Illustration photo: Annie Postma / Shutterstock.com
In my last post we looked at how professional road cyclists train.
However, in order to understand why this style of training is beneficial there is one more thing we ought to do:
Contrast the training of the pros to their racing requirements.
Fortunately, this is a task that has interested training physiologists for decades. As such, we have a fair bit of knowledge regarding the requirements of professional road cycling.
Time-in-zone during professional road races
Data from professional road races provide valuable insight into the physical workloads undertaken by elite riders.
Road races typically range distances from 60 kilometers (criteriums) up to 300 kilometers (Classics like Paris-Roubaix, Amstel Gold Race etc.). Grand Tour stages are commonly somewhere in between these extremes (1).
Heart rate data across 22 stages of the Tour de France (TdF) reveal that riders spend the majority of the total race time on low intensity (1):
- 70% low intensity (below VT1)
- 23% moderate intensity (between VT1 and VT2)
- 7% high intensity (above VT2)
It should be noted that these numbers varied greatly between different stages and between individual riders.
Santalla and colleagues found a similar distribution of intensity during flat TdF stages with 70%, 25% and 5% of the race time spent at low, moderate and high intensity, respectively (2).
During mountain stages however, these figures changes in favor of higher intensity. Here, the riders accumulated 52% of work in low, 36% in moderate and 12% in high intensity zones (2).
To give you an example:
Stage 7 of the Tour de France 2019 was won by Dylan Groenewegen with a finishing time just upwards of 6 hours.
Based on our number we would expect this flat stage to yield approximately 4 hours and 12 minutes at low intensity, 1 hour and 30 minutes at moderate intensity and 18 minutes at high intensity.
Whereas the mountainous stage 18 won by Nairo Quintana in 5 and a half hour would be expected to demand 2 hours and 51 minutes at low intensity, 1 hour and 58 minutes at moderate intensity and 40 minutes at high intensity.
It is worth noting that a stage race like TdF favors conservation of energy. As such, we may speculate that classic one-day races may yield time in zone numbers with a greater distribution of moderate and high intensity work.
The very first requirement of professional cyclists is the ability to sustain significant hours at low and moderate intensity while still having sufficient fuel left to endure accumulated high intensity work of 20 to 40 minutes.
Power output during professional road races
Professional road cyclists are able to produce high power outputs and immense power to weight ratios.
Jeukendrup reports a mean power output of 240 watt during a 6 hour TdF stage. This is in line with the mean power outputs of 150-300W commonly observed in men’s road races (1).
Sanders and colleagues report a mean power output of 3.0 watt per kilo across 4 years of road races in 20 male professional road cyclists (3).
Whereas Santalla and colleagues observed mean powers of 3.1-3.8 W/kg (220-250 W) during flat 1-week stage races. During climbs, riders averaged 5.5 W/kg (2).
That being said, Jeukendrup also reports on a rider who during a 6 hour TdF stage averaging 40 km/h achieved a mean power of 98 watt only (1). This highlights the benefit of energy-sparing skills like drafting.
While the absolute power outputs of professional cyclists may not seem too far out of reach, they quickly become monumental when expressed as a power to weight ratio.
Energy requirements of road races
Road races expose riders to efforts of long duration and considerable intensity. This results in a rather significant energy expenditure.
During TdF stages riders are reported to spend roughly 5700 kcal per day. However, this expenditure might be as high as 9500 kcal per day on extreme days (1).
Santalla and colleagues report that riders typically consume 25 grams of carbohydrates per hour during TdF stages (2). This is lower than the 30-60 grams per hour typically recommended to optimize energy availability (more recent recommendations suggest even higher CHO intakes than this).
As such, nutritional habits both during races and between stages are essential in optimizing performance. Similarly, the ability to conserve energy via a strong cycling economy and efficiency will help maximize available fuel stores.
These are properties that both amateurs and professionals need to develop in order to achieve success.
Requirements for successful sprint performance
Sprint performance may be the final deciding factor between victory and finishing middle of the pack.
Data from professional cyclists show that male sprinters produce peak power outputs of around 17.4 watt per kilo during sprints (4).
Leading into race-finishing sprints, power and intensity increases from the last ten minutes (316 W and 88% of maximal heart rate) to the final minute before sprinting (487 W and 96% of maximal heart rate) (4).
During the final 10 minutes before sprinting, riders produce numerous high intensity efforts of short duration. As the sprint draws closer, the frequency of these efforts increase. This can probably be explained by the escalating fight for good lead-out positions as the finish line approaches.
Furthermore, it may appear that being positioned closer to the front and with more team mates nearby is beneficial for a successful sprint.
Within the 52 Grand Tour sprint stages the subject started, he WON 30 (58%), LOST 15 (29%), was DROPPED in 6 (12%) and had one crash. Position in the bunch was closer to the front and the number of team members was significantly higher in WON compared to LOST at 60, 30 and 15 s remaining (p<0.05).
Menaspà P 2015
Interestingly, U23 riders seem to produce similar final sprint power outputs when compared to professional riders. However, recordings suggest the final 10 minutes of professional races are significantly harder than U23 races.
As such, you can expect U23 riders to hold their own in a flat out sprint with a professional rider. However, actually being in the mix when the sprint for the line opens appears more demanding in the professional peloton (4).
In conclusion, successful sprinting performance requires sufficient aerobic capacity to avoid getting dropped and to arrive in the finish with sufficient energy reserves. Additionally, significant anaerobic capacity is required to deliver numerous high intensity efforts during the final ten minutes. Before ultimately producing a final sprint of around 17 W/kg (as far as U23 and PRO races go).
Summary of take-aways
The key take-aways from this lesson is that professional cycling requires:
…the ability to ride for hours and hours at low intensity while at the same minimizing energy expenditure for later on in the race.
…the ability to endure long durations at moderate and high intensity work. Races may last up to 5-6 hours with as much as 30-50 percent of the race time allocated to moderate and high intensity.
…the ability to restock fuel during and between stages is critical to performance.
…the ability to produce a strong finish. Sprinters need to put out multiple high intensity efforts the final 10 minutes before finishing their sprints for the line at around 17 W/kg (male riders).
In summary, we see a striking pattern: When elite athletes race, they work in all the three major aerobic intensity zones. And, in order to prepare for this racing – surprise, surprise, they train in all of those intensity zones.
Unanswered questions
Does this mean you can simply “train how you race”? Figure out the distribution of intensities in your races and copy it to your training?
Yes and no.
Let us address the “no” first.
The thing to be aware of is that professional cyclist do so much racing every season that their overall time spent racing makes a big impact on their yearly training intensity distribution (more so than for amateur age groupers).
We could actually make the argument that the overall HR distribution during a Grand Tour looks pretty close to the annual distribution of training intensity.
That being said, different races may result in quite different HR distributions. Furthermore, the use of intensity in training usually varies considerably depending on the time of year.
I would therefore advice against simply copying and pasting your racing intensity distribution to your training.
From experience, the distribution of moderate and high intensity work in races will typically be somewhat higher than in training.
What about the “yes”?
With the above being said:
The big take-away from this lesson is that you need to train to meet the physiological demands imposed by your races.
Thereby, you do need to exercise the relevant metabolic systems required to produce performance in your style of racing.
In this sense, the principle of specificity still holds true – your racing goals will impact how you should train in order to achieve optimal preparations for your races.
So far we have talked about training, and how your training is guided (to an extent) by your races. However, there is one more piece to this puzzle. And that is the factor of individual rider differences. I will get into this topic a bit further in my next post.