Hey @kurt.braeckel,
It’s worth noting that we provide workouts of different intensities and “levels” in each training zone, not just VO2 Max. Many athletes won’t be able to complete workouts such as Spencer +2 without working up to it first. This is why we have over 4,500 workouts in our library. It takes time to build up to longer, harder intervals in any/all zones. All of the talk about time in zone between this thread and the sweet spot one can easily be applied to VO2 Max.
Let me just clarify that we don’t start athletes with lower-level workouts with the hope that training will be simply more enjoyable and in turn sell more subscriptions, but rather our goal is to set our athletes up for success with productive and sustainable workouts and adapt their future workout to meet their capabilities. As you mentioned earlier, intervals that are simply too hard for an athlete “will lead to inconsistency, burnout, and plateaus or just lack of progress.” Our goal has been clear from the very beginning – we’re here to make you faster, and we care about our athletes!
Training in the VO2 Max power zone isn’t all about riding at your VO2 Max. How do your athletes consistently monitor this? The same goes for LT1 and LT2 which arguably waver slightly from one day to the next. This is why training zones exist. You don’t need to ride right at LT1 to build endurance, LT2 to increase your FTP, or VO2 Max to increase your VO2 Max.
I’m curious to hear how “raising VO2 Max” and “VO2 Max improvement” are different. 
You mentioned that “there are multiple ways to train peripheral adaptations to VO2 Max” but in the same sentence say, “No… I specifically said “intervals targeting VO2max improvements””
Since VO2 Max can be improved by time spent riding in many different training zones, I don’t feel that it’s necessary or even beneficial for most athletes to find their true PVO2 Max to train at. As we’ve mentioned before oxygen uptake =/= performance.
As far as I know, VO2 Max won’t align with a specific power target on its own but needs a specific duration at a power target to be elicited. Therefore any power target (ideally above FTP) will result in working at VO2 Max at a specific duration. At that point, it’s simply whether you want to train at max intensity or max duration to reach VO2 Max…
As for @hubcyclist’s comment about working at a % of FTP, this is the best way to ensure a steady and sustainable progression across different workouts. We’ve found that sticking to the power targets for the duration of the workout brings better results than setting a PR on your first interval and then fading by 15% by the end of the workout.