The best tips for competing in a Criterium
By Cancun Crit
Criteriums. These are the cornerstone of cycling competitions, primarily in the United States, but are also very common in Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, and many other countries around the world. These FRANTIC cycling competitions, which rarely last more than an hour, are held on hard-surfaced circuits within cities. However, competing in a CRIT (criterium) is very different from participating in a traditional road cycling race.
The competition style is different, the physical requirements are different, the strategies are different. The competitions are shorter, faster, more technical, and, depending on who you ask, much more fun.
Here are some tips that might be useful for your participation in the upcoming CANCÚN CRIT
DON'T STRESS
Have fun! These competitions are meant to be a good time. Since they're organized within cities and the courses are so short, you can bring family and friends to watch and cheer you on, so they can be a great time together, as they'll see you pass by many times. Don't stress, have a good time. Let your family see you happy doing the sport you love most, and that way they'll have a great time too. Keep in mind that we'll be competing in a local criterium at night with friends; you won't be competing in the World Championship. At the end of the race, there's nothing like enjoying a beer with friends, colleagues, and competitors to share stories about the competition. And at the end, you can take your family out to dinner!


DON'T PANIC
The first 20 minutes of the competition will be FAST & FURIOUS style, with lots of attacks and escape attempts. Rarely does the winning move come from those first 20 minutes. In most cases, the race truly begins halfway through the agreed time.
While everyone is fighting to win from the start of the competition, hang in there, stay with the group, don't fall behind, conserve your energy, and wait for things to really heat up.
THE OVERTAKEN COMPETITOR RULE
Typically, during criteriums, the "COMPETITOR CATCHED, COMPETITOR OUT" rule is used to avoid overtaking. However, at Critérium Cancún, we don't use it, as we give everyone the opportunity to race to the finish. So, if the group has left you behind a bit, do your best to reconnect.
Another solution that always works is to organize yourself with other lapping competitors and try to work together so that the leader of the pack doesn't catch them, because the rules of CANCUN CRIT no longer allow you to connect or integrate with groups that are lapping or gaining on you.
Don't despair, when you despair everything goes wrong, take it easy, come up with a strategy, at some point the group will have to lower the intensity to regain strength, you just have to be very smart!


ATTACKS
When you attack, really attack. Sometimes a SOFT attack might work in a normal road race, but soft attacks don't really exist in criterium races. Since the pace is strong, you'll need to attack even harder. Don't attack if you're 20 or 30 places back. By the time you reach the front of the pack, you'll be exhausted.
Never attack solo unless you're a superman. If you want to surprise and jump to attack from any of the top 10 positions, make sure someone is accompanying you when you make the move; it's very difficult to do it solo in these competitions.
AVOID TOUCHING WHEEL
You and you alone, are responsible for your front wheel, if a competitor in front of you, during the race, changes his line of travel from one side to the other and at that moment his rear wheel gets caught with your front wheel and you fall: IT IS SOLELY YOUR FAULT and not anyone else's, this is because: YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR FRONT WHEEL



GOING THROUGH THE CURVES
When it comes to cornering—and you'll be cornering a lot during the criterium—hold your line and follow the trail of the competitor in front of you. DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY . You'll burn a lot of energy accelerating out of the corner, trying to catch the person in front of you and reconnect. When racing involves cornering 100 or more times, it's a waste of energy to let them get away from you and keep catching up.
Get low and aerodynamic, put more weight on the front wheel during turns to gain more traction, and aim to slide into turns on an ideal line that allows you to enter and exit them quickly.
NEVER, truly NEVER, try to pass on the inside of a curve. Passing on the inside is a sure fall! Passing on the inside of a curve is not only unsafe, it will instantly make you the least popular person of the day.

CONSERVE YOUR ENERGY
In criteriums, as in all road cycling events, the key to competition is energy conservation. Go into the final laps of the race with plenty of gas left in the tank, and your chances of a great result will be much greater.
Move up the peloton or attack during lapses or when the intensity slows down to catch your breath. There's no point in trying to gain positions when the peloton is traveling at 50 km/h. It's much harder to improve your position, and it requires much more energy to do so.
Try not to pull at the front of the pack unless you have a good reason to do so. Sometimes there will be that good reason (like being in the breakaway that's going to win); other times there won't be that reason (because you feel strong).


LEARN TO READ THE RACE
Once you've decided to accelerate to improve your position or ease off a bit to recover, take a good look at how everything is around you. Is the peloton about to split? How many seconds behind is the breakaway? How long will it take for them to slow down to catch their breath? What's the body language of the rest of the peloton? Are the same riders doing all the work? Are you getting tired?
One of the best tips for reading a competition is to know your opponents.
POSITIONING YOURSELF
Stay "AT" the front, but not "IN" the front. In a short-course criterium, you definitely want to be riding in the top 20 group. Any further back than that, and you'll be on a VERY tight course. You'll have the funnel effect at the back of the pack. In fast criteriums, it's good to stay in the first third of the pack. Remember, if you're not constantly moving up, you're likely losing positions.
Be aware that you're likely to get boxed in when you're trying to cut wind with someone. Position yourself in places in the pack that allow you to move easily at the first opportunity. Positioning yourself on the wings will also allow you to hang onto someone when they start passing to improve positions in the group.


STRATEGIES FOR ESCAPING
So you've been attacking all day, and finally, when you want to make the perfect move, you get stuck? What do you do now? It's not about going as fast as you can. You have to know how to manage the distances and the group; you have to know when to attack again or when to launch a soft attack; when to feint; when to sit back; when to stand on the pedals; when to pull the group; and when... not to give up and give it your all.
THE SPRINT
In CRITS, most of the time (and actually, it's almost always) the final sprint isn't toward the finish line. It's toward the final corner. Most CRITS have their finish line "very close to the final corner." Generally, in a criterium, the distance from the final corner to the finish line is only between 30 and 200 meters. If you don't enter the final corner well positioned, you've likely lost the sprint and won't have time to improve your position.
The optimal position for entering the final corner depends on where you are in the final fast section and how quickly you can attack before reaching this final corner. The closer the final corner is to the finish line, the closer you need to be to the front of the pack. Entering the final corner at the front, you could be in the top 3 or 5 of the race, but if you didn't attack before that last corner, you could end up in the top 15 or even further back.
Crashes or accidents rarely occur among the top 10 competitors entering the final corner. When these crashes or accidents occur, they usually happen to the slightly lagging group behind, who believe they still have a chance to win.

The best tips for competing in a Crit. Now that you know them, go out, compete, and have fun