 Welcome back to the eighth edition of the RCA training tip show where every Wednesday Aussie time I'm going to be your YouTube road cycling coach and host of the show, Cam Nichols. This video today is actually part two of a video I published in October last year called the number one mistake cyclists make in criterium racing. So joining me again in this video today is a man that rode professionally overseas for a number of years and a man that became one of the most highly regarded criterium racers in Australia in recent years, Tommy Nancurvis. While the title of this video is a little extreme and bold, I am actually quoting Tommy Nancurvis himself, who has a very strong opinion on this topic. And I think it's fantastic to have someone at his level provide a strong point of view on something that I was personally confused about when I first got into criterium racing many years ago. You see, Tommy has a proper background in cycling. There's a family history there. He started off on the track as a junior and he's been racing overseas professionally and locally in the criterium scene for many, many years. Myself, I started criterium racing in my late 20s after a stint at triathlons. And when I first started crit racing, I knew absolutely nothing. However, I made my way to B grade, which is the equivalent of category two for all my US friends rather quickly. And that was the first time I saw guys wearing the same kit and working for each other. And that was the first time I witnessed what we're going to be talking about today. You see, I wish I'd seen a video like this or spoken to a man like Tommy before I started criterium racing. So I would know whether what you're going to see today was right or wrong. I actually remember in B grade getting into some verbal altercations with some guys on this topic, because to me, it just seemed unfair. However, I didn't know whether I was right or I was wrong. Turns out I was right. Well, you don't get fined or disqualified. And obviously it's hard to prove. Most commissaires absolutely hate it as its negative racing. So before we hear Tommy talk about this topic while watching a Glenvale A grade criterium in Melbourne, Australia, I just wanted to let people know that Tommy and his business partner, Jeremy Hunt, who's an ex-sky rider, have just launched an online training system or platform called Form Finder, which essentially enables road cyclists to get premium one on one coaching for a fraction of the price it would normally cost. Form Finder are also offering the first 30 days for free. So I'll provide a link below. And I'll also provide another link to my free e-book for road cyclists out there looking to take their performance to the next level. So let's get into the video. So can you see him up the road here? Yeah, if that's your group. Yeah, pretty big bunch. What is it, six or seven of them? Yeah, one guy just getting dropped. See, so that's kind of annoying there because you've gone around the corner. There's clearly enough room for both of you to cross over and these two have got a gap. So for whatever reason, someone's let the wheel go. If they're letting the wheel go just to be tactical, then they would really give me give me frustration. Yeah, why is that? Oh, you can't get in the way and slow people down. You can sit at the back if you don't want to contribute to a chase. Yeah, sit in the last five wheels. Yeah, OK. Otherwise, it's on you to maintain the momentum of the bunch as we talked about before. Yeah. You just can't. It's just, you know, if Team Sky riding the front with Garant Thomas in the yellow jersey sitting in seventh wheel, do you see anyone from the rival teams come up and ride into fourth wheel and then lose the wheel on a corner and make the last guy's chase? It's just it's just doesn't happen. It's the height of, you know, doping is more ethical than doing that, if you ask me. It's just it's the most pathetic, pathetic thing that you can ever do in. It's like it's like when you, you know, if you're playing footy and your opponent's doing his shoelace up and you go up and knock him over, it's kind of that's how annoying it is. Yeah, and that's a fair call. So basically, if somebody is if someone goes around the corner and deliberately slows the pace when there's people up the road, you know, deliberately, there's people chasing anyone from any town. If someone from my team did it, I'd go have a go at them. Yeah, right. I just hate it. It's just the it's just the worst bad sportsmanship. Yeah, it's so bad. Yeah. So for those people that do have a made up the road or a teammate, like they just go and sit in the back third if they're not going to do it. Exactly. Back third. Yeah. And if like that situation with you before where you were stuck, caught out, yeah, contribute to that kind of closing a gap. Yeah, no worries. That's good. But you still see that a fair bit in crits in the local scene, even in A grade, you know, people jumping on the front and purposely. Oh, yeah, I hate