The drift of the Van Vleuten in the fog of the Tourmalet could not go unnoticed. The world champion, big favourite to win the Tour de France Women's cycling, saw all his assets crumble in two days certainties. On the Aspin ramps, she had put her teammates to the test, only to be outwitted by her own game. This insight, however, opened up a different, broader consideration. or rather the possibility of running Giro Donne e Tour Femmes at high levels.
More and more at the top
At the Tour he was present, in the staff of the UAE ADQ, coach Luca Zenti, to whom we offer the inspiration for this reflection.
«A consideration to be made – says Zenti – is that women's cycling has changed and is becoming more and more specializedWe saw that the athletes who performed well in this Tour prepared for it down to the smallest detail. They did what is a classic structured approach, with altitude and a specific preparation period.
The question arises spontaneously: did Van Vleuten lose due to the efforts of the Giro Donne?
We can't know for sure, but she definitely felt the added fatigue. In terms of numbers, they were strong, think that the Tourmalet was climbed in 55 minutes at 5,2 watts/kgVan Vleuten did not significantly underperform, certainly in such a tight race 0,2 watts/kg less makes a differenceVan Vleuten has a large staff, and they've certainly done the necessary analysis. One thing struck me, or rather, two things...
Tell us.
The first is the general level which has risen so much. The second is the organization, the recovery protocols are now on par with those of men. So much so that it was not uncommon to see the girls bathing in cold water immediately after arriving.
Could the Giro have had an impact, even on a general level?
Certainly. For example, we too at UAE ADQ we brought Perch e Magnaldi who also raced in the Giro. With Silvia, we followed the same path as last season, when she had responded well.
It didn't perform as well as last year though, did it?
In numbers, yes, those were and have been good. The path this year was very tough, it didn't come close to its characteristics, especially the last two stages.
We were also talking about it with Casonato, the numbers are now increasingly higher, and the races are becoming more challenging.
True, this Tour is an example of that. The stages that came before the Tourmalet were all treacherous. Difficult to read and did not allow for the slightest distraction. Added to all this was a considerable distance: the longest stage measured 177 kilometers, 133 in the Giro.
Many more kilometers every day that then made themselves felt on the Tourmalet…
Vollering, Van Vleuten and Niewadoma had always been close until that day. However, the fatigue in the legs acted differently.Those who were still fresh and without much effort behind them made the difference.
How could those 21 days between the Giro and the Tour be interpreted?
In two ways: the first was to arrive at the Giro not at the top of my game and race for the Tour. It could have been Labor's tactic (Second in the Giro Donne and then fifth in the Tour, ed.) The second way was to understand that it was impossible, or at least very difficult, to recover well and prepare for the Tour after the Giro d'Italia. 21 days don't allow you to catch your breath and dust off the right leg.
A surprise was Kopecky, who no one would have expected to see on the podium.
She is a concrete example of the thorough preparation that went into this event. He managed his energies very well., then it has this ability to work and perform even under prolonged stress. The preparatory work done allowed her to hold on to a climb like the Tourmalet, which is not a given.
Did you notice anything else?
The distribution of average intensity has increased, even in the “sprint” stages every single climb was taken at full speed. The vision of the race now changes, the stages are getting longer and we're not going slowlyYou have to be good at taking athletes and getting them to do a certain type of work in training, which then needs to be maintained throughout the week.
Give us an example to understand better…
Regarding intensity, we can say that the athletes who took care of the general classification arrived at the foot of the climb strong. They ran the first one or two kilometers at 5,7-5,8 watts/kg and then they aligned themselves at 5,5 watts/kg for 20 minutes. These are significant efforts that not everyone is capable of yet, so our work as coaches is moving in this direction.
