After watching two incredible mountain stages, with attacks coming fast and furious between the number one and two riders on General Classification, Michael Rasmussen and Albert Contador, it helps to know just what they're thinking when they jump up and kick their bikes past the other guy. The tactics for attacking in the mountains are much different than attacking in the last 200 meters of a sprint. Chris Carmichael, former fitness coach for Lance Armstrong, offers a few established rules for breaking your rivals on the incline. But the most important thing is to treat the climb like a poker match:
It pays to know a person well at this point, because to borrow a word from poker, everyone has their “tells” that indicate they’re in trouble. It could be the way they grip the bars or how they rock their shoulders or point their toes. Lance said that when he saw riders struggling at a hard portion of the climb, that was the best time to go. Rasmussen and Contador used the same tactics to leave their rivals behind today, and you can do the same in your races.
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