Granfondo pacing: how fast at the start?

Granfondos always start too fast. The leaders want to get away and everybody else wants to ride with people slightly faster than themselves. So if you want to get a good result, you too have to start too fast. If you don’t, most of the other riders at your level will be in front working together and you will never catch them. But if you overdo it and keep going too hard for too long, you will blow up and find yourself overtaken by weaker riders. So how to get this right?
Marvin Faure, coach and founder of Granfondo coaching specialist Alpine Cols, explains how to work out for yourself how fast you should start at your next Granfondo.
Key moments:
00:00 Introduction
00:50 Different strategies for different route profiles
03:15 Summary of three stratgies
03:35 The start of the Corima 2022
04:40 How fast is too fast?
06:10 Two mantras
#granfondo
#cyclingcoaching
#sportivetraining
#GranFondotraining
#granfondoperformance

[@gresleymccaslin5948]

Any info is valuable……thanks for taking time to explain as best possible..well worth watching ..(1st time 9th July 2023..dreading it 😂)

[@alpinecols]

Good luck on July 9!

[@leighgoodwin1726]

Interesting. I always start Gran Fondos, including those with relatively flat start sections, well below threshold and probably save too much, whereas friend I know go very hard and stick to fast groups. I want to finish stronger but they end up with a quicker time! Also I’m realising that running out of leg muscle strength and energy on the last climbs is probably down to a combination of not enough volume in training and inadequate fuelling. Thank you

[@alpinecols]

Thanks for the comment Leigh. It’s always a balance of course: starting too hard plays out differently but is no better in terms of finishing place than starting too early. The optimum is somewhere in the middle; it founds like your buddies have it figured out! For the strategy to work, you must be able to ride well in a group for maximum energy conservation.
The best suggestion I can make is to try it out, at a B or C priority event. You could also consider starting the occasional training ride with an hour’s worth of very hard, unstructured intervals to simulate the first hour of your target event.

[@alpinecols]

Key moments:
00:00 Introduction
00:50 Different strategies for different route profiles
03:15 Summary of three strategies
03:35 The start of the Corima 2022
04:40 How fast is too fast?
06:10 Two mantras

[@stefangeorge87]

For me, as a beginner with only 2 Grandfondo's experience, i find that starting at a too higher pace will cause my heart rate to be way too high almost the entire race. Or perhaps this was the lack of a proper warm up before the race. I find that it also helps me a lot knowing some parts of the course and having ridden them before - it helps me relax more.
Now preparing for the La Marmotte I'am going to ride the Glandon and Alpe Huezz the week before the main event at a very slow pace, just allowing me to get to know the course a bit.
Thanks for your very useful tips.

[@alpinecols]

That's an excellent plan George. Good luck!

[@alexanderwolf-reber4585]

I go with "Life is too short to ride below threshold" this year ;-)

[@alpinecols]

Absolutely! Just make sure you can keep it going for 5 hours ;-)