How to make your attack stick!
1. Commit to the plan of attacking and getting away. This means throw away plan b of sitting in. Most people try to attack only once or twice and try to time it perfectly. The first attacks don’t seem to work so they change plans and sit in the group.
2. Don’t attack with everything, control it. If you are going on the offense, use zones you train to attack with. This is so you have gas in the tank if there is a counter attack. I see many riders drop themselves right out of the winning move by attacking so hard they can’t stay away once they are clear.
3. If you are going on the offense, attack in places where there are distinct changes in speed from slow to fast. This can be out of corners, head wind to tail wind, or the tops of climbs.
4. Make your attacks 30 seconds or more if you are in the offensive. If you are taking a defensive strategy, commit to not letting any rider (s) get up to a 30 gap.
5. Attack on your terms, not worrying about others. Stop obsessing where the best riders are. Everyone always marks the best riders to get in the moves, but unless you are in the yellow jersey, you should be trying to go places without them! This strategy usually fails everyone is doing the same thing and they cancel the best riders out and you in the process.
6. Be relentless. In order to snap the elastic you have to keep trying. You can stop trying when you get in the move or your legs seize up to the point they are quivering.