How Can Ski Classics Pro Tour Teams Learn From Cycling Teams?
In this first article, Eurosport’s cycling commentator Roberto Vacchi compares cycling and long-distance skiing teams.
Tour de France is in full swing. We are currently in the last week of the men’s competition. At the same time as the men step onto the finish line on the Champs-Elysées, the women set out on their tour around France.
In cycling, teams have a decisive role; the sport can easily be explained as an individual team sport. Long-distance skiing has looked different, but with the development of Ski Classic, the teams have become stronger even on the ski tracks.
Roberto Vacchi is Eurosport’s much-appreciated cycling commentator. Still, he also has excellent insight into traditional and long-distance skiing and has commented on both the Olympics and Ski Classics on Discovery’s channels:
“There are similarities and differences in the team structure within Ski Classics and cycling. But if we take the Tour de France, it is a competition that lasts for three weeks, so there will be a difference, but I would rather say that Ski Classics is reminiscent of the arrangement in one-day competitions,” says Vacchi.
Is there always a captain on a cycling team?
“Yes, there is, but it does not have to be a captain in the sense that it is always the captain you “cycle for.” It can also be an experienced cyclist who has been involved for a long time and knows the game’s rules. But often, it is the captain you cycle for; you can also have a shared leadership where you ride for two cyclists because if one does not finish, you have another one to ride for in general. In addition to the captain, there are helping riders, but a helping rider can have many different roles,” says Vacchi and continues:
“To draw the parallel to Ski Classics, if we look at last season Team Ramudden on the women’s side and Ragde Charge on the men’s side had several cards to play with, and that was something they used in several competitions. And it is one of the team’s strengths that it is possible to build up a basic tactic in advance where you know that the part or parts of the course are suitable for that particular athlete, then they as a strong team can make sure to try to “create” the competition that they want.”
It can often happen during a cycling stage or a ski race that lasts for several hours; how much is “predetermined”?
“If we take the Tour de France, you know in advance who will be in for the time trial stages; there, it is so simple that “those who are good are good.” The road race stages depend on the nature of the stage. If it’s hilly towards the end, it suits some best; if, on the other hand, it is a long straight towards the finish, this or that cyclist is suitable because he has such a strong team behind him that they can get the stage they want. But when you have come a few days into the tour on the “intermediate stages,” which are tough enough so that they do not fit the sprints, pretty much anyone can win. Then it is important to have the timing, good form, and be able to join the right break,” says Vacchi and continues:
“Those who, on the other hand, get loose on one of the flat stages; it’s a lot about wanting the sponsors to be visible because the chance to stay away is tiny. And during the first half of the tour, everyone is so alert that they can catch up with almost anyone. But if it’s more up and down, the sprints will not be strong, and then the breakaway will at least quite often go all the way home.”
A team in the Tour de France consists of eight cyclists, and the roles of the helping riders can vary from day to day:
“For the team, it is about optimizing to achieve the goals they set for each stage and the tour as a whole. Most of the tactics are set, and all teams have a basic tactic, but it can also happen a lot during a three-week stage race. Take Team DSM, who during the Giro d’Italia rode for Romain Bardet in the general, but he had stomach problems and needed to step down. Then it was up to the team to change goals and tactics to optimize the second half of the Giro; they can, for example, be about trying to win a single stage,” says Vacchi and continues:
“On the mountain stages, the tactics are determined daily. It’s about you wanting someone riding with the team’s leader as far up as possible. It can be about you as a helping rider having a desire to keep up with a certain point, and then it’s about either joining as far as possible or saving for future stages to be able to take on the role of helper rider in a good way then.”
A significant difference in cycling compared to long-distance skiing is that the cycling team can continuously have contact with their riders through radio communication:
“The team management in the car controls what happens, and it is constant information to the cyclists. As an “old man,” I am a little skeptical of this and think that it destroys a little when they are not allowed to think for themselves but where the service car can see that now that team is preparing an attack.”
What does education look like; has it been determined early on that cycling is a team sport?
“I think it is different depending on which country you come from. For my part, I started racing bikes in Italy, and they were cautious with the team riding there. We got to, for better or worse, learn team riding. Still, it was stated that you as an individual have freedom because it must not be that you slow down young people. Still, I think it is so much easier when you get up in junior years that you already, as a youth, have learned team riding and that you are an important part of a team. That education is precious.”
What similarities and differences do you see between the cycling and Ski Classics teams?
“The similarity is that in Ski Classics, the basic idea is that it is a team. It does not exist in the same way as traditional cross-country skiing. Here you can build a team spirit and build your team’s tactics based on the team members’ different strengths and weaknesses. The differences are that it is not possible to go long-distance skiing in the same way as you do in cycling because, in cycling, it is so much easier to “ride with.” You can save so much more energy by cycling. And if we take the end of the races, it is difficult to build up to the sprint in the same way in long-distance skiing as in cycling,” concludes Vacchi.