Winning bike races by knowing your team’s individual strength and weaknesses.
How can you work on them and improve your cycling team strategy?
Sports performance diagnostics with Team Standert
Earlier this season we started working with Team Standert. Their main goal was basically to improve every individual rider’s abilities but more important they wanted to win races as a team!
Analyzing the particular elements of their performance
We went into deep analysis of their former race statistics and pointed out the key features it takes to win those kind of races:
- High level of basic power (Anaerobic Threshold and VO2max)
- Strength endurance (Anaerobic Tolerance)
- Maximum force and acceleration (Anaerobic capacity)
There is not A SINGLE PARAMETER, which tells us all about the chances of a rider to win such a race, but the combination of several parameters gets us pretty close. A cyclists with a high power output at his anaerobic threshold as well as a high VO2max will be able to push a decent pace throughout the entire race. But even more important than that, he also needs to go out of this “comfort-zone” repeatedly for several minutes in order to close gaps, bring back attacks or start his own. Last but not least he needs to have a high acceleration capacity to finally win the sprint at the end of the race.
Individual profiles and resulting training recommendations
After we had done the testings with every single rider, we knew where his individual strength and weaknesses were and built his specific “profile”. From here we discussed whether it might be smart to focus on certain training methods in order to balance his profile out or even specialize on some kinds of abilities to take over a very special role within the team.
We create such specific individual performance test based on everyone’s particular demands and circumstances (usually 130-280€). For complete teams we also offer group rates. Just contact us for a personal advise and a nonbinding offer.
Here is the report from Team Standert
We love cycling. The joy you get from riding through awesome landscapes together with your friends, all the places you see and the satisfaction you feel after a long ride.
That’s the beautiful side of cycling. And because Team Standert loves it so much we want to get stronger to enjoy it faster and further and longer. And basically because they are racers.
So here’s a side of cycling that’s a little less romantic but not less necessary.
To optimize our training, set up the team for the upcoming season and track our performance throughout the year we partnered up with Diagnose Berlin. Diagnose Berlin is professionally analyzing our performances in various tests. With the results they optimize our individual and team training.
The goal: be the strongest cyclist you can be.
In pursuit of that goal we undergo different tests that give us new perspectives on our performance. How our bodies work and especially why they work like that and how we can change it with specific training.
What Diagnose Berlin can offer us is a holistic approach to performance testing
Others will just set up a basic step test and then estimate values for lactate threshold, VO2max and anaerobic capacity. Diagnose has got the technical capabilities of measuring every single one of these. They set up three main tests for us.
First, the Wingate test to measure peak anaerobic power and anaerobic capacity.
These numbers will tell you how fast, strong and lasting your sprint or 30 second maximum power is gonna be. In order to set up a finely tuned lead out knowing these values is a real advantage.
Second was a ramp test to measure maximum oxygen utilization or VO2max.
We were hooked up to sophisticated and expensive machines that measure the amount of oxygen we used up all while cycling with increasing resistance. The value you will be able to achieve reflects your level of fitness as well as it predicts your performance potential.
Lastly we gonna do the good old step test to set the training zones prior to training camp in March.
These three tests will allow us to build individual training plans to work on our weaknesses and our strengths. Over the course of the season we will revisit these testing protocols to track progress and assess any performance gains.
Time to get into the pain cave and get the suffering going.
All pics by the incredible Constantin Gerlach
