jyl

Confession: I like sprint finishes. It's not just that you can sleep an extra couple hours and just watch the last 10 km. But also that so many things go right and wrong in a very short time, as the fastest road cyclists in the world turn on unimaginable power and bang shoulders for 200 meters at 65 km/h.

So here's a thread for interesting sprint finishes. This may be especially useful for sprints in races that might not get their own thread.

Bonus points for including slo mo video!

I'll start us off. Stage 1, Dubai Tour, Kittel comes back from a terrible year, with a new sprint train, and beats Cavendish who has been training on the track all winter and has been reunited with his old HTC train. Let's look at the details.

Last 1 km video is here but it switches to front camera halfway through:
Last Km of Stage 1 (2016/dubai-tour)

Last 500 m video using overhead camera is here (I have no idea what the deal is with the bizarre URL title):
Marcel Kittel (Etixx-Quickstep) wins Stage 1 of the #DubaiTour - Gfycat

At 1 km, EQS have two leadout riders who have brought Kittel to the head of the bunch (dark blue jersey). To their left, Trek with Nizzolo have pushed to challenge for the front (white shoulders/black body jersey). Cavendish and his DDD leadout Renshaw (white jersey with black Q on the back) are trailing those two trains. The first Trek leadout peels off, the first EQS leadout peels off, Trek hits the front on the left with EQS on the right. Renshaw slots in behind Trek, at the left edge of the road. Sky with Viviani and one leadout slot in behind EQS, boxing the DDD riders in. Cav leaves Renshaw and moves to the right, behind the Sky riders and an Astana rider (Guardini) who is freelancing. The second Trek leadout expires and Nizzolo moves behind Kittel. The second EQS leadout peels off and Kittel starts his sprint. I'm reading that this was at 250 m. At this moment, the expiring EQS rider is P1, Kittel is P2, then Nizzolo, the Sky and Astana riders, someone in a white jersey (local Dubai team), and Cavendish is P7. Kittel turns on the afterburners, leaves Sky and Astana behind, Cavendish first tries to pass between those riders then goes wide right to pass them, being three bike lengths behind Kittel. He passes Nizzolo, the Astana rider, the fading Sky rider, and the local racer, and gets behind Kittel. Kittel is doing a long, powerful sprint in wind. Cavendish pulls to about 1.5 bike lengths of Kittel at the line. Nizzolo third, Lampre's Modolo follows Cavendish to pick up fourth.

Looks like Kittel is the man to beat (250 m into the wind and he rode Nizzolo, Guardini, Viviani off his wheel), EQS have got their train clicking, DDD's leadout misfired (is Renshaw losing his chops?), and Cavendish looks fast in defeat (was able to come from a long way back and, after he hit the wind, make a couple bike lengths on Kittel in about 100-150 m).

I think we'll have a great sprint year. Kittel is BAAACK, Cavendish looks fast with all the track training, Griepel has won twice already, Ewan is the new sensation, Gavaria might be too (except that I'm not sure how much road riding he'll do), Coquard has won one, and the Bouhannis, Sagans, etc will be fighting too. We're missing Degenkolb, though.

So, Sprint Fans, post your sprint videos and comments here!

jyl

Another sprint, stage 1 in Qatar. The final sprint itself was not remarkable. Katusha led out Kristhoff, Cavendish sat on Kristhoff's wheel, when Kristhoff went he wasn't fast, so Cavendish came around him. On the other side, Modolo and Guardini were getting in each other's way and Bennett was stuck behind. Cavendish finished only slightly ahead of Guardini, not sure if he was "pacing his effort" as the articles said or if Cavendish was only just that much faster.

There has been talk about Cavendish's months of track training over the winter, to the exclusion of the road, leaving him short on endurance, so that he gets to the sprint more tired than he needs to be. I didn't know how much sense this made, but he is now himself suggesting that if Qatar shows he lacks endurance, then he might have to skip the London Track Worlds which would, I believe, mean he won't get selected for the GB Olympics team. Given how much effort he's put into track training for the past few months, and how much he wants a chance at the Olympics, for him to hint that he might give up on Rio is surprising. It kind of suggests that he's pretty worried about his form and maybe about matching up with Kittel, who has now beaten Cavendish in 10 of 10 sprints.

