Technique wins.
Just look at the performance of Tadej Pogacar with a dominant victory at Strade Bianche yesterday.
While most will brush off his performance due to him having superior power, if you took a close look at the riders he left in the dust they have similar power to his.
So what does he do differently? Well, while there are a few key things, in today’s blog post we will look at his technique, specifically seated.
Seated technique was important at this event because the roads had limited traction due to the gravel surface. Pogacar, through his technique, was able to deliver more of his power to the terrain to create more speed than his rivals in the key moments of the race.
Let’s look at his seated technique and what he does with the Three Points of Power to get maximum power transfer and make his watts faster than the other riders watts.
1. Hands: Thumbs on top the the hoods to create a strong lock on the bars. This is used to pull in on the hoods while bring the elbow towards the core with each downstroke. Elbows are bent to help engage and use core on each downstroke.
2. Core: Pelvis forward on the seat and rotated down to get in front of downstroke making it more powerful.
3. Feet: Heel up on the bottom of upstroke while while pulling up with calves, hamstrings, and hip flexors. Drop heel down over the top of the downstroke and drive with it to the bottom of the downstroke.
Using the Three Points of Power with these three techniques, Pogacar was able to create more power while making that power faster as it is delivered to the gravel terrain in the most effective manner.