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Since every rider in the peloton gets credited the same time, where's the advantage in fancy formation work within it?
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A common mistake made by many road racing teams is that team members sometimes tend to clump together in one spot in the peloton.
This occurs from the lower amateur categories all the way to the top Euro pros, and often causes entire teams to be taken out of the event by a crash, or a split in the field.
A good way to approach positioning in the group is to have the team members spread out into an "X" formation (roughly).
The riders at the back of the X should still be in the front half of the peloton. They are in position to be the "eyes" of the group. If they see a pending attack or a dangerous rival preparing for a move, they can call or radio to the other team members.
The riders at the front of the X are in position to cover or attack. They should be near the front, but not at the front, so they are not working unnecessarily in the wind. Since most attacks come from a side and near the front, they will be perfectly placed to go with a break, neutralize an aggressor or make an attack.
The "protected" riders of the team should be in the middle (but still in the front half) of the group where they are sheltered from any wind. When the time is right, they can position themselves for the finish or a decisive attack.
from plu's link
formerly known as etaoin...
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In situations where there are as little as two riders, drafting behind another rider allows the rider doing the drafting to conserve around 25 percent of his or her energy.
In a “paceline”, with three or more riders, each rider can take turns “pulling” at the front of the paceline for shorter periods of time before rotating to the back of the paceline, which allows all of the riders in the paceline to conserve up to 30 percent of their energy. The more riders in the paceline, the more energy everyone can conserve.
In a peloton, a rider will have much more of a chance to “sit in”, and not do any work pulling at the front. If a rider does no work at all, he or she can conserve 45 percent or more of his or her energy. Sitting in does not apply to the single rider only. Whole teams can sit in, if they chose to do so, which would give them a greater reserve of energy to launch an attack, or just conserve energy for a harder upcoming stage.
Of course, if you are in a team that has to chase down a “breakaway”, you have no choice but to go the front of the peloton and work like a madperson.
I do know that if bicyclists tried to ride in a vee they'd be very limited in numbers, because roadways aren't as wide as the sky!
If fact, there are times when riders ride in what one might visualize as a half-vee formation, and angle diagonally across the road. It is called forming, or riding in, an echelon. This is done when the wind is either perpendicular to the riders’ direction of travel, or coming at them at an angle. Since, as Jackie writes, “they'd be very limited in numbers because roadways aren't as wide as the sky” the peloton will usually break up into several echelons. If a team is trying to protect one of its rider’s placement on the General Classification (GC), they had better make sure to get him or her into the first echelon, because the rear echelons usually get “gapped” quite badly, and sometimes “dropped” altogether.
an "X" formation
Digressing from the benefits of drafting, and delving into strategy and tactics, the X formation would indeed allow a team to respond to many different situations. That’s not to say, however, that a team should always ride in an X formation. Different goals require different formations. In some situations, formations are moot. If a team, or rider, attacks with enough energy, the peloton can be split and fragmented, a breakaway group can be fragmented, and riders can “crack” and get dropped off of the back. If riders can’t “keep the wheel” of someone in front of them, i.e. draft, and wind up getting dropped, they certainly can’t take part in a formation.
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and thanks for that, J! good stuff. very interesting.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Thanks to you both. I now have enough to start my magnum opus: "Everything you could never really be bothered knowing about cycling, but found out anyway".
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heh. well, I can only take credit for copying from plu's link... I think J knows what he's talking about.
formerly known as etaoin...
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I used to ride with a pretty lady named Glenna, and ... it was a lot more fun to be riding right behind her
There once was a cyclist voluptuous
Whose tactics were always victorious
She never changed gear
As men dropped to her rear
And she won every race in a rumpus
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I must say, Mister Plutarch, your rump poem is indicative of rare talent. Bravo! (Maybe change "victorious" to "triumphus" for a closer rhyme)  Only a fool would dare challenge such a brilliant, but low genius, so I thought about it briefly and then decided to offer some observations about the mechanics of the peloton instead. (1) The analogy of the V pattern of migrating geese is limited in explaining the nature of the peloton. Lateral vision is used by geese in correcting errant navigation and in finding feed and rest sites. Geese can't peloton because they would bump into the rump of the goose flying directly ahead; unlike TEd Remington the eyes of geese are on the sides of their head. (2) Collective Angular Momentum: ( Be advised, this idea is a bit exotic.) Draw these associations... __(a) Cyclists moving in a peloton can functionally be thought of as having the physical dynamics of a single unit. __(b) When a cyclist in a surge breaks out from the peloton a dissapportionate amount of the angular momentum of the unit is transfered to the cyclist breaking away, ergo, the slingshot. (This makes sense in concept) __(c) As well, the larger the peloton the lesser the disturbance of the aerodynamics by the loss of a single biker. (3) Spiders. The most agressive male spider almost always wins in courtship battles with other males, and so wins the dubious honor of mating with the female, "dubious" because sometimes, he afterwards becomes her meal. And like spider like human, it is usually the most aggressive male who wins the woman, money or fame. Man is, like it or not, a social animal. So nice it is to ride along in the ease and comfort of the peloton, perhaps or not, watching the pleasant rump in view just ahead...but then - out of the blue - some malcontent, some rude iconoclast, breaks away from the confort of the peloton and arrogantly pedals ahead. On occasion (but rarely) indignation and perseverance will overtake this bastard of egoism (but rarely). But almost always, the rude bastard wins. As he should. This is the real reason for the peloton. Get it?
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re "rump poem" - "brilliant, but low genius"Thanks for the 'half-ass' compliment, themilum. I guess that makes me the butt of praise. re "Get it?". Yes, I do get it. Some very penetrating insights there. The peloton is a very useful model for explaining a lot of things. The peleton exists solely for the purpose of solidifying and protecting the advantage of those who have claimed the lead. Canadian Geese fly in a "V" rather than a peloton because their motives are less complicated than ours. They are only focused on arriving at their destination as effortlessly as possible. Geese flying in formation have no strategies or even interest in fending off a Goose, flying outside the formation, from arriving at the destination before they do. There is food and sunshine enough for all when they get there, regardless of which Goose or which formation arrives first. Would that life was so sweetly simple and intelligent for us humans. We fight for territory even when there is a surplus of territory for everyone. How often, for instance, do we turn territory into terrortory? The peleton is a rare bird unknown to birds.
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