How do the pros train? Mattia Agostinacchio takes us through his pre-race week

This article was taken from the January 22 edition of Cycling Weekly. Chris Mashall-Bell sat down with Italian road and cyclo-cross rider, Mattia Agostinacchio (EF Education-EasyPost) ahead of the Namur World Cup. To subscribe to the magazine, click here.

What's your sporting background?

I did lots of sports as a kid: gymnastics until I was 11, ski racing until I was 13, and some tennis, football and swimming too. My first cycle sport was mountain biking, and then I took up cyclo-cross and road cycling.

Who coached you as a junior?

My whole family loves cycling, and my dad trained me until I was a junior, when my older brother Filippo took over. He's also a cyclist [with Continental team Biesse-Carrera Premac] and is studying sports science at university. With his help, at age 16, I started using a power meter and a heart rate monitor.

What kind of road rider are you?

I still don't know for sure, but I think I am best suited to the Classics. Mathieu van der Poel is my idol, and some people have compared me to him - but it will be impossible to be exactly like him!

How do you feel being the World Tour's baby?

I really don't know what to expect from myself this season, but I will need to get some key races in my legs to find the rhythm and flow. My first ambition as a pro cyclist is to win one race.

How do you rate your cyclo-cross season so far?

I'd give it a 7/10. The World Cup hasn't gone so well for me for various reasons, and I've had quite a lot of downs. But to win the U23 European Championships was amazing and I hope to get a podium at the U23 race at the World Championships [on 11 January; he finished fourth].

Do you do specific CX training?

During the cross season I use my cyclo-cross bike on the road. I normally go into the forest once or twice a week to practise my technique, and I run for 30 minutes once a week.

MATTIA'S TRAINING DIARY

The week: 8-14 December
Training for: Elite UCI World Cup, Namur, Belgium
Training in: Italy and Belgium

Monday: Recovery ride
This whole week was focused on preparing for Namur, which was to be my first World Cup race against the elites. I had an easier week's training after my last U23 race in Flamanville [in France, 30 November - he finished eighth] because I had a lot of races coming up in December. I started this week with a Zone 1 ride, sitting between 170 and 190 watts.
Total riding: 1hr 30min

Tuesday: Explosive efforts
Before this ride, I did a small core session with a few exercises. I've started doing these sessions twice a week. Afterwards I went out for three hours and did my favourite session: six reps of 30 seconds at Zone 5 and 50rpm, and then 15 seconds all-out. I feel like I'm working on and improving my explosiveness with this session.
Total riding: 3hr

Wednesday: AM: Endurance ride; PM: VO2max intervals
In the morning I did two hours steady at Zone 2, between 220 and 230 watts, and after lunch I did VO2max efforts: two times two minutes at just a bit harder than race pace, so between 450 and 500 watts, with one minute's recovery in between. These sessions help me in cyclo-cross races.
Total riding: 3hr 30min

Thursday: Endurance ride (abandoned)
The plan was to do three-and-a-half hours, but I didn't feel great when I woke up and as soon as I got out on the bike I realised I wouldn't be able to complete the session. In the end I only did half an hour. It's better to stop and recover rather than push on and make yourself worse.
Total riding: 30min

Friday: Recovery ride
I was feeling a bit better than the day before, so even though Friday was meant to be a rest day, I went out for a 90-minute Zone 1 recovery ride. In the evening, I travelled to Belgium for the race.
Total riding: 1hr 30min

Saturday: Race recon
Namur was a big race for me, so I prepared thoroughly, even though I'd ridden it before, as a junior. I completed a lot of laps, some a bit faster than others, always looking for the best lines.
Total riding: 1hr 30min

Sunday: Race: UCI CX World Cup, Namur
My race preparation includes one or two laps of the course, and a 20-minute warm-up, which begins with four minutes in Zone 2, two minutes in Zone 2b (almost Zone 3) two minutes at Zone 3, another two minutes at Zone 4, and then three minutes of recovery. After that, I do two lots of 30-second VO2max efforts, with 30 seconds easy. I started on the fifth row, so quite far back, but I found my rhythm and in the last few laps even went faster than some of the guys in the top-10. I was really happy with 13th.
Total riding: 1hr 40min

Week's Wisdom

Once you've processed the fact he was born in autumn 2007, make a note of this young man's restraint. Hard efforts are dosed with caution, balanced with recovery, and his body's early warning signs are heeded - cutting a ride short shows wisdom beyond his years. Trusting in consistency over heroics, he is rightly rewarded at his target race - and is a talent to watch over coming years.