Australian pursuit!

Elushion

Got a short 11mile Australian pursuit coming up tonight. It has a few low gradient draggy hills, but would be classified as a flat race. It will have about 30 people being set off at 5-10second intervals and I will be near the front of the off. How should i approach this race; as a climber I have no chance in the sprint.

Alex_Simmons/RST

Love those races. We normally send riders out in groups though with bigger times gaps.
The tactics really depends a lot on the others riders around you and as the group forms.

If you are a near limit marker, then suggest just forming a small group and get a good rhythm going with thru and off work.

celbianchi

11 miles. Seems short, i have never done a road pursuit race that short.

Here's what i think I'd do in your shoes.

As your setting off near the front of the handicap and you say that there will only be 5 to 10 secs between riders (individual stats???), it should not be too long before your catching / being caught and a bigger group is forming.
At 11 miles you can pretty much go as hard as you can from about 7 to 8 miles out, so if there are only a few of you come together 6 or 7 minutes into the race, have a dig.
If faster people catch you, hang onto their wheel to gain a bit of respite then go again, in such a short race you'd only need to get a small gap.

anyhow - if you find yourself off the front, ride at the kind of intenstiy you would for a 10 mile TT, if this is not fast enough to hold pursuiants at bay, try a few short sharp bursts to try and split the group up a bit if you can't sprint.

Bronzie

Make sure you have a good warmup - it'll be eyeballs out from the off I think

Elushion

Was set off individually and contrary to my thoughts I was set of second last. The headwind was fierce and after about 3miles of being in nomans land, I decided to slow down and let the guy behind catch me. We started working as a team and soon caught two guys infront. They had blown up already and did no work at all. After 5miles we turned into the tail wind but the group infront had already formed with 8 people and it was a mission to nowhere. Came in 9th overall.