it. Yeah. It was funny because a couple of years ago at Sandown, these bunch of flogs rocked up and they were doing that. They had one guy in the break of like 11 or 10 after like two laps. And they all went to the front and they started blocking. And I said, get out the way or I'm going to run you off the road. And they kept they kept doing it. And one guy's like, oh, you want to fight, you want to fight. And I'm like, whatever, dude, like. You just don't. Yeah. And then then the next lap, his mate get dropped out of the break. So then they've got no one in the break. And then and I'm like, OK, now seeing as you contributed to making that gap bigger than it was, it's time for your team to get on the front and close the break. You know, swearing at me and all this, I'm like, if you don't know how racing goes, don't try and like think I'm proven to understanding races and how racing goes. Like if I usually I'm saying something constructively and if guys want to mark up at me or, you know, just return fire. But if you've got no idea what you're talking about, don't try and tell someone who's experienced how things work. It's like, you know, I'm going to tell you how to do a vlog. Or I don't go tell people who are good at other sport. You know, I love playing golf. I don't tell anyone how to do anything in golf. I just ask lots of questions. Yeah. You know, you just got to. So there's a bit of a culture of it, though, isn't there? Yeah, there is. I don't know how when I remember when I first started doing crits, the first year I started like being able to win them and stuff. Yeah. And there was just one team and they used to come down and block. And I'm like, you guys are so pathetic, man. Like it happens on the odd, did a track races a few years ago and they were doing it on the track as well. I'm like, all right, so it's always sort of been around. Well, yeah, but no, it hasn't always been around because when I started, when everyone used to use 32 spoke wheels, the average speeds were about the same as they are now. Yeah, right. So everyone used to used to go from first wheel, you do your turn and you come back in and about 40th wheel or 50th wheel. Yeah, there might be, you know, five or 10 guys who had who were just, you know, going to count how many minutes they could last in A grade. But then you just, you know, after used to just count how many turns you could do, and that usually decided how long you'd been in the race. So you did three turns and you were in there 15 minutes. Yeah, right. You know, next week, you're going to try and do five turns. And then it means you get like 20 something minutes, you know. And now, like, look at all this equipment, look at all these bikes. Like, everyone is on a bike capable of riding the Tour de France. They've got the best equipment that's getting around. Except Aimo, he's got an LA. Yeah, I'm on a lay as well, but aluminium. And but the speeds, they haven't really gone up that much. You know, I never, I wasn't old enough to have done like the Carnegie handicaps and stuff, but Tiggs and Dino and them, they used to ride around in scratch and they'd get, you know, average 48, 49, 50 Ks an hour for 100 K handicap. Yeah, right. Interesting. There's no way known that the scratch bunch should be able to do that anymore. For starters, they wouldn't be as big a field. But people just don't think let's go as hard as we can until we can't go any further. They just think, oh, I'm just going to sit back or I just the blocking thing like I'm going on and on. But not only does it slow the whole field down and ruin things for everyone else in the race, but the people who are doing the blocking are losing form and condition as well. You know, like you it's still equally hard an effort. But instead of your effort being at 50 Ks an hour, your attempt to slow the field down, you're probably doing the same heart rate, but you're doing it 46 K now. It just makes you sluggish. Yeah. So you're not doing yourself any favours. Yeah. From a personal point. And as well, you just and a sportsmanship. Well, yeah, yeah, I don't think there's a number of factors, but it's good that you raise that point. I think a lot of people that come into criteria in racing and I certainly did when I first started before I got told that it's OK because I see other people do it and they think, oh, I need to get in a team so I can act like that so I can block my mate and let him go up the road. So they just do it. Yeah, what fun is that? Oh, look what I did today. I slowed field down. Yeah. Oh, congratulations on being in A grade. Yeah. And then a bright future and the next stop tour to France. And essentially, they're being educated on what they're saying, right? They're saying something exactly. They're saying some guys in some good looking kits up the front with teams and they think, oh, that's the way you do it. As opposed to really sitting down and speaking with somebody like yourself who's been doing it for a long time and understanding that it's not OK.