The transition from under-23 to professional is a step that seems to be increasingly less high, but this is not the case. The difference between racing in the lowest of the youth categories and the big ones is huge, many things change, one of these is the preparation.The winter when you become a professional athlete from under 23 is a delicate one; here you begin to build a path to adapt to the top category.
The idea came after our interview with Dario Belletta (opening after Borgo, Photors.it), the new rider of the Polti VisitMalta he had told us: «I should be leaving again in early November, and I want to do it 100 percent.Also because I should leave Spain for the races at the end of January, while as an under 18 the first races are in March. So you have to get in shape soon».
Volume
We went like this from Joseph De Maria, coach of the team of Iván Basso, who answered our questions and curiosities.
"The biggest change for a young player who turns professional," explains the coach, "is volume. Let's take a 'mature' under-23 player, with at least two years of experience in the category and consistent work. An athlete like that in a week of loading can do twenty-two or twenty-three hours of training, a professional does thirty.Another aspect is the length of the loading period, for someone under 23 a week is enough, a professional does a couple».
What is the biggest difference during winter preparation?
That the intensity must be brought forward because the races come first. Belletta, for example, has always started running again in March (even when he was in the I have to team up (from Visma, ed.) while now at the end of January. It doesn't change much when you start taking your first bike rides, rather the working days are becoming more compact.
Can you explain it better?
A rider under 23 has plenty of time to do training sessions focusing on duration and volume, then focuses on intensity as the races arrive. While as a professional you definitely have a period in which you focus on volume, but you also need to work hard in the run-up to the races. Another thing that changes is the gym.
Or?
If a rider is physically mature, and a professional is expected to be, he still works out in the gym but in a different way. An under 23 needs to train and build his physique, so perhaps in preparation he goes to the gym three times a week with sessions lasting over an hour.If we look at a professional then the sessions can be two a week with targeted strength work.
How do you manage the preparation periods?
We start from mid-November to the first retreat in December, We at Polti VisitMalta make everyone do a period with about twenty hours a week and all related to the volumeThen when we get to the December retreat we make a distinction.
What?
Those who are already professionals train about thirty hours a week, while for the neo pros we do a gradual adaptation with a total of twenty-six hours more or lessThe adaptation method doesn't change even in the January training camp. With the first stage races with the pros, which are longer and more demanding, there's another step forward. In this way we get to the July retreat where we are no longer afraid to make him do thirty hoursBut it's the small details that make things well done.
Let's go back to the example of Belletta, we see that she worked in a I have to team up?
Among the I have to team up and the continental formations there is an abyssIt's not that development teams work like professionals. They're simply more advanced, and they work in phases. Training blocks, races, and rest periods. By doing this, every time the athlete starts training again, he will be able to add a brick and slowly buildOn the contrary, if a boy runs every Sunday, how can he improve?
The journey is slower.
Of course, when two players from different backgrounds join us as professional teams, we find ourselves in trouble. We talked to Belletta about training, and it's clear he has a strong technical mindset. To other kids, however, we have to teach everything and the progress is definitely slower and maturation comes later.. Sometimes too late.
