It’s been a while since the races at the beginning of the year stopped being training sessions for the big starsthose who had a placid start to the season and who were looking for their shape point for spring-summer. Cycling has changed and that is why, before the end of February, the three great vultures of the moment have already won a round in stages this season: Tadej Pogacar conquered the return to AndalusiaJonas Vingegaard triumphed in O Great Way through Galician lands and Remco Evenepoel He did the same on the UAE Tour, being the only one of them in the World Tour category. Gone are the times when runners like the Andalusian Francisco Cabello (now 53 years old) dominated the winter, achieving nine of his ten victories in this season (the only one he achieved in summer was in the 1994 Tour).. Or, for example, Miguel Indurain, that of his 91 hits, only three were in February.
Xabier Muriel, one of the Movistar performance managers, Explain the reasons for this change. “Today you can’t go to a race in half shape because you get the opposite effect, exhaustion caused by the fast and aggressive pace of the current times. Not long ago, with 5 watts/kilogram you were competitive, and now it is unthinkable. It has to be at least 7 w / kg ”, highlights the Basque from the Navarra velodrome, where he took the opportunity yesterday to continue perfecting details with team riders in order to improve against the clock.
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“The riders have two peaks of form, even three if the great tours are not on their calendar. Components like aerodynamics and pressures become crucial and people are competitive from the start, Nobody arrives already out of shape at the start of the campaign ”, says the one from Movistar. “The potential of cycling has been maximized, everything is no longer reduced to the great tours. There is television in all the races, every moment is important for the brands”, Add.
Along the same lines, he gives his arguments. Mikel Zabala, coach at the RFEC and PhD in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences and with performance research. “The corridor is now 365 days a year. Evenepoel (23 years old), Vingegaard (26), Pogacar (24)… they are cyclists who are clearly winning now and are still not at 100%. Before, for example, there were concentrations in height before the Tour. Now, they are in January, they go down, they win, and they go up again. The transitions between seasons are lighter”, reveals Zabala.
The two experts who assess the current situation in AS agree on a key section: the mental strength. “Everything is currently measured, pBut there is no mathematical science, algorithm or estimates that quantify the psychological aspect. The stimulus-response in training can be totally different in the race. Things like the good atmosphere, the dynamics influence…”. And, with all this, will the trajectories now be shorter? “Not all heads can withstand this pace, especially the mental one, at levels like Valverde has done until he was 42 years old. It is, as they say, a monk’s life. They may suffer more mentally than physically.” count. In March, many stars will already reach a first peak of form.
