Without a more detailed breakdown of his actual training distribution and efforts, that seems like a guess.
This probably leads into the whole Threshold vs Sweet Spot vs Polarized vs Periodized… and what have you discussion.
Again, I haven’t followed him or this closely, but I fail to see anything as significantly “new” being presented.
I think that has more to do with the simplicity of tracking time and distance, as opposed to requiring a dedicated power meter (or smart trainer inside) to track more substantial metrics associated with real efforts.
I think the prevalence of the time and distance is not necessarily an endorsement of what “we value” as much as the easy of access. Pretty much every Strava user has a phone or other device to track their activities, so time and distance (via GPS) are “free” items to track.
Maybe it’s just me, but every road guy I know feels like they didn’t accomplish much if they only do a 40 mile ride. A sense of accomplishment seems to only comes from doing long rides. People are really focused on clocking miles. Of course, as the one on the bike, you feel like you accomplished something when you reach your limit no matter the hours or miles or power you put in.
But the first question I get after every single ride is, “how far did you go?”. This comes from both cyclists and normal folk. It’s like there’s an unwritten rule floating around suggesting more miles is mo’ better.
The kid was born and breed to ride a bike real fast. I can only imagine the hours and miles he has put in over the years. He is also blessed with crazy natural talent and the desire to work. If anyone thinks he is or has not logged mile upon mile, they are crazy. He happens to be one of the very few every who has been able to apply his skills across a wide variety of cycling areas.
I really don’t think he is doing anything much different than most who race. Meaning, he’s probably using macro, meso and micro scale periodization; probably pushing the CTL way up early with longer miles and SST then building in intervals once the training load is super high. So endurance, SST/threshold/tempo and polar like everyone. But not seeing his plan or what he’s doing IDK.
I think what is interesting is his coming off a dominating cx season right into the spring classics. So he’s been holding close to peak fitness for a long time. Or he’s just that good? I would be more interested to see what recovery techniques he’s using or thinks help the most.
Cycling is an aerobic sport, at the end of the day, that race was still 5+ hours. What allows MVDP to be so head and shoulders above anyone else is a big aerobic engine, long hours in the saddle, plus some fine genetics. Of course he does HIIT, but I doubt it is more than 20% of his training if not less.
Schurter raced the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse in 2014. Afterwards he committed himself to 100% MTB, his performances were not really stellar.
Both van Aert and MvP squeezed in special training camps into their CC schedules last winter. With the purpose of logging miles and to prepare for the special demands of the classics.
In all disciplines of cycling - even track - riders spend lots of time in the saddle. The character of those long rides may differ depending on discipline and time of year.
And MvP simply has the genetic advantage (how often does it happen that three generations in a familiy produce absolute elite riders?) and probably the mental strength to suffer and will to win. I would not underestimate the mental aspect. And that’s something you learn/train/develop in cross.
Not exactly 3 generations. His father was a succesful road and cx- racer and the father of his mother was poulidor. It looks like a breedi,g program to get a top racer
A lot of people have mentioned “genetics”. I’m not having the wool pulled over my eyes again. I’m staying sceptical for now especially given his father’s track record. You know what they say about the apple not falling far from the tree
There’s a lot of guys logging a lot of junk miles, no doubt about it. On the other hand, the “normal” guys winning amateur races are typically racking up a lot of time in the saddle. They just make it count.
MVdP does insane volume. He skipped a few weeks of cx for a massive training block pre-worlds and easily matches road pros for hours in the saddle.
Short power training is great for getting your FTP up and racing crits and short road/mtb/cx races but high end aerobic fitness takes time to develop. Time that most people just don’t have or aren’t interested in putting in.
Maybe having a grandfather that podium-ed “8” times at Tour and a father that won the same race the same way may have something to do with it. Check out the winning % of cycle cross world events last season plus Rainbow jersey. Genes! Maybe!
Most pro world tour road riders these days have a very limited off season and trying to maintain a consistent (very high) level of performance for months.
I’d love to hear the podcast’s views on this as it goes against the traditional ‘build’ to a singular peak in a season. It shows the difference is vast between even very serious amateurs and the pros.
