You might think that Tadej Poga\u010dar\u2019s breakthrough was the 2020 Tour de France.<\/p>\n
The Slovenian shocked everyone to win the yellow jersey atop La Planche des Belles Filles, but his rise to the top of professional cycling might have begun a few years earlier with a shift in his training.<\/p>\n
In 2018, Poga\u010dar won the Tour de l\u2019Avenir, the biggest stage race in U23 cycling and what many tout as the U23 Tour de France. Poga\u010dar had been riding for Ljubljana Gusto Xaurum, a Continental team in Slovenia. But from 2019 onwards, he joined UAE Team Emirates.<\/p>\n
The head of performance at UAE Emirates-XRG, Jeroen Swart, had just made a major change when Poga\u010dar joined the team: less volume, more quality.<\/p>\n Swart said, \u201cOne of the biggest things that I introduced to the team when I joined UAE Team Emirates in late 2018 was increasing the load monitoring and backing people off because back then, cyclists were doing far too much. And by doing less, performance increased.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps Poga\u010dar\u2019s training changed a lot, or maybe it changed a little.<\/p>\n But there is no doubt that Swart\u2019s methods have worked. From its early days as the new-look Lampre-Merida team, UAE Emirates-XRG has become the number-one team in professional cycling. Of course, they have signed several superstar riders.<\/p>\n But they have also turned good cyclists into great ones: Jhonatan Narv\u00e1ez and Tim Wellens, for example.<\/p>\n What is the method behind this madness? Low-volume training. Compared to those doing 35-hour weeks, UAE Emirates-XRG riders are hardly doing half of that.<\/p>\n Jay Vine said that when he made the move from Alpecin-Fenix to UAE Team Emirates, his training volume actually decreased. Nowadays, a 20-hour week is normal for most UAE Emirates-XRG riders. Here is why it works for them.<\/p>\n There are some key differences between UAE Emirates-XRG training and the rest of the WorldTour. For one, UAE Emirates-XRG riders seem to train 15-20 hours per week.<\/p>\n Some riders might do more during key training blocks, while others actually do less.<\/p>\n Peruse Brandon McNulty\u2019s Strava, and you will find few weeks that include more than 25 hours of training. In fact, his biggest weeks are more often at a stage race than at home in Arizona. Between December and January of this past winter, his average weekly volume was under 20 hours; and this was during base season, the time of year when you might expect that a cyclist would be training the most.<\/p>\n \u201cMany professional athletes make the mistake of doing too much training or too little recovery,\u201d said Swart.<\/p>\n You can see this mantra throughout each week of training, as well as the UAE Emirates-XRG riders and how they speak about the training philosophy.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot more efforts involved, and there\u2019s a lot less riding around at sub-endurance,\u201d said Vine, one of the team\u2019s strongest climbers who trains less than most other WorldTour riders. You might be wondering what he means by \u2018sub-endurance,\u2019 and if I had to guess, he is talking about Zone 1 or low Zone 2 riding. AKA: junk miles.<\/p>\n UAE Emirates-XRG has a reputation in the professional peloton, not just for their winning ways, but for their unique training styles. There are a few pillars that have come up over and over again: high Zone 2, strength work, torque and super high intensity sessions.<\/p>\n First: high Zone 2. When cyclists and coaches talk about \u201cZone 2,\u201d they are typically referring to 55-75% FTP. That is a big range, especially if you are riding for more than a few hours. A pro doing four hours at 55% FTP will hardly break a sweat, whereas the same rider doing four hours at 75% FTP will come home exhausted.<\/p>\n What UAE Emirates-XRG seems to do is find the razor\u2019s edge. Instead of riding throughout the range of Zone 2, their riders target high or upper Zone 2 during their endurance sessions. The exact power targets are likely determined through lab testing, but for most riders, this will be 70-75% of their FTP.<\/p>\n Another crucial aspect to mention here is that UAE Emirates-XRG riders don\u2019t always do unstructured Zone 2 rides. Instead, they do 3x20min or 3x1hr Zone 2 intervals with 10-20min recoveries in between each effort. This allows them to accumulate more time at their higher power output without completely destroying their legs in a four-hour ride. Here is one of the rides that McNulty did over the winter \u2013 if you spend enough time on Strava, you will find many other UAE Emirates-XRG riders doing the same type of session.<\/p>\n Another reason that UAE Emirates-XRG riders might be spending less time on the bike is that they\u2019re spending more time in the gym. Strength training has become increasingly popular in professional cycling, and for good reason.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing more and more data that showed how critical torque capacity was in terms of VO2 Max level and efforts,\u201d says Swart. \u201cBut we also see from our own data that shows that durability, that ability to maintain power later in a race when you\u2019ve got accumulated, more long-lasting fatigue effects, that durability is very much affected by your functional strength on the bike.\u201d<\/p>\n UAE Emirates-XRG riders are in the gym three times a week doing very specific exercises. That is more than we\u2019ve probably ever heard of in professional cycling, but that\u2019s not all. At certain times of year, especially in the winter, UAE Emirates-XRG riders are, \u201cdoing about two sessions a week where we\u2019re focusing very much on functional strength,\u201d said Swart.<\/p>\n What are the specific exercises? That might be a well-kept secret. You could certainly try following UAE Emirates-XRG and their riders on social media. Every once in a while, you will see a clip from the gym or a physio\u2019s office. There, you can see exactly what their riders are doing to increase their strength on the bike.