" In Reading the Race, veteran professional bike racer Chris Horner and race announcer Jamie Smith team up to show cyclists how to win races with race smarts. Armed with strategies and tactics learned over thousands of races, cyclists and cycling fans will learn how to read a race -- and how to react. The Tour de France is so difficult to win that for a century it has been tradition for the champion to share the winnings with his teammates. This acknowledgment of the value of team strategy and tactics is commonplace at the top level of cycling, where the sport is all about teamwork. Yet every amateur cyclist who lines up at the start of the weekend criterium thinks he's in it to win it. By drawing up clever race plans, forming ad hoc teams, and reading the race accurately these riders can transform themselves from loose cannons to podium contenders. Even better-organized amateur teams have a lot to overcome. The spectrum of fitness and motivation on a Cat-III cycling team is gaping wide. Horner and Smith show how even the most mismatched team can employ strategies and race smarts to better their chances of finishing in the prize money. For team captains who dream of the podium to the teammates who make it happen to bike racing fans who have no dream of racing, Reading the Race offers a veteran's eye view of how the race can be won"-- Provided by publisher.