But the real thing I wanted to note about the day was how freaking fast the riders were. 185 km at average 50.5 kmh (32 mph). I could keep up with the pro peleton for maybe 15 seconds. If that. Golly jeepers. And it wasn't just a whole peloton pushing that speed. At some point there was a split and about 20 riders, including the top sprinters, worked together to stay ahead of the bunch and set up a small bunch sprint. Everyone was taking turns, even the Cavendishes and Kristhoffs and other team leaders.

And after blasting along at speeds that would actually get you a speeding ticket in much of Portland, the sprinters hit 42 mph in the finale. I mean, when I'm going 42 mph on a fast descent, I'm getting nervous. By the way, that was Quinziato's top speed and he finished 8th. The top finishers must have been closer to 45 mph.

jyl

Kristhoff narrowly beats Cavendish in a straight up flat sprint. The bunch battled winds, splits, and a crash around 500 m that took out everyone after about P10. The survivors launched a longish sprint, into a right quartering headwind. Cavendish was on Kristhoff's wheel, then came around on the right, the wind side, but never got a gap and was edged out at the bike throw.

Ken Brown

I haven't been watching the Volta ao Algarve because it isn't broadcast here in Canada, but I see that Kittel beat Greipel in stage 1, and that must have been exciting.

I do get a half hour summary of the Tour of Oman and Kristoff won the stage 3 sprint finish yesterday, but the field of sprinters is thin.

jyl

Frustratingly, the Volta ao Algarve doesn't seem to be televised anywhere, at least I haven't found a feed. There is a video highlights on YouTube. The sprint was filmed from a fixed camera at the finish line, the riders round a left bend in mid sprint, Kittel is a couple bike lengths ahead and they proceed to the line with no change in position. You can't see any of the leadout, position battles, initial jump. So, not very interesting.

There was a sprint in the Vuelta A Andalucia (Ruta del Sol). Sky was leading out Swift at 2 km, Trek was there with Felline, Cofidis with Bouhanni, Tinkoff with Bennati, also Movistar with Valverde. But Bouhanni was clearly the fastest of those, he came around Valverde and won with little trouble.

Bouhanni is fast and Cofidis is built around him. Last year he won 12 times, in smaller races. I'm not sure if Cofidis can't get him positioned against the big teams, or maybe he's not that fast when matched up with the top guys.

Here is a very interesting analysis of what it takes to win a bunch sprint. Power of course, but position is even more important. https://sportsscientists.com/2014/07/...-sprint-stage/


In the HTC Highroad days, that team would form a train and lead the field from 3-4 km out, so fast that other sprinters would struggle to be in position at 200 m. Today a bunch sprint is contested by multiple trains, surging past each other, getting in each other's way, fighting for position in the turns, and GC teams are also trying to keep their leaders up front. When Kittel was breaking out with Shimano/Giant, his train would bide its time and then appear at the front at 1 km, after other trains had expended all the energy for the preceding 2-3 kms. Sky seems to be trying to use the Highroad approach of leading the bunch from way out, which doesn't seem to work well, they are frequently swamped in the last km or two. EQS also seems to lead from a a ways out, but they are pulling it off. DiData hang figured out its train yet.

Ken Brown

I didn't realize the tour of Andalucia was also going on now. Three tours at the same time.

jyl

I'm having trouble keeping track of who is racing where!

And with little to no video from Oman or Algarve, it is even harder to follow the action.

Kittel won the sprint in Algarve. There was only video of the last 150 m, from a finish line camera. Griepel crashed and wasn't in contention, Kittel led the other sprinters the entire 150 m and won by a couple bike lengths. No idea how the leadouts etc went. But Kittel sure does look unbeatable. He's racing the Giro and the Tour, which may not leave much opportunity for other sprinters.

Ken Brown

I use Steephill TV, though it is not completely up to date presently. The box on the right can be toggled between stage races and classics, and it has the UCI world calendar just under the toggles.

2016 Tirreno-Adriatico Live Video, Preview, Startlist, Results, Photos, TV

WCroadie

I too like sprint finishes, good thread... Hopefully we can keep it going all year.