<\/p>\n Strength work on the bike comes in the form of torque work, or low cadence\/high power. These workouts can vary, but the typical UAE Emirates-XRG torque session is 8x4min at 40-50 rpm at 90-100% FTP.<\/p>\n At the beginning of the winter, riders might target 4x4min torque at 90% FTP. But after a few months of gym work and strength training, they can achieve the \u2018gold standard\u2019 of 8x4min torque at 100% FTP.<\/p>\n McNulty \u2013 4min Torque Repeats<\/strong><\/p>\n The final aspect of the UAE Emirates-XRG plan to point out is their high-intensity interval training. Now, there are a million different ways that you can do a high-intensity interval session, so we won\u2019t dive too deep into the specifics here. But the number-one thing that stands out about UAE Emirates-XRG\u2019s HIIT sessions is that they are super hard, lung-bursting efforts at race intensity.<\/p>\n UAE Emirates-XRG riders spend very little time in Zones 3 and 4. When they do Threshold intervals, they are more than likely riding at 100-105% FTP for 10-20 minutes. When they are doing VO2 Max intervals, they are targeting upwards of 120%, or doing 40\/20s at 650w.<\/p>\n McNulty \u2013 Full Gas 40\/20s<\/strong><\/p>\n The thinking here is that you are accumulating more time at a higher percentage of the target training zone. It\u2019s the same philosophy that applies to the team\u2019s Zone 2 riders. Instead of doing four hours at 60% FTP, do 3x1hr intervals at 70% FTP.<\/p>\n Instead of doing 4x5min VO2 Max intervals at 110% FTP \u2013 a hard but comfortable interval session \u2013 do 4x5min 40\/20s at >600w, basically all out.<\/p>\n Some UAE Emirates-XRG coaches have mentioned an interval session that is basically a fatigued power test: go out and ride three hours at Zone 2 pace. Then, perform 3x3min all-out efforts at the end of the ride. It\u2019s a simple but brutal session, and it works because it simulates the demands of a race. Instead of pacing yourself through a series of typical intervals, you first have to accumulate a few hours of fatigue. This forces you to nail your fueling strategy because you know the hardest efforts are coming at the end of the ride. You also have to be mentally switched on all day, especially at the end of the session, which simulates the demands of the race without leg-crushing sprints out of every corner.<\/p>\n So what does this all mean? Will professional cyclists start training less and less?<\/p>\n It\u2019s an interesting question because we don\u2019t really know what the tipping point is. For one, it seems like 40 hours per week is too much for a professional cyclist. But at the same time, 10 hours per week isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n We can\u2019t say there is a \u201cperfect\u201d amount of weekly training volume because there are so many other factors at play. Plus, you must consider the training or racing phase of the rider \u2013 are they in the middle of their off-season, or about to peak for the Tour de France?<\/p>\n Perhaps we\u2019ll see another training revolution in the future. Some riders might ride less than 15 hours per week, but they\u2019ll maintain the same volume throughout the season rather than taking a long off-season break. We\u2019ve already heard of some WorldTour pros shortening their off-season from four weeks to two, so who knows what is next.<\/p>\n It seems that, oftentimes, the off-season is more needed mentally than it is physically. Big training blocks push the body past its limits, and with adequate rest, you come back stronger. Instead of needing a reset at the end of the season, what if we just kept pushing the body constantly?<\/p>\n Instead of a giant fitness climb based on 25-30 hour weeks followed by a massive dip in the off-season, what if we just trained 10-20 hours per week year-round? Maybe that\u2019s what\u2019s next for UAE Emirates-XRG. The low-volume training seems to be working, so I wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see it go even lower in the future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-training\/why-professional-cyclists-riding-less-low-volume-training\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/trainginmcnut.jpg”] Zach Nehr Published March 14, 2026 03:58AM You might think that Tadej Poga\u010dar\u2019s breakthrough was the 2020 Tour de France. The Slovenian shocked everyone to win the yellow jersey atop La Planche des Belles Filles, but his rise to the top of professional cycling might have begun a few years earlier with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1827324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1827324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827324\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1827324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1827324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1827324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/85A_0608.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
Low Volume + High Quality = Maximal Gains<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/McNultys-winter-training-volume-720x250.png?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
<\/figure>\nComponents of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG Training Plan<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/McNulty-3x1hr-Zone-2-ride-720x643.png?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
<\/figure>\n![](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/McNulty-4min-Torque-Repeats-720x621.png?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
<\/figure>\n\n
![](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/McNulty-all-out-40-20s-720x703.png?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
<\/figure>\n\n
The Future of Cycling Training<\/h2>\n