and react to the race situation as it developed. We would all need to make nuanced decisions that were aligned to executing the game-day strategy. We would win with teamwork.
To help understand how the race was won, we’ll compare Phil Tinstman and my own (Adam Mills) power files.
Phase I: Establish the Break Away
From kilometer zero Titan Racing made it well known we were interested in an early break (the big blue power spike from the start).
Forcing the early break of the day is never easy and it’s even more difficult when it’s imperative that we need more than one rider in the break. It’s even more difficult when we’re selecting the make-up of the break away. It shouldn’t be too small or too large but just right. Goldilocks. So when we finally were able to figure out a good break away of 10 riders (I’m not sure if 10 is the accurate number but it seems right and I’m going to use it) myself, Shane, and Sol were good with it and collaborated to make the move work.
We knew that we were not the primary threats and that the primary concern was with Tinstman, Chris and the other favorites who were still in the peloton. Thus, we were able to help the break get the escape velocity we needed. We were also aided by the fact that opening with such an aggressive move, with more aggression systematically following made the peloton relent and allow a move up the road.
Up until this point of the race, Mills and Tinstman had about the same normalized power (W nP). Once the break got away, that all changed.
We had accomplished a key part of the plan. We had used teamwork to gain leverage and in my opinion the race was ours to lose. Now comes the hard part.
Phase II: Mind the Gap, Be Patient, Stay Vigilant
Phase II is always nuanced and thus difficult. Titan Racing needed to maintain a gap that was far enough to discourage bridging by the favorites but close enough to allow Titan Racing teammates to come across when they decided that it was time. In our team meeting we decided to target a 60-90 second gap. For the inexperienced, it’s very enticing to simply floor it and open up as big of a gap as possible.
In non-professional races time checks are rare and usually you’ll need to ask for them and be patient while one is taken. However, the San Luis Rey Road Race features an out-and- back course so racers get complete race updates twice per lap if they are alert and willing to do some mental math.
Titan Racing was able to feather the break-away speed and maintain that distance by engaging and partially engaging in the break-away pace setting. And we did this via a lot of communication.
Meanwhile, back in the peloton it was up to Tinstman to minimize his output so that he would be able to fully commit when the situation demanded it. Tinstman did conserve in textbook fashion.
During this time period: Mills’ output was 245W avg power, 275 W nP while Tinstman output was 166W avg power, 221 W nP. That’s more than a 20% difference in effort! By the time Phase III begins, Tinstman will have used 708kJ vs Mills’ 938kJ, a 25% difference. (What’s a kilojoule).
Phase III: Get Across the Gap
Phase III is equally difficult for both the break away riders positioned as assets and for the riders making the decisive move behind.
Being in the break away and knowing Tinstman and McDonald were going to come across meant that we were watching for it. They got away clean which was the best possible outcome and a bit surprising. Now we (myself, Shane and Sol) had to execute a slowdown of the break to make getting across as “easy” as possible. There are a few ways to do it but we elected to simply stop pulling but to stay in the break away.
When a team removes its collaboration from a working break away there is always a strategic decision driving that tactic. Now it was up to the remaining 7 breakaway companions to decide how they would react. During this time period the breakaway had many options and we would have to measure our response based on our strategy. Titan Racing would only need to ensure that should the break away split we had the horsepower to chase it back.
Meanwhile in the peloton, Tinstman and Chris already did the hard part. They forced a split of two and were riding fully committed to reaching the break away as fast as possible.
In all, it took the Tinstman group about 22 minutes to make the catch. During that time, Tinstman burned up the road at a rate of 354 W nP while Mills was able to power down to 254 W nP, roughly 28% easier than Tinstman.
Phase IV: Restart the Break and Let the Favorites Rest for Phase V
Phase IV is always tough simply because now everyone involved has done a bit of “engage, disengage, re-engage” work. That start-stop-start pattern is something even professional athletes have trouble with. Riders on Titan Racing are relatively experienced and I would say that we did it well enough to earn the victory.
This phase of the race is characterized by the Titan Racing favorites (Tinstman and McDonald) sitting in again and resting while the remainder of the Titan Racing riders reintegrate with the break away to drive it as far away from the peloton as possible. However, now the tables are turned. If the original break away riders aren’t motivated to collaborate and pull, then it’s up to us and only us to get the job done. This is the painful part of the chess game that is cycling.
For another 22 minutes Mills, Shane and Sol committed to driving the newly reinforced break away while Tinstman and Chris sat and waited. During that time the workload difference was significant at 261 W nP (Mills) vs 239 W nP (Tinstman), an 8.5% difference.
Stage V: Hammer Blow
Phase V is when it becomes painfully obvious that you were indeed a chess piece being moved on the board and that your time and usefulness is complete. At this point Titan Racing opened up the jets and shattered the break away, leaving us to ride in groups of 1s and 2s to the finish line while Tinstman and McDonald were able to fully leverage the team effort and their relative freshness (beginning Phase V, Mills was at 1515kJ while Tinstman was at 1210 kJ, 20% difference).
McDonald was able to win the race both in category and outright while Tinstman was 2nd overall and also won his age group.
Mills reconnected with Sol after a rather painful effort and managed to latch onto a tertiary group where we still raced to the end. It was terribly difficult and completely unnecessary. But it was fun!
To wrap up the day:
Tinstman: 210 avg power, 271 W nP. 1816 kJ.
Mills: 226 avg power, 260 W nP. 1984 kJ.
Obviously I’m leaving out plenty of details and I never once mentioned the crucial role of fellow teammate Randall Coxworth in this race. His contributions throughout the day were also key to success.
This was a textbook example of how to leverage and commit team resources for a common team goal. Everyone on Titan Racing fully committed to the outcome, communicated and made proper decisions in order for it to be successful. Congrats to all the Titan Racing teammates, Phil and Chris for making it look easy. It was not easy.
Thanks for reading.
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