Breaking away from a peloton is no easy feat for road racers. Even when riders build a gap, they can be too spent to sprint for a win. But new research from the University of Exeter may help cyclists looking to separate themselves from the pack and stay away for the win. Their test showed that cyclists who put in a 30-second sprint 15 minutes before the end of a hard were just as strong through the finish as when they didn't make the sprint.
The British scientists ran seven athletes through three trials where the subjects performed three-minute all out efforts. Then before the efforts, they either did a 30-second sprint 15 minutes before the big effort, the sprint two minutes before the effort, or no sprint. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the athletes that sprinted 15 minutes before the effort and those that didn't.
When riders sprinted two minutes before, their peak power in the final effort dropped by eight percent, their total work dropped by 13 percent, and their critical power, a measurement of sustained power, dropped five percent. The big difference for the three tests is that after the two-minute rest, the subjects registered a higher VO2 (oxygen uptake) going into the three-minute test. In effect, they were still breathing hard and trying to recover from the sprint.
To break the study down into lay terms, if you want to break away, putting down a 30-second sprint at least 15 minutes before the finish won't significantly effect your finish sprint. For tips on how to ramp up your sprinting ability, check out Chris Carmichael's sprint workouts and his advice on how to set up a perfect field sprint.