Triathlon and Drafting

I like the races where drafting is allowed.  It is more interesting from the point of view of the strategies.  The problem is that most of the triathletes do not look for the performance, but just to take advantage of the drafting and wait to have luck, enough to reach the first pack.  They do not work with the pack and just wait until the leaders of the pack catch the first peloton.  It becomes very boring and it happens most of the time when the Brownlees are not involved or the Duffy´s are too tired to try something similar to the Brownlees.

I watched the Vuelta 2016, stages 15 and 20 are the critical ones for Quintana.  In the stage 15, Quintana followed an attack done by Contador and the Team Tinkoff.  Froome was not able to follow them, when that happened, he was alone in the second pack, and lost the race there.  In the stage 20 Froome, TT stage, 37 kilometers, Froome was more than two minutes faster than Quintana.  In these two stages we can see what a team, drafting and strategy are about.  The power capacity of Froome when by himself is better than the Quintana’s one.  The team, the drafting and the strategy worked better for Quintana this Vuelta and won.  In triathlon we do not have a team most of the time and the strategy when the Brownlees are not there it is to wait until the ones pulling the peloton reach the goal (contacting the first pack).  At least this is the strategy done by the Mexicans and 90% of the second pack.  What to do then?  The answer is going to be training to perform a good strategy.

We have had numbers from different races and 360 watts is very common for the ones in the first peloton when the Brownlees are involved.  Eric Langerstrom gave some data of what happens when drafting without leading a chase pack.  He managed to produce as little as 240 watts for the 20 kilometers at Edmonton.  We appreciate Eric´s generosity. 

https://cyclosphere.com/w/2cc2271b1a410f1ebbd4c56307ededa3c997cf36040e16bd84cae66ff32dabd1

We can see the difference in wattage for the ones in a breakaway and the others drafting in the peloton.  Johnny Brownlee won the race easily, the first and second packs became one, and it was producing 100 watts less than the first pack when taking into account the ones sitting in the pack like Eric.  Let´s take a look at what we know:

http://myworldfromabicycle.blogspot.mx/2010/09/aerodynamics-in-cycling-and-how-to-be.html

The effects of aerodynamics is HUGE in road racing, time trials, criteriums, and even sprinting.  For example, drafting can reduce oxygen costs by 25 to 40 percent.  Figure 7 (below) offers a great illustration of the effects of aerodynamics and drafting:  a world class track team time trial riders can produce the following average wattages in a pace-line (traveling around 35 mph):  

First rider will produce around 607 watts (+/- 45), 

2nd rider 430 watts (+/- 39), 

3rd rider 389 watts (+/-32), 

4th rider 389 watts (+/-33). 

Professional cyclists are sensible and appreciate the help from the team.  Even Lance Armstrong would say publicly that his team was the best and he was just finishing the races.  Froome did not want to be the domestique for Wiggins because he knew he was doing all the work.  Quintana is very appreciative of the work done by his team.  We do not have the culture to appreciate what others do for us in triathlon, except the Brownlees. I have seen them looking for Varga after the race to hug him.  Varga has worked as a domestique in the water for the Brownlees and do his share of work on the bike when braking away.

 Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2003 Jul;35(7):1176-81.

Drafting distance in swimming.

Chatard JC¹, Wilson B.

Author information

Abstract

PURPOSE:

This study investigates the effect of the distance separating the lead and draft swimmers on the metabolic and hydrodynamic responses of the draft swimmer.

METHODS:

A nondrafting swim of 4 min at 95% of the best 1500-m pace for 11 swimmers was compared with swimming in a drafting position at four different distances directly behind another swimmer (0, 50, 100, and 150 cm). Swimming performance was assessed by stroke rate and stroke length; the metabolic response by oxygen uptake, heart rate, and blood lactate; and the rating of perceived exertion by the Borg scale. Passive drag was assessed at these drafting distances by passive towing. Then, passive drag was measured in six swimmers towed in six lateral drafting positions, with swimmers separated by approximately 40 cm, and then measured in two positions at the rear of the lead swimmer with a reduced lateral distance between swimmers of 50 and 0 cm.

RESULTS:

Oxygen uptake, heart rate, blood lactate, rating of perceived exertion, and stroke rate were significantly reduced and stroke length was significantly increased in all drafting positions compared with the nondrafting position. For drag, the most advantageous drafting distances were 0 and 50 cm back from the toes of the lead swimmer. Drag was reduced by 21% and 20%, respectively. In lateral drafting, drag was significantly reduced by 6% and 7%, respectively, at 50 and 100 cm back from the hands of the lead swimmer.

CONCLUSIONS:

Swimming behind another swimmer at a distance between 0 and 50 cm back from the toes was the most advantageous, whereas in lateral drafting the optimal distance was 50-100 cm back from the hands of the lead swimmer.

Tom Davidson used to pull the second pack regardless of the ones on his wheels, at the end he could not run (I guess he cannot run below 34 minutes 10k).  Nobody stopped to thank him for the effort and he did not know how much he was doing for the “wet runners” on the second pack.  Davidson made the first pack to improve cycling because the first pack was losing when Davidson was on the race; the second pack sat on his wheel and 100 watts difference was evident on the run.

Triathletes should learn how to improve cycling if we do not want to see boring races.  At the end this is one of the main reasons why we are involved in this sport.  The women Rio Olympics race was one of the races we digested where fear of biking and running was present and it became boring to watch.  Pacing training without surges for one, three minutes makes cyclists unable to break away.  Look at Froome or Nibali do a one or three minutes surge and see how the peloton blows up.  Alistair did it beautiful at Leeds.  Being able to do a break away as Alistair takes at least three years of training for the majority of first 20 triathletes in the ranking, if they do it very diligently.