What kind of training World Tour riders are Doing in 2025

If you’ve ever wondered what secret training Sepp Kuss, Jonas Vingegaard & Tadej Pogacar are doing, you’re in for a treat with this podcast and blog post. Coaches Andrew and Ricky—both accomplished pro cyclists—have seen firsthand what the World Tour riders do to become the best in the business. They’ve combined their own experience with insider info to bring you an exclusive peek into the training methods of the pros.

But before we dive headfirst into mountain passes of threshold intervals and over-gear torque sessions, here’s the golden rule:

Disclaimer: Just because the pros are doing it doesn’t mean you should. They have more time to train, more time (and resources) to recover, and—let’s face it—raw talent that mere mortals can only dream of.

Still, there is some trickle down training methodology we can apply for your training too.  Let’s get started.

Volume, Volume, Volume

The One Thing Everyone’s Doing

You can’t escape it: wherever you look in the pro peloton—from Grand Tour contenders to domestiques—everyone is logging massive aerobic volume. Why so much mileage?

• Builds Aerobic Base: Stacking hours on the bike creates a powerful engine, enabling riders to sustain high efforts longer.
• Allows for Greater Recovery: Pro cyclists don’t just ride more; they sleep more, have full-time massage therapists, and top-tier nutrition. They can handle bigger loads with less risk of burnout.

Neo Pros vs. Big Dogs

• Neo Pros: Younger riders fresh to the World Tour often focus on volume, as they’ll naturally get enough intensity just from racing. Early-season races are their interval sessions.
• Big Dogs: More seasoned riders typically add much more specific work to those big mileage weeks, targeting precise zones and intervals they need for upcoming races.

Specificity Matters

Different Riders, Different Demands

Not all pros train the same way. A General Classification (GC) contender’s training can look vastly different from a domestique or a sprinter’s approach.

• GC Riders: Focus on threshold, lactate clearance, and climbing power. Teams like Bahrain might prescribe intervals like 4×15 minutes at 100% FTP on real climbs.
• Domestiques: Often spend more time in longer tempo blocks, because their role in the race is to do steady, strong pulls. You might see sessions like 3×60 minutes at tempo pace.
• Climbers: Over-unders, threshold efforts, and lactate clearance work dominate.
• Sprinters: No surprise—lots of short, explosive efforts to hone that finishing kick.

Bigger Training Blocks

5 Weeks On, 1 Week Off

Gone are the days of rigid 3-week build and 1-week rest cycles for many pros. Instead, they string together massive 4–5 week blocks and then take a de-load week. This approach helps build deep fatigue resistance, which is crucial for stage races and back-to-back race days.

Big-Gear Torque Work

Everyone’s Doing It, Here’s Why

If you peek at pro training logs, you’ll see grueling big-gear intervals at low RPM. Think of it like weightlifting on the bike. Here’s what it might look like:

• Sepp Kuss doing short high-intensity torque efforts (50–60 RPM).
• Lidl-Trek riders doing 7×10 minutes at 50 RPM in a 4-hour ride.
• Team DSM sneaking in sets of 5 minutes at 65 RPM and 90% FTP.

Why Torque Work? It builds leg strength, muscular endurance, and power you can tap into on steep climbs or in the final, explosive moments of a race. 

Fatigue Resistance Work

Pushing Hard When Tired

It’s not just what intervals you do, but when you do them. Many teams prescribe efforts after a certain number of kilojoules have been burned (e.g., post-2,000, 3,000, or even 4,000 kJ's). By the time the intervals roll around, riders are fatigued—simulating real race conditions.

• BORA–Hansgrohe: Early anaerobic work, then sprints in the 5th hour.
• EF Education-EasyPost: Early Vo2 intervals, then a long sustained sweet spot (SS) effort when they’re already tired.

Pyramidal vs. Polarized

Different Schools of Thought

When it comes to distribution of intensities, two main philosophies dominate:

1. Polarized: Go easy most of the time, but go extremely hard for a smaller portion, 80/20. Team Jumbo-Visma appears to favor this, even in the off-season with short, intense efforts like 2-minute or 4-minute all-out climbs.
2. Pyramidal: Spend a moderate amount of time in the middle zones (tempo/sweet spot), with fewer all-out intensities. UAE Team Emirates includes sessions like 3×40 minutes at ~85% FTP (a sweet-spot type effort).

The big question: Which is better? The truth is, it depends on the rider’s physiology, race schedule, and even personal preference. Some teams, like Groupama-FDJ and INEOS Grenadiers, do a bit of both in the same ride—40/20 intervals (short, sharp efforts) followed by sustained SS efforts.

Over-Unders, Lactate Clearance, and Bursts

It’s Everywhere

You’ll see almost every team incorporating some version of over-unders or bursts at threshold:

• Total Direct Énergie: 2-minute VO2 max burst into a 10-minute threshold block, then back to a 2-minute VO2 finish.
• Team Jumbo-Visma: 3×25-minute sets of (15-second sprint + 6-minutes tempo), repeat.
• UAE Team Emirates: 2×20-minute blocks with 1 minute at 115% FTP, 4 minutes at 100% FTP, repeated.

This type of training teaches the body to clear lactate quickly and handle sudden accelerations within sustained efforts—perfect for the surges in a race.

Final Thoughts & Looking Ahead

The pros spend a lot of time honing their craft with incredible attention to detail, but that doesn’t mean everyday cyclists can’t learn a thing or two. Coaches Andrew and Ricky have walked the walk—and pedaled the pedal—so they know how to adapt these principles to suit amateur riders.

What’s Next?

• Using AI to Monitor Training: Yes, it’s happening! Andrew and Ricky are working on ways to leverage AI to analyze training loads and recovery, just like the pros.
• Sleep Data & HRV: World Tour teams track everything from sleep quality to HRV (Heart Rate Variability) to optimize recovery. Thanks to apps like CoachCat’s new Optimize feature, this level of data-driven insight is becoming more accessible.

Remember: You don’t need pro-level mileage or 5×60-minute tempo intervals to improve. Steal the principles—like focusing on fatigue resistance, mixing in big-gear intervals, and structuring your training in blocks—within your own limits.

If you have the itch to incorporate pro-level workouts, consult a knowledgeable coach. Or better yet, tap into the expertise of Coaches Andrew and Ricky themselves. They’ve been there, done that, and know exactly how to help you get stronger—without sending you straight to the pain cave forever.

Hop on your saddle, find your balance between volume and recovery, and get ready to take your cycling to the next level. After all, if it’s good enough for the pros (and your coaches who are pros), it might just give you that extra edge you’ve been seeking.

Ready to take your training up a notch? Give the workouts a go, track your data, and see where the road takes you!

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