A strong crosswind should be seen as an opportunity and a gift. Done right a smart team can shatter the field with Hiroshima levels of destruction. Ask Iban Mayo. He was on the receiving end (along with over half the field) of Lance Armstrong and the US Postal teams clinic, Echelon 101 in the 2004 Tour de France. Today at Paris Roubaix where did Cancelarra attack? In a crosswind.

The echelon is perhaps the most misunderstood formation in cycling. I am an over the hill Master racer these days and you would think that racing other guts my age an echelon would be 2nd nature. Nope. Even when I was racing Cat 1-2 races it was rare to see a really good echelon form. In a cross wind a 10 meter gap may as well be 1k because unless you are Spartacus you probably are not gonna get across and even if you do, if it is being done right there ain’t gonna be no room for you anyway. In that situation your only hope is to get one going ASAP or start looking up The West Pointer on your iPhone because that is what is about to happen to you. Done right 2-3 guys (especially if the road turns into a tailwind) is all it takes to rip the spine out of the peloton and make it to the finish with enough time to hit on their girlfriends. Serious

53:11