It all starts from a phrase by Paolo Sangalli, city of women. «Among professionals there is a 200 kilometre threshold, among women there is a 150 kilometre limit to consider». This is why the Italian championship was run over that distance: so that by the time they go to the world championship, the girls are accustomed to a longer distance than they usually face.
The world championship won last year by Annemiek Van Vleuten It measured 164,3 kilometers. By contrast, the European Championship in Munich, won by Lorena Wiebes, stopped at 128,3.
Nature and work
It's really like this? We asked Paul Slongo, which is currently right at the Giro Donne, has been training for years Elisa Longo Borghini and in his career he has worked with many professionals.
«It is said that in men – begins Paul – 200 kilometers is a step and then after 250 there is another oneThere are athletes who perhaps perform under 200, some around 200 and then there is a further selection above 250. It depends on the aerobic capacity, endurance and efficiency of their body. They spend less than others and therefore in the end they perform better. These are qualities linked to genetics, but they can be trained.If one has a predisposition for red fibers and the right weight, one can improve. It is not essential to be thin, a rider who does the Flanders can be even 70-75 kilos and can still perform well on hard courses. Let's look at Van Aert…».
Does new knowledge about food help?
Many times, by eating well, you lose less weight beyond certain mileage thresholds. However, in my opinion, training is more important. If you haven't worked towards a high level of efficiency, You can feed yourself well, but it doesn't move your limit significantly.Something that's been around for twenty years is in fashion now. You read about Pogacar and his coach talking about training in Z2. It's the famous medium low, the work at frequencies that push the body to become increasingly more efficient., thus increasingly using fat as fuel.
And now we come to women, who run shorter distances compared to their performance evolution. Why do you think this is?
Women's cycling's cycling has changed dramatically. With the arrival of the Tour there was a development which however did not concern the length of the racesClearly there is no comparison to be made with the men who do the 290 kilometre Sanremo, however well-trained women can do higher mileage than they currently do.
According to Sangalli, there is a 150-kilometer limit, but maybe that's too little, don't you think?
I believe that If for the classics and world championships the girls did 180 kilometre races, the difference would be even more noticeable Among the longest-distance athletes. I'm thinking of an athlete like Longo Borghini, who in some ways is like Nibali. Perhaps also thanks to training, Elisa performs better in longer and more challenging races. In the sense that she remains in her high standard, while others drop with distance. He probably doesn't train like the Van Vleuten which takes 6-7 hours (opening in Livigno, Instagram photo), but she regularly runs in the 5-5 hour range, so extending her runs would do her good.
Could it be that the gaps remain low because the same group includes solid athletes like Van Vleuten and Longo Borghini and first-year girls?
This is certainly an important point. The categories are not yet as distinct as in men and therefore In the professional world you can also find juniors who have just passed, 18-year-old girls. So you have to find a compromise between the two worlds, taking into account that even among the large ones there are huge differencesWhen the good ones accelerate, at the first sprint there are 20-30 of them left and at the second you can count them on the fingers of one hand. So, in effect, by lengthening the runs, for those girls and women who race in continental teams the situation would become unsustainable.
As a coach, would you have any doubts about training an eighteen-year-old to keep her up to the standards of the big boys, or are you in favor of taking it gradually?
Progressiveness is always needed, you have to grow step by stepIt would be wrong to rush things or skip steps, because you risk burning them or not building them properly. In the professional ranks it is very rare to see a neopro in the grand Giro, here it is the rule, but only because there's no middle category and maybe there aren't enough people to do it. If there's too much difference in skill within the group, you might end up with them stuck in the car...
Is Van Vleuten's dominance like this a result of hard work or a superior nature?
In my opinion, both. High-level athletes undertake significant workloads and if this is based on such an evident predisposition, it is clear that the differences are visible. And rather I would open the door to the work mentality, which I see around among the girls and also among the young riders. They are almost afraid of working hard, because they think they will finish themselves, without realizing that their high-performing colleagues face much heavier workloads.
