March 18-April 9: Different choices between Sanremo and Roubaix

The only training program that needs to be followed to the letter is the winter one. During the season, however, the body is supported, in order to meet the needs that arise.. In light of this maxim, which was given to us some time ago by Michele Bartoli, let us return to the recent picks of three champions – Van der Poel, Van Aert, Ganna – and the different program they followed after the Sanremo Festival on March 18th and the E3 Saxo Classic the following week.

Each of the three had different needs. Van der Poel, in excellent condition (opening during the inspection on the cobblestones on Friday 7 April), was looking for freshness to counter Pogacar on the climb and then brilliance on the road to Roubaix. Van Aeryou already knew from Sanremo of not having great climbing condition, but chose the hardships of Ghent. Ganna he used the races to Ghent to get familiar with the terrain, then chose to train at home. So we returned from Bartoli, to hear what idea he has formed of the three approaches.

Three different approaches

Here's the race schedule for Van der Poel, Van Aert, and Ganna, starting with the Milan-Sanremo, where they each took all three podium spots. They all competed in the E3 Saxo Classic, before going their separate ways, following different technical lines.

Dear Michele, first of all, it's worth mentioning, after reading the interview in the Gazzetta dello Sport, that Van der Poel admitted he had a less demanding winter in cross-country and that he found himself feeling more refreshed on the road as a result...

Well, it was already said two years ago: energies are not infiniteEven if they're mentally strong and can handle the strain, sooner or later you'll pay the price. You can't do everything. Life has always been about choices.

How do you see the fact that after Harelbeke, Van der Poel, who seemed stronger on the climbs, stopped, while Van Aert raced in Ghent?

If he had stopped too, perhaps he would have had a bit of a margin for Flanders. It is no coincidence that sometimes certain races are skipped, to give priority to the ones that matter.When you're at 100 percent, it's not always a good idea to run. So, if you skip a race and focus on a good workout, you can sometimes improve. Going for a run and suffering the pace of the race, if you're not well sometimes it takes a bit away from you.

We're talking hypothetically, but do you think that if Van Aert hadn't raced in Ghent, he would have been stronger in Flanders?

It can't be said that he went slowly, because he too, at least initially, distanced himself from the entire group. But then he paid the price against the other two. At these levels, even the seemingly smallest details are considered.. So, while it is not possible to change an athlete's performance in a short period like the 8 days between Harelbeke and Flanders, it could have been managed differently. It's not like you can start doing VO2 Max workouts, because then you'd almost be better off running. But if you find yourself missing something, taking a few days off can give you back some sparkle.. You recover a little longer, you focus on aerobic work with the hope of arriving at the decisive moment a little more energized and then crossing your fingers...

So it's more about recovery and freshness?

Exact. At that point it is difficult to change the engineWork a little more on the aerobic phase, perhaps hoping that in all the moments of the race where you don't push yourself hard, your energy expenditure is lower and you arrive at the finish a little more energized. It's also true that if you have to chase, it's always more difficult.

Between Flanders and Roubaix, Van der Poel inserted the Scheldeprijs, saying he wanted more pace…

That's what is being said. When you're at the top, you know what you can work on.It's about fixing little things, you don't have time to completely change the situation, but at those levels the little things are decisive.

Is it possible that Ghent a week before Flanders weighed down Van Aert, because he wasn't at his best, while Scheldeprijs before Roubaix gave more quality to Van der Poel, who was already doing very well?

It could absolutely be that way. I don't know what they did in the period after the cross-country race, but it seems to me that they returned to the road around the same time in March. Normally the main Van Aert value is the resistanceHe proved it at the Tour, going into the breakaway and even holding his own in the mountains like Hautacam. Instead, it seems that he is now lacking in stamina. He makes one effort, two efforts, and the third one is aborted.. The years are not all the same and there is a discussion about subtleties, because perhaps he would have dropped away even if he had not run the Ghent. But if you want an analysis, something different could have been done.

Have you ever added or removed races from your schedule based on your condition during your career?

Sure, more than once. These are things that happen. What is planned and we must try to keep as faithful to the schedule as possible is the winter preparationBecause training sessions are structured according to a specific schedule. When the races begin, you have to work based on how you feel. Your planning could get lost, and you have to be good at adjusting your schedule.

In what way?

If I'm on the edge, maybe one more race could hurt me, then I take it off. Or I'm fine, I'm missing a bit of rhythm and then I'm inserting it like Van der Poel didHe recovered a few more days, put in the Scheldeprijs, got back into the swing of things, and was all set for Roubaix. These are calculations you make.

What can we say about Ganna, who didn't race the Tour of Flanders to prepare for Roubaix?

It's a different case, because Ganna doesn't have the experience of Van Aert and Van der Poel for the races in BelgiumHe doesn't have their confidence, he doesn't know the routes. He lacks many nuances, so an extra run for him would have been more useful of a workout done at his home. I would have thrown it on Flanders too.

It was the observation made up there after seeing him so strong at the Sanremo.

At Sanremo it was seen that After Van der Poel he was the strongest, then something was missingThis is obvious. I don't want to talk much about Ganna, because I have often been critical: not of him, but of the program he madeFilippo is a force of nature and perhaps he should be exploited a little better. We know he wins on the track, that he sets the Hour record, that he will become world time trial champion, but he needs something more now. This year it started.

They said Flanders was too tough for him.

I've heard that too. It may be heavy compared to the others, but it has a muscle quality adequate for its weightIf Van der Poel does 600 watts on the Paterberg, Ganna naturally does 680. Because it is structured to support that load there.. So even the weight issue, in the end, is not so prohibitive.

Would running more up there have any advantages in driving and cost less?

Relaunching after every corner costs a lot, especially because the curves are what you see. It occurs to me that perhaps Ganna, not being so experienced, many times he had to relaunch due to a wrong trajectory and all the other movements that happen in a group and that you don't notice from the outsideIf it happened on the corner, I'm inclined to assume it happened in other situations too. So his was a tough race and he still went very fast.. He was there until the last stretch, so I'm convinced that in the future, when he has more experience, Roubaix will be his raceHe'll just have to work to have some reserves at the end, when the real difference is made...