Race Report: 2026 Cal Poly Criterium - Men’s 2/3
Race: Cal Poly Criterium - Men’s 2/3
Date: January 25, 2026
AVRT racers: George Wehner, Tom Perkins, Henry Mallon, Levi Ritter, Michael Bektas
Top Result: Henry 4th, George 7th
Course: 1-mile lap with no significant features; you can comfortably pedal through all the gentle corners.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/17177456830
Nutrition: Pop-Tarts, sugar water, and caffeine.
Race Recap: Written by Henry.
My mistake cost us the win, and I think there’s a lot to learn in the details.
The plan:
Henry: mark early breakaways, first pull in the sprint leadout
Tom & Michael: do nothing, then dust everyone in the final 10 seconds
George & Levi: possible late break + help in the final lap
The race started with a few laps of random attacks. I waited for a hard moment, then put in an effort. One guy came with me, then four more bridged a few laps later. Everyone was willing to work, but the gap hovered around 20 seconds.
In my head, this was perfect. I’m busy in a doomed break while my teammates get a free ride. The longer the break dangles, the more other teams have to chase, and the fresher Tom and Michael are for the sprint. Right? Right??
Well… not exactly. With about five laps to go, it became clear we were staying away. By that point, we’d already fallen into a classic representation fallacy. Yes, we were represented in the break, but I had about a 0% chance of winning from that position given my abysmal sprint. Meanwhile, teammates behind would’ve had excellent odds if the group was together.
In hindsight, we should’ve been more selective early and only allowed a move to go with two of us represented, ideally with one being a sprinter. I also think we had the strength to simply shut down all breaks and force a favorable field sprint. In addition, I could’ve kept a closer eye on the gap, with the option to stop working or even drop back and help pull from the field.
But in our case, the probability of winning from a field sprint with Michael or Tom was so high that we should not have accepted even a small risk of a break victory where our worst sprinter had to roll the dice.
If the break gets caught with five laps to go, we execute the leadout, Michael has the freshest legs, and we probably win. Tactical geniuses. Champagne. Etc.
You see this exact mistake in pro racing all the time. A team refuses to help chase because they’re “represented,” even when their weakest rider is in the move. Sometimes other teams do the work and it pays off. Often it doesn’t.
But hey, it’s Cat 2 crit racing in January. If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not doing it right. On to the next one.
Thanks for reading,
Henry