Leinster

Check out the final sprint from stage 1 of Paris Nice earlier today.

https://youtu.be/T4gxPGT6TPQ

Winner comes from several wheels back just as the late break is being reeled in, timing his effort beautifully, and then crossing back under a leader's wheel for just that little bit of a draft before his final surge. Very cleverly done, but still with the speed to carry over.

jyl

How fast the sprinters gobbled up Theuns' gap! He was way ahead at the last corner, then in a blink of an eye, he was being swallowed up.

Leinster

The difference in speed between sprinters coming out of a lead out train and a guy who's been solo for a couple kms is huge. Remember in the Tour 2 years ago when Jack Bauer was leading with 50 to go, and finished 10th.

jyl

Gutty sprint stage 2 Paris-Nice.

Billed as a sprinter stage but there was a climb and narrow roads near the end. Kittel was dropped, most of the trains disintegrated. Bouhanni with one leadout came around the final corner first. Matthews was on Bouhanni's wheel, then Fellini I think. They open up their sprints around 175 m. Bouhanni is near the left barrier, moves right, Matthews comes around between Bouhanni and the barrier, Bouhanni squeezes left and throws out his left elbow, blocking Matthews, the two nearly crash, Bouhanni wins by half a bike, and race jury relegates him to third and gives the win to Matthews.

Last 5 Km of Stage 2 (2016/paris-nice)

What do you think?. Relegation deserved, or just a racing incident?. Jury must have considered it a close call because they didn't send Bouhanni to the back of the peloton. Some chatter that Bouhanni's tire slipped making the move inadvertent and anyway this isn't a game of whist. Other chatter that Bouhanni's been a dangerous sprinter before and the jury wanted to send him a message.

WCroadie

I think it's a deserved penalty, you just can't ride like that, you pose too much of a danger to the other riders.

jyl

I'm still thinking about Kittel never managing to get hooked on to his train and getting stuck at the back of the peloton. Sheesh. Griepel managed to finish 7th and he's recovering from broken ribs or something.

My image of Kittel is a WW2 German 88 mm piece. Big, bulky, needs a whole gunnery team to tow unload move aim load and fire, pretty devastating when all that gets done, but other times never gets a chance to join the battle.

jyl

And by the way we are going to have some really interesting sprints at Tirreno-Adriatico. Cavendish with his ex-HTC leadout, Ewan with OGE who did a pretty good job leading in TDU, Gaviria who actually seems to have EQS' "A team" as far as sprint trains go, Bennett who looked quite competitive in the desert sprints, Sagan who might or might not shave his legs and Bennati who might or might not be working for Sagan, Viviani who must want revenge on Cav after the Track Worlds, Nizzolo and Modolo who are reliably competitive, etc.

Leinster

Kittel is a luxury few teams can afford. He does one thing, does it very very well, probably the best there is, but he needs a train and he needs a flat race. Now that Giant have Dumoulin, you can see why they'd want to mix it up a bit. And to be honest, I'm surprised that Etixx of all teams picked him up; granted they want a replacement for Cav, but they've always been a multi-purpose team, and going for a pure 1-job specialist like Kittel doesn't seem their style.

jyl

The thing is, EQS has the Cav replacement in Fernando Gaviria, who looks like The Real Deal - beat Cav 2X at TdSL, 2X World Champion on the track, young, good looking, hungry, (probably) cheap . . . why they went for Kittel confuses me, unless he was significantly cheap after his terrible 2015.

Leinster

He can't have been cheap, because he still had a year on his Giant contract.

jyl

I'm not sure. Kittel was probably fairly cheap for Giant, because it's not a big budget team and he'd been there from the beginning. He and Giant had a big falling out, Giant was looking at having an unmotivated rider who would be tying up several riders at each race, and Kittel was looking at a team that didn't think he was fit to race the Tour. That might have allowed EQS to make a deal. Lefevre seems like a clever manager and tight with a euro.

Reportedly EQS' budget was also down, which was one factor in them letting both Cav and Kwiatowski go away, and Lefevre would have known Boonen was close to retirement and that he'd need to reserve enough budget to hire some classics stars, since EQS' prime directive is to win spring classics which Kittel can't do for them.

