from Bruce Hildenbrand

Wednesday's stage from Cholet to Chateauroux was the longest of the Tour at 144 miles(233km). Thanks heavens it was pretty flat, but that still translates to about six hours in the saddle. For some riders, the 18-mile time trial the day before was a bit of a rest, the time cut is the winner's time plus 25% so those not in contention for the overall win can take it a bit easy. But, even after five days of racing there is still a lot of nervous energy in the peloton. Also, it seems like every French rider in the Tour is trying to restore some pride to a race the host country hasn't won for the past 23 years.

That all adds up to a lot of energy expended. The key to staying fresh and making it to Paris is to not waste a lot of energy, both on and off the bike. Pro riders have a saying, "don't stand when you can sit; don't sit when you can lie down" which applies to proper energy management off the bike. A rider's body needs to start recovering as soon as they cross the line, so it is back to the team bus and time to chill. Before there were team busses the riders would squeeze into tiny Fiat station wagons for the transfer to (and from) the hotel. When the car reached the hotel, the doors would literally burst open and riders would spill out. Thank heavens things are more civilized now.

On the bike, especially on a 144-mile stage, it is critical that a rider be able to relax. That doesn't mean going 15-miles an hour and watching the peloton disappear up the road. What it does mean is that a rider has to be able to relax his body and not tense up by gripping the handlebars too tightly, for example.

Trying to find a good rythmn on the pedals also helps conserve energy. Pushing too big a gear or spinning too small of a gear is not optimal. In the 2003 Vuelta a Espana, Isidrio Nozal held the race lead for many days, but for some reason he was always pushing a big gear. Johan Bruyneel, team director of the US Postal Service team spotted this and worked it to his advantage to put his rider, Roberto Heras, into the lead in the final week when Nozal's tactics finally tired himself out.

Proper nutrition is also crtical. You simply cannot drink enough fluids during the Tour, so if you are a team domestique you need to be constantly going back to the car for water bottles. Eating is also crucial, so you will not see riders skipping a bag at a feed zone. What each rider eats and drinks is personal preference; some prefer small ham and cheese sandwiches, others gels and energy bars. Bobby Julich, who was 3rd in the 1998 Tour once told me his secret was, "drink before you are thirsty and eat before you are hungry."

Obviously, power measurement technology can allow a rider to monitor their power output on a stage and can give a pretty good indication of wasted energy. Power guru Dr. Allen Lim monitored power outputs at both front and back of the peloton and found that sitting in near the front required not only less average power for a race, but the power curve was much smoother with less sharp peaks or spikes when the yo-yo effect at the back of the pack forced the rider in the back to catch up.