Pro cyclists may seem superhuman, but they all have chinks in their armour. Tom Pidcock had to work hard on his multi-day stamina ahead of the 2024 Tour de France.
And Kasia Niewiadoma, winner of last year's Tour de France Femmes, has sharpened up her sub-par time trials by spending more hours on her TT bike. Even the best can get better. And you can too.
“The important thing is to set aside time dedicated to working on an issue,” explains cycling coach Mark Walker.
“In my experience, few road cyclists do this. Mountain bikers and ’cross riders tend to be better at working on skills, but many road riders never practise technique.”
Failing to address a weakness, such as nervous descending or riding in a group, will lead to poor performances and anxiety. But mastering a neglected skillset will make you a stronger and more confident rider.
Whatever your own issue may be, start by working on the skill in isolation, on quiet roads, on the turbo trainer or in tailored workouts.
Then hone your enhanced skills in real-world conditions.
“You must practise any technique in the context you’d encounter in a competition,” says Walker.
“So progress to practising that particular skill on the road, then with a group of other riders and then in a race.”
Here, we highlight the essential skills that even pros struggle with – and reveal how to plug the gaps in your own cycling game plan.
Sharpen up your downhill skills
If you get twitchy on fast descents, you’re not alone. Pierre Latour won the young rider’s jersey at the 2018 Tour, but admits he’s “scared to death” on descents.
Fellow Frenchman Thibaut Pinot, haunted by a bad crash aged 12, resorted to driving race cars around a track to calm his fear of speed.
“Pinot lost time on descents, and if you’re a strong climber but lose time downhill, you’ll benefit by working on descending,” says Richard Rollinson of CPT Cycle Coaching.
Just look at another French rider, Rémi Cavagna. His nervy descent at the 2019 Tour of California went viral, but after some targeted off-season training, he was unleashing bolder lines a year later.
First, master your fear with controlled speed. “Fear can be managed with perspective of the level of danger that different situations give,” explains Rollinson.
“So adjust your speed accordingly.” Second, improve your technique. The big nerve-jangler is cornering.
“Work on your entry speed, momentum, braking point, steering, hitting the apex, aiming for the exit and then applying power again,” says Walker.
“This could be practised in a car park to gain the technique, then move to a local hill. Start slowly. Run your tyres on the softer side to give yourself more grip and confidence.
“Don’t steer using the handlebar. Instead, corner through shifting your bodyweight. Load the outside pedal and bar, and lean the bike.
“Pointing your hips into the corner will help guide you. Also, look to the apex, as you’ll naturally go where your eyes are looking.”
By following these tips, you’ll make surprisingly quick gains.
“Pinot really improved by leaning his bodyweight into corners more,” notes Rollinson.
Over time, your descending will become instinctive. “Watch how Tom Pidcock adjusts his hip position and alters his centre of gravity according to the gradient and how tight each corner is.”
Learn to ride with no hands
Even some pro riders still struggle with their balance and bike-handling skills. Double Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard looked noticeably edgy when filmed riding no-hands during Jumbo-Visma’s mid-stage team victory formation at the 2023 Vuelta a España.
The Dane hates riding on cobbles and gravel, slamming bumpy sections of the Tour as an “unnecessary risk”.
This weakness may explain why he avoids chaotic one-day races.
But balance is crucial to riding well, for everything from sipping from a bidon to staying upright on uneven surfaces or avoiding crashes. “Go back to basics,” says Walker.
“Check your bike setup is correct. You need good weight balance between your wheels and frame size, saddle setback, bar drop, stem length and tyre pressure, which all affect the way the bike behaves. If you have an extreme position, this could be an issue.”
To boost your balance, practise riding one-handed in a safe environment, such as a car park or a smooth playing field.
“Can you touch the top of your helmet, touch your back, take something out of your pocket, reach your bottle or tighten your shoe fastening?” asks Walker.
“Practise with left and right hands. The gyroscopic effect of a bike’s wheels will make it travel in a straight line, so learn to trust the bike and let it guide you.”
As your balance improves, try harder skills. “Practise taking a bottle from somebody,” suggests Walker.
“Using rollers is also a good way to develop balance, such as by riding no-handed. Or try riding hands-free around a slalom course made with cones to help you learn to steer a bike with just your hips and body weight.
“Practise trackstands, riding around a corner by hopping the front wheel or just make up some fun balance games.”
Get on top of hot weather
Cold-blooded British cyclists understandably struggle on scorching hot rides, but high temperatures can melt the ambitions of pro racers too.
Triple Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar has admitted: “I normally struggle a bit with warm weather”.
On stage 17 of the 2023 Tour, he cracked on the sweltering Col de la Loze, with his teammates desperately pouring bidons of water over his head.
But he has since attended dedicated hot-weather training camps and now uses a Core body temperature sensor to monitor thermal stress and gauge the best training intensities for heat acclimation.
There are two principal heat-training methods available to you.
“Acclimation is the adaptation to a single variable, so this could be cranking up the heat indoors when on the turbo trainer, sitting in a hot bath or sauna, or wearing additional clothing,” says Walker.
