'Oldest trick in the book Dave'

I've often wondered this myself. Maybe he's talking about distracting the fella in your draft while you shift to a bigger gear and sprint so he loses your slipstream...but I admit I'm really reaching with that one...

Also, isn't there a spot in the movie when David (I think, maybe it's Marcus) shoves his right gear lever forward, and the chain jumps to a *larger* cog? It's worth overlooking some of the cheese for the great on-bike photography during the race, I guess.

Why/how/in what way is this 'the oldest trick in the book'?
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One of the other posters hit the nail on the head, you wait til the rider in the breakaway with you gets distracted then you make your move. By shifting a gear he can up his pedal rpm and get some distance on the other rider before he catches his wheel as it is easier to ride on someones wheel than to ride on your own.


Frieden durch überlegene Feuerkraft

I always thought that the "oldest trick" referred to yelling "good race, guys!", and then hammering away. The trick being making their opponents think the race was over before it really was.

Very late post, but it's the intercept angle trick used by bicyclists and motorcyclists to elude dogs, etc. coming at them from the side.

You ride along at below maximum speed until your pursuit - here the cowboys, but usually a dog running flat-out, sets up an intercept course on you, which requires an approach at a certain angle based on their best speed. When your pursuit gets fairly close, you accelerate, which forces your pursuer to correct the intercept to a much narrower angle. If your pursuer is already at or near max speed, they can't go any faster and you pull away from them.

Come to think o fit, the same trick is used in football when someone is making a long run for the end zone and has to avoid being nailed by linebackers or safeties.

There is a scene in the movie after the first stage where Marcus and David take the van out early in the morning and Marcus is explaining to David that he is an unknown and that by going all out early he could make up time and get back into the race by winning the sprint markers. Marcus early in the stage yells at David calling him a dumbbell and that it is too early to break from the pack. Muzzin's teammate Jerome starts to give chase and Muzzin orders him to let him go and that he is nobody keeping their main focus on Marcus. What they didn't realize was by going all out early, David built a considerable lead due to the pack keeping their focus on Marcus and forgetting about David. (Misdirection), the oldest trick in the book.

There is a scene in the movie after the first stage where Marcus and David take the van out early in the morning and Marcus is explaining to David that he is an unknown and that by going all out early he could make up time and get back into the race by winning the sprint markers. Marcus early in the stage yells at David calling him a dumbbell and that it is too early to break from the pack. Muzzin's teammate Jerome starts to give chase and Muzzin orders him to let him go and that he is nobody keeping their main focus on Marcus. What they didn't realize was by going all out early, David built a considerable lead due to the pack keeping their focus on Marcus and forgetting about David. (Misdirection), the oldest trick in the book.