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Tour de France Wrap: A Strong Sky

By Coach Fred Matheny

Chris Froome’s victory in the 2015 Tour de France was due, in large part, to the strength of his Sky Team. Of course, Froome had the acceleration to make a difference on the climbs (especially on Stage 10) and the bike handling skills to stay safe on the technical descents.

Sky was arguably the strongest team, though, so Froome always had a phalanx of teammates to escort him through the dangers of the event.

But other teams were nearly as strong. The reason? They’ve adopted the key to Sky’s success in recent years — the idea of Marginal Gains.

Simply put, it’s identifying all the areas of performance where tiny gains can be made. Come up with enough improvements, each contributing a small part of a percent, and the total gains become impressive.

One example: in previous years Sky riders were mocked for warming down on trainers after every stage. But this year nearly every team adopted this routine. In fact, many post-race TV interviews were conducted with riders gently spinning their legs.

So Marginal Gains has proven to be a powerful way to improve the performance of pro riders. But its effectiveness isn’t limited to the pros. Recreational riders can find dozens of small improvements leading to big performance gains.

That’s why I wrote the eArticle, Marginal Gains for Overall Performance Improvement.

It details how to identify areas of improvement in training, clothing, gear and nutrition as well as event-day preparation. In it you’ll find small ways to improve that, taken together, will make you a more powerful and more prepared rider whether you’re aiming for a Gran Fondo, a century or a Strava KOM.

Don’t let Team Sky and other pros improve their riding while you languish on the sidelines for lack of information! Marginal Gains for Overall Performance Improvement is available in the RBR bookstore for only $4.99, $4.24 for our Premium Members.

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