“Acclimatisation is the adaptation to multiple variables, such as getting used to heat and humidity on a hot-weather training camp or exercising in the hotter part of the day.
“With both, adaptations include increased sweat rate, lowered sweat sodium content and increased blood plasma volume.
“Research shows that one hour per day of moderate exercise with heat stress can bring about acclimatisation in seven to 10 days.”
Intelligent pacing and hydration are also vital.
“Watch your heart rate doesn’t rise too fast, and hydrate with a drink that contains sodium,” says Walker.
Consider upgrading your tech game too – around two-thirds of the pro peloton now use Core body sensors, as Pogačar does, to monitor their thermal stress during training and races.
Boost your all-day power
Mathieu van der Poel, a triple Tour of Flanders winner, can deliver brutally powerful attacks, but he’s had to work patiently on his stamina.
“Van der Poel has always had a powerful kick for attacking in a reduced bunch, but sometimes he’s faded at the end of longer stages,” says Rollinson.
“He’s really improved this aspect, which helped him win Milan-San Remo in 2023 (after a fifth place in 2021 and a third place in 2022).”
In preparation for the 294km Milan-San Remo, van der Poel did seven-hour, 205km endurance rides, altitude training camps in France and Spain, and gruelling over-under workouts.
“Now I can pedal at almost as high a power as at the beginning of a race at kilometre 240 or 260,” the Dutch pro has revealed.
If you fade over long distances, build up your Zone 2 endurance rides to improve your cardiovascular, fat-burning and biomechanical efficiency.
“If you’re an amateur increasing from a metric (100km) to an imperial century (100 miles or 160.9km), build up slowly to 80-mile (128.7km) rides by increasing your longest weekly ride by 10 miles (16km) each week,” advises Rollinson.
Walker adds: “If you’re time-crunched, find ways to get in more Zone 2 training, such as by commuting to work, riding to see friends, bikepacking holidays or riding in the morning and evening.”
Now and again, bolt on some intervals to ensure you have enough van der Poel-esque power to accompany your enhanced stamina.
“One adaptation pros have is that they can reproduce efforts at the end of a long race,” says Walker.
“So try doing 20 minutes at your FTP, ride Zone 2 for two hours, then do another 20 minutes at your FTP.”
Time-trial techniques for every-day riding
If you have yet to master the speed-drenched world of time trials, it’s never too late to improve. The all-conquering Demi Vollering has massively improved her TT skills, insisting the challenge awoke “the adventurer in me”.
She beat Paris 2024 Olympic team pursuit gold medallist Chloe Dygert to win the TT stage of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes and also claimed silver in the 2024 World TT Championships.
But even if you don’t take part in TT races, honing the skillset will enhance your power output and aero silhouette in any road race.
“For TTs, there are many individual elements to work at – sustainable power, pacing, nutrition and aerodynamics,” says Walker.
“Aerodynamics is important, but don’t be so compromised that you’re in pain or can’t produce sufficient power. If you aren’t flexible or have a weak core, it’s better to compromise on aerodynamics a little to allow yourself to apply more power.”
TT training will sharpen up your savvy race tactics, too. “I hear of lots of people trying to ride a TT at a constant power, but this isn’t the most effective strategy,” explains Walker.
“Most time is lost on hills or riding into headwinds, so it makes sense (and has been scientifically demonstrated) that it’s better to push on the harder parts of the course and ease off a little on the easier parts.
“That’s because the speed differential is greater on the harder sections, so you’re going to make up more time there.”
Hone your climbing prowess
If you live in a pancake-flat area, your climbing skills may not be worthy of the polka dot jersey right now.
But Bradley Wiggins grew up in London and still conquered the Alps to win the 2012 Tour de France. Start by finding ways to improve your climbing.
“You’ll find hills in even the flattest places,” insists Walker. “Where I lived in Essex, I had a couple of decent hills within riding distance which I could do hill reps on.”
Hill reps will condition your muscles and lungs for the demands of climbing.
“Also, you can now ride up virtual climbs on a number of indoor platforms, which will help train you for the altered biomechanics of climbing,” says Walker.
Keep the intensity high. “Training in Zone 3 is particularly important, because in races you’ll be pushing into Zone 4 on the harder climbs and towards the summits,” he adds.
“To develop the muscles’ ability to deal with lactate, alternate short periods in Zone 4 with longer periods in Zone 3.
“I set riders ‘spiked tempo’ sessions, which involve a 10 to 15-second sprint to generate some lactate, then five minutes of Zone 3, and alternating that for 10 to 20 minutes.
“Following a short recovery, the block can be repeated.”
When you climb on the road, focus on the technical details.
“Stay relaxed to reduce muscle tension and energy loss," says Walker. "Ride hairpins wide to lessen the gradient; accelerate a little before sitting so you don’t lose momentum; shelter behind other riders on exposed climbs; and choose suitable gearing to keep the load on the type I (slow-twitch) muscle fibres rather than exhausting your type II (fast-twitch) muscles too quickly.”