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cx question
Last Post 12/13/2013 12:21 PM by zuirch 13. 5 Replies.
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THE SKINNY

Posts:506

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12/11/2013 08:33 AM
watching the racing from europe and i wonder why there are so many racers on a team? it seems they don't use their team mates for drafting or strategy as all the top guys create a pretty big gap. i don't think they can swap out bikes with a team mate if they have a flat or mechanical. are all the other riders in some form of development when the fast guys retire?
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
ChinookPass

Posts:809

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12/11/2013 11:56 AM
In cx, it's probably more about increasing the chances for the sponsor that the jersey will be on the top step of the podium (or the bike, or the gruppo, etc). More balls in the lottery, so to speak.
dkri

Posts:95

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12/11/2013 04:34 PM
From a sponsor perspective, Chinook is right - once you've set up the program, the incremental cost of another rider is easy to justify.

Also, it's more subtle, but there is a lot of team racing that can happen in cross. If you have a team mate out ahead, you sit on the chase. Yes, it's a heck of a lot harder than sitting on a chase in road, but there are generally a lot of spots where drafting is very effective. Two team mates in a three man move can do the one-two on the other guy. Stuff like that. It's more subtle, but it's happening all the time.
formerly dkri
THE SKINNY

Posts:506

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12/12/2013 01:08 PM
gotcha. i guess it is cheaper for one sponsor to have five riders than have five sponsors to have one rider each.
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
Hoshie

Posts:134

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12/12/2013 11:33 PM
Team tactics are much less important than they are on the road imho but it can happen in flattish fast courses plus in a turn, etc.

Check out svenness crosshairs videos on Vimeo. They give a nice synopsis of race and cross tactics. One of the early season races was dominated by Fidea due to the nature of the course but to a very unusual extent because it was flat and not super technical.
zurich13

Posts:10

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12/13/2013 12:21 PM
@Hoshie - thanks for pointing out those videos. Great commentary.
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