"Now he's forced to do some repetitions uphill, he's so powerful." This phrase from the trainer would be enough. Andrea Fusaz to understand the extent of the growth of Jonathan Milan, one of his athletes at Cycling Team Friuli.
La “Buja Locomotive” next year he will run with the Bahrain-McLaren and Fusaz will no longer be training him in view of Tokyo 2021. However, with the Friulian coach, we wanted to analyse the hypothetical athletic path towards the Olympics of Milan, as no one knows it better than him.
Andrea, where should Milan start to be at the top for the Olympic quartet?
The first step is the Europeans in Bulgaria in November. There we would draw a line to evaluate his level and map out his Olympic path.
Let's assume for a second that Jonathan is still in your hands, how would you approach this path?
The goal is increase power. After a solid aerobic base (late November-January), I'd start working on intensity: repeats at race pace or faster, starting from 1 minute and working up to a maximum of 2 minutes and 30 seconds, gradually reducing the recovery time. It's rare to cover the entire duration of a race effort. It's very much based on numbers. It's important to evaluate how Jonathan reacts physically and mentally to this particularly strenuous work.
What are the stages of preparation for Tokyo?
After the European Championships, Milan would take a couple of weeks off, especially mentally. Let's not forget that he's been pulling the cart for a whole year. I would have let him go. The only thing I would have asked of him was to keep his weight under control. Swimming or mountain walks were good for that. Then he would have gotten in the saddle, on the road, to begin the aerobic phase. At the same time, he would have focused on the more intense phase in the gym, where you work with maximum loads. Gradually, the strength portion in the gym would have alternated with the bike portion: standing starts, repetitions with higher gears (one cog up in the front and one cog down in the back), maximum lactate... And we would have already been approaching February. By then, the World Cup races would have begun.
You often talk about mental recovery. These intense efforts also take their toll psychologically. Do you have a dedicated figure in the CTF?
No. In Cycling Team Friuli, however, tends to stay very close to the boys. And we listen to them. This way, we understand their problems ourselves. Only then can they be empowered to face their limitations and overcome them in training.
Did you expect more peaks in form for the Olympics?
No, a single peak. I'm for gradual growth until the climax. It goes without saying that at the end of each block, Milan would have reached peaks, but each would have been lower than the next. It would have required in-depth work on every front. I would have paid particular attention to strength. gym would have been essential. He would always do a dry run or two a week.
Are road bikes used less in Olympic years?
No. As mentioned, the road is for aerobic training. On the track, lactate builds up well. But overall, A road race brings a quality that no training can give. Additionally, there will be track sessions with training camps in Montichiari. During those sessions, the players will alternate road sessions with 4-5 track workouts per week. Each session on the court lasts about three hours, but they don't run continuously. There will be breaks between warm-ups, recovery, intervals, and data analysis.
When would you have had him do his last road race?
It depends on the severity of the race, but no later than three weeks before.
What are Jonathan's favorite jobs?
I see it holds the intermittents well. Jonathan has numbers that normal athletes don't have. He can do 30-30 or 40-20 even at 650 watts. And now he can't do that on the flat; he wouldn't be able to reach those watts. The speed would be too high, so I send him uphill.
How far can Milan go?
Good question. We need to understand this too. We're talking about a guy who practically didn't train until a year and a half ago. I can confidently say that he'll beat his 4'08" (time set in February in the individual pursuit, ed.). I can tell you that this year I've had to revise the intensity of his training schedules three times. For some workouts, we started with 500 watts, then we went up to 600, and now we're at 650!
How important will the work on materials be?
A lot, but this answer is related to the new team. I can say that with Campagnolo e Pinarello we worked well. I would focus a lot on the handlebarsLook what Ganna did at the World Cup.
