From innovative training-straight to racing hard
RusVelo pro continental team finished the final pre-season high altitude training camp in Cyprus on a high note. One of the most interesting final episodes was a race simulation held in a very special way. The coach Fabrizio Tacchino and the DS Sergey Honchar say:
“The squad of 12 was broken into three teams. Each team had a sprinter, and the selection of the rest of the riders was based on the results of a series of functional tests, so that the level would be more or less the same with the competition as hard as possible. The simulation lasted about seven hours, including five special timed events. The opening event was a 20 km team time trial, the second one – a long sprint on a flat using trains. The third event was a 2 km-long uphill finish after a hard acceleration of about 10 km. The fourth timed part was un uphill team time trial without an option of sacrificing even a single rider, so every team was supposed to maintain its integrity, which is very important in a real race situation. Last but not least came an individual uphill time trial. There was an individual and a team classification to race for, based on a points system. Ivan Balykin, Sergey Lagutin and Ilnur Zakarin collected the best score and took this virtual podium for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. All the riders found this experience very entertaining, new and unusual. For us coaches it was also extremely informative from the point of view of scientific analysis and setting immediate goals.”
On February 19th the team opens the racing season in Portugal, in the Tour of Algarve. The line-up of this stage race is extremely strong with top names like Alberto Contador, Rui Costa and Tony Martin among many others in it and with many World Tour teams bringing serious contenders with them.
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