by Will Frischkorn, Team Garmin-Slipstream Professional Cycling Team

After two days of “relaxing” in the bunch, in the pre-race meeting before stage 3, Whitey (Matt White, our director here at Tirreno-Adriatico) told us it would be a good one to strike out up the road, and that as it would likely end up a bunch kick, we’d lay it out for Tyler in the final. He couldn’t have been more spot on…

I’d been frustrated the prior two days missing lead splits because of crashes in the final 20, and with 200 guys on technical roads they were never in doubt. In the last 20k of stage 2 there were at least 3 crashes on the CLIMBS, one caused by a moto that slid out into the bunch, saddlebags flying, papers in the air, rider jumping to safety…it would have been pretty entertaining were it not 5 meters in front of me, then 4, then, uhoh, bunnyhop the saddlebag! Regardless, a lackluster two days for most of us…

Stage 3 however was a very welcome counterbalance. I asked the mechanics to toss on a pair of [Zipp] 808s, choice breakaway wheels, pulled out the aero jersey, TT gloves, and put the bus’ espresso machine to work. 30k of jumping, fighting, jockeying for position, and finally the point in the race where you can just feel everybody cracking came. You know that it’s going to be one of the next few moves; it has to be. A rider from AG2R attacks and gets 20 meters, the field hesitates for a second, I’m on the side and launch. Looking back under my arm at a shoulder-to-shoulder field it was pretty clearly the one. 20 minutes later, drilling it into a headwind to get the gap established, we hear that another is a minute behind; the more the merrier. By that point the field had stopped for a “nature break”, as they like to say, and we were long gone; a few minutes of easy rolling to let the third catch up and then we settled in for the haul.

In most breakaway situations where you’re really only out there to create order in the race, get some TV time, let the field settle and a team take control, it’s pretty clear that you’re going to be caught. No matter how strong 3 riders are, it is impossible to hold off a charging field, baring something out of the ordinary: disorganization or no responsibility in the chase behind, a screaming tailwind picks up when the gap is high, or crashes mar the field, etc, etc. Last year in the Tour de France I had one of those lucky days, just missing the stage win, but those days are rare. Normally once you’ve established a few minute lead you settle in, knowing that the field controls the gap, not you. Taking pulls in the mid-300s [watts], sitting on mid-200s [watts]. These are great days to have a PowerTap on the bike, making it easy to judge and moderate effort, watching the KJs click over - a firm reminder to eat and drink - and also to gauge how the legs are doing over hours of cumulative effort.

As the final approaches, you give it a bit more schtick, but moderating the output based on chances of actually staying away. As shown in the data, we picked it up a bit as the end approached (you have to look like you’re suffering a bit more for the camera, no?), but knew that a field of eager sprinters was rolling down on us and freedom was out of the question. As the bunch steam-rolled us, I tagged on the tail end, and with only 7k to go, before long was rolling into the finish. Then the scream in the radio - “TYLER WON!”

After a quick slap on the back as he’s rushed to the podium, I hustled back to the bus and saw on TV the repeats as he blew by two of the fastest men in the world. What a sprint! With Christian’s solo stage win in Paris-Nice and now a bunch-kick in Tirreno-Adriatico it was a damn good week for the Garmin-Slipstream crew.

*The entire stage was almost 4 hours long and traversed 166 kilometers; the numbers in the Dashboard are based on the data file provided.