Race Tactics & Bunch Riding
The skills that separate strong riders from successful ones. Drafting, pack positioning, attacks, and race-day decision making.
Overview
Fitness gets you to the start line. Tactics get you across the line in the position your fitness deserves. Every race, sportive and club ride contains riders who are physically stronger than the winners but finish further back because they spent energy badly, got boxed in, attacked at the wrong moment, or panicked in the final kilometre.
This guide is for riders who already have a good FTP, ride with groups regularly, and want to race well — whether that's category racing, a cyclo-cross series, criteriums, or simply winning the club ride sprint point. It assumes comfortable group riding skills and a willingness to practice, because tactics only work if the bike handling is automatic.
Golden Rule: Races are won with the least energy spent. Every wasted watt in the first hour is a watt you won't have in the last kilometre. Hide, wait, strike.
Prerequisites
- Comfortable riding in a pack at 40+ km/h
- Can hold a wheel 10-20 cm behind without drifting
- Basic race or chaingang experience
- Familiarity with at least one race format (crit, road race, time trial, cyclo-cross)
The Physics of Drafting
Drafting is the largest tactical lever in cycling. Aerodynamic drag rises with the cube of speed — small speed gains cost disproportionately huge power.
| Position | Power reduction vs solo |
|---|---|
| Solo, front | 0% (baseline) |
| Behind one rider, 20 cm gap | 25-30% reduction |
| Middle of a pack of 20 | 40-50% reduction |
| At the back of a pack | 25-35% (more turbulent air) |
| Sheltered by a team train | 35-45% |
Read that again: sitting mid-pack halves your energy cost. This is why riders who can't do the watts on their own still win races — they outsource the watts to the pack.
Positional Awareness
The three zones within a group:
Front (top 10-15%)
When to be here:
- Final 5-10 km of a flat race
- Start of a key climb
- Approaching a technical section or crosswind section
- When a break is going
Costs: Highest energy. Cannot sit here the whole race.
Middle (sheltered but poised)
When to be here:
- Majority of race time
- Big flat sections
- Anywhere you're waiting for something
Why: Maximum draft, good visibility, can move forward when needed.
Back (danger zone)
When to be here:
- Hardly ever
- Recovery after a big effort
- If race is neutralised
Risks: Elastic-band effect on accelerations (you have to sprint to close gaps), first to be dropped, limited decision time.
The rest of this plan is for supporters
You’ve read the overview. The full Advanced programme — the week-by-week schedule, the sessions, the progressions and the numbers — unlocks with an access code, from £0.67 a month. Every Beginner and Intermediate guide on the site stays free.