Fleck wrote:
You mentioned instincts - I think at the super-elite level a lot of comes down to that in bike racing A great video to watch is the famous "missing kilometers" from the 2017 UCI World Road Race Championships where Peter Sagan, won a third World Road Race Championships in a row.
https://www.youtube.com/...S2rw1G95u8&t=16s The ebbing and flowing if the racing over the final 4km - the various attacks and counter attacks. Sagan, picks one wheel different than he did, or choose to chase down or not chase down, one little micro-break, and he does not win the race. In the moment, after 5 1/2 hours of hard racing, and now well over the red-line, what else is driving your decision making other than a gut call and some instincts - so many variables with bike road racing. It's a bit mind boggling. It's amazing that guys like Sagan are as consistently up there and a factor.
Sure he took some chances and had some luck, but as they say, you have to make your own luck, and he had to be at the right place at the right time, several times to take advantage of all this
I think you're talking to me, not positive, I did mention instincts a few times. :)
I've been following Sagan for several years. You're right, at that level, instincts are a very large factor, and I think his biggest asset. He's not the strongest guy in the peloton (although, being an accomplished sprinter, the guy can still hang with climbers on breaks in the mountain stages, holy heck is that amazing to see!), but he is so tuned in to his instincts that he can surf wheels and competing teams know it's coming, but still they cannot stop him. He's just that good, moves, reacts and anticipates that smoothly, quickly, precisely, and from the aerial shots, it's like a genius ballet of finesse bike handling to behold. Reminds me of watching Gille Villeneuve in F1 as a child. Riding on the ragged edge, passing so tight to get the win, but smearing the moves together like liquid and making it look easy. Of course Villeneuve banged wheels, a bit more rough than Sagan, thank goodness. :D
I took my son to see his second pro bike race here in San Diego at the Tour of CA (the first was years previous here, when Lance was still a pro and hadn't yet ruined his legacy), and we were 20 yards from the finish of stage 1. Sagan made his move right in front of us after surfing wheels up that final straight. So thrilling to see him work through traffic in-person, with everyone banging loudly on the banners and yelling at the top of our lungs. What a day.