With the Tour of Britain in full swing this week, I thought I would share my analysis of how these professional cyclists might be thinking. Here is what Viviani said after his win of stage 3 on Tuesday.

When the break at the end went out from 2-minutes 30 to 4-minutes 20 I did wonder if we would pull it back for a sprint finish,” admitted Elia Viviani afterwards. “The problem was that we needed to do the last climb very quickly and if we did that I was not sure if I would be able to stay in the first group of not.

“We decided to try and when your teammates work so hard – Peter Kennaugh, Ian Stannard, Andy Fenn – in the front you try your very best. Then at the end I saw that Mark Cavendish was not in the group after the crash and Andre Greipel was working for a teammate so thought perhaps it is a good sprint for me, it was a stage I can win.

“Andy Fenn positioned me perfectly and then I had to wait a little bit. After nearly 220-kilometres it is not the same as 170-kilometres, you don’t have the same legs. It was a very good test for the World and the climb at full gas with 20-kilometres to go was also very good.”

Viviani shares with us that the break had not gone as he would have hoped and he was wondering whether or not he could stay in the first group. So like all of us there was some doubt creeping in about his own limits. How he responded illustrates how he won:

1. Viviani chooses to acknowledge what has happened
2. He makes a new plan
3. Knowing he was reaching his limit, he no longer thought about himself, he thought about his team mates and focussed on continuing to do his very best for them.
4. He waited till the end before he thought it was a stage he could win
5. Instead he focussed on the positioning and tactics – he stayed in the moment
6. He focussed on the bigger goal – the World – saying that it was a good test – he reframed the race to keep it in context with the goal.

When faced with a problem, sometimes it is all too easy to say:

“I am not able”.

But if we only focus on our physical abilities we disconnect mind and body and confirm our doubts. Instead connect your mind with your body and think yourself out of the problem, maybe follow Viviani’s 6 step plan.