EQS hasn't lived up to their own high standards in the classics for a while, 2015 was a big bust (I think Cav got the only classics win at KBK, plus Stybar at Strade Bianchi but that's not in Belgium). In 2016, they have Stybar, Terpstra, Martin as their proven but not prolific winners, Alaphillipe may become one if/after he recovers from mono, Lampaert and Vakoc are promising but young, Gaviria is promising but not necessarily for the classics.

jyl

Kittel loses touch again at P-N. I guess the final 10 km weren't flat, wide, and sunny enough for him.

In the absence of the 88 mm, Bouhanni beats Kristhoff and Griepel, cleanly and decisively, after a scramble of a sprint. Boy Van Poppel (?) led Bouhanni out, then BouBou comes around the Trek rider and shows his heels.

Last 6 Km of Stage 4 (2016/paris-nice)

Over at T-A, no pure sprinters made it to the front. Stybar attacked at 3 km and was never caught despite Nibali, Sagan, Boassan Hagan all chasing hard with no game playing. Not sure where the sprinters finished, other than Cav who cruised in 20 minutes down, dead last.

WCroadie

Lol.

This is shaping up to be a good battle of the sprinters for 2016. I am a huge Cav fan, but he has come back down to earth and the new, younger boys are ready to take over.

It's a shame Degenkol got run over, he will be missed this spring season...

jyl

Cool sprint and a taste of things to come at Tirreno Adriatico today. A complicated, chaotic sprint that didn't disappoint.

Here is the profile of the final km. https://www.ciclismointernacional.com...age-3-preview/

The peloton caught the break around 2 km. At 1 km, three Tinkovs are leading Sagan, Cav pulls off after pulling for Boassan Hagan who is about 5th wheel with Ewan behind him, Gaviria is back at 15th wheel or so. The road kicks up at 7%, I think, and starts a series of shallow turns into the town. Sagan is down to one leadout man and throws an elbow to keep another rider from barging into his diminished train, Gaviria powers up the climb, sees a hole and gets to the front, Ewan is boxed in, Nizzolo is near the front, Modolo is being led out also near the front. Another turn and the leadouts are gone. 100 m from the line they round the last corner and Gaviria goes, Ewan on his wheel, Sagan has slipped back, Viviani has moved up, Nizzolo losing ground, Modolo fading. In the last meters, Gaviria is sprinting, high and on the hoods (?), Ewan is trying to come around him, low over the bars. The two come to the line with clear air behind them, Gaviria holds on for the win and Ewan second. Viviani third followed by Sagan.

Gaviria had just come from winning the ominium on the London track, he looked so powerful up that grade, very fast when he kicked, moved decisively through the bunch, oddly high on his bars. Ewan couldn't push his way through the bodies but compensated with smart positioning, he surfed the Tinkov leadout and was never far off the front, he was gaining and just ran out of road for the win. Those two were the class of the field, everyone else was left behind.

Kittel and Griepel are racing in France, but I don't think it mattered. Kittel hasn't been a factor in any of the twisty, tricky sprints in Paris-Nice and Griepel isn't at his best, still recovering from his broken rib. Bouhanni would probably have been a factor here. Kristhoff seems off form, got dropped at Paris-Nice today and hasn't looked top notch on previous days, although he did win the sprint for second today.

Gaviria and Ewan. I think they are the next top road sprinters, unless conditions are perfect for Kittel (a wide flat dragstrip after a flattish day).

Here's video. At 1 km, Gaviria is hardly in the picture and doesn't have an organized leadout, then suddenly he is right there, while Ewan positions himself cleverly except for briefly getting boxed.

Last 5 Km of Stage 3 (2016/tirreno-adriatico)

WCroadie

Solid write up! Those guys were flying into town. Sagan was there, just needed to race 15 more seconds. Exciting finish for sure!

jyl

Here is a better video, helicopter camera all the way. Love seeing the riders weave through each other while flat out up a meaningful grade.

2016 Tirreno-Adriatico: Final 1.5 kilometers of Stage 3 | www.cyclingfans.com