This is Part 3 in the Series on Breaking Away.  Part 1 covered how to initiate the breakaway and Part 2 covered how to ride in the break.  This post will cover finishing the breakaway off with the win after a hard days work!

How to win from a small group:

The reason most riders want to be part of a breakaway is the that it greatly reduced the number of riders you must beat for the win, in addition to the chance to earn sprint classification points, mountains (KOM) points, TV time, or aggressive rider jerseys. If a consistently fast sprinter such as Mark Cavendish is in your field, it is much much nicer to arrive at the finish line without him (If a field sprint is inevitable, here is how to win anyway).

Lets use a group size of five breakaway riders to illustrate our point. You must have managed your effort compared to the other riders in the break throughout the duration of the break. Forcing the other riders to do more work than you is often hard to do psychologically, especially if you  are highly invested in the move, but can leave you with more in the tank for the finale.

Make sure you have a handle on who is likely to be the fastest in a sprint and who is likely to attack from a few kilometers out. It will be the responsibility of the fastest finisher to do the bulk of the chasing of the attacks (realize this may be you!). Your task is to either create a winning gap on the rest of the break in a late move type fashion, or place yourself in the position that will allow you to win the sprint to the line.

Having a plan going into the finale will be the key to your success.  Decide whether you are going to go for the attack or hold out for the sprint.  The closer you get to the line, the more an attack becomes an all-in proposition.  It is not likely you will be able to recover enough from a hard attack to participate in the sprint.  However, fortune favors the bold here and an attack will often leave the remaining four riders looking at each other because none wants to initiate doing the work to bring you back.

Sometimes when the group needs to maintain its cooperation to sustain the momentum and not be caught, continuing to take pulls is sometimes a necessity   Make sure you keep the pulls short and spin at a nice high cadence to be able to respond quickly.  If you are planning to attack, wait at the back of the rotation and go when the strongest rider is finishing his pull or is boxed in.  You may be forced to follow some moves, so jump on them quickly and rely on position and momentum as much as possible. Keep your eyes and ears open for signs of attack and be flexible.  This is the time when it doesn’t really matter the course, rather you must only defeat the other riders

When you do move to create your gap whether in attack or in the sprint, you must create the most decisive, psychologically massive attack possible to deter a response.  This means surprising the other riders, catching them when they are looking the other way or have just done a pull.  Also getting as far away from the group as possible by moving across the entire road is ideal. Once you have the gap created, every rider is working in the wind just as much as you and the drafting advantage is minimized.

In conclusion, use your teammates and allies in the break to your advantage all day, conserve your energy by letting others do more work, and create decisive well executed attacks. Good Luck!  Share your breakaway success stories in the comments!