Fabian Cancellara’s top 11 time trial tips
Olympic Champion Fabian Cancellara has one word to describe amateur time triallists in the UK: “crazy”. All the same, the TT maestro was happy to pass on 11 nuggets of wisdom that any of us can make use of, regardless of ability
1 Prepare
“It’s not only the day before the race that’s important, what’s important is the week before. You have to eat carbs and good quality food, be relaxed, be ready for what is coming, whether it’s a long race or a short one.”
2 Head and heart
“In training I have to follow the power numbers, but I also go on feeling. In training you never reach what you want to reach in a race. Even now when my coaches calculate my training plan, they put a few numbers too high because they look at what I reached in races. It’s different to what I reach in training.”
3 Build slowly
“The better my level is, the more I’m excited to do TT training. The first day on a TT bike is horrible, but the second, third, fourth, fifth day are already different because you are used to the position, used to going at another speed. The more you do things, the better you get. Of course if you can ride 55kph for a long time, that’s also nice!”
4 Have a goal
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
“Somehow training is a pain in the ass. Maybe that’s a bit strong, but the problem with time trialling is that you have to force yourself, and to force yourself for nothing is hard. The main thing is to work towards a main goal and that you are ambitious for something.”
5 Be confident
“When your results come from training, that’s good for your confidence, and confidence is vital. Of course as a pro athlete it’s a bit different — sometimes amateurs are more ambitious than us!”
6 Look after your equipment
“You need good kit. Wheels, bike, helmet, skinsuit… time trialling is not only about performance and power, it’s also about equipment.”
Cancellara's TT machine
7 Find your pace
“Practise for five minutes at a certain wattage or certain heart rate, then have three minutes’ recovery and then go again for five or 10 minutes. It doesn’t need to be always threshold pace, but a pace where you learn to keep it. If you cannot keep the pace, time trialling is even harder.”
8 Stick to it
“I meet a lot of people whose biggest problem is that they cannot ride the pace; they go a bit faster, a bit stronger, and then a bit less. On a hilly parcours they go fast into the climb and then slow because they are tired and then they go fast onto the downhill, and then the flat they don’t know how to go, that’s the problem.”
9 Don’t warm up too much
“I think a lot of riders do too much roller training, too much warm-up; riders are already tired before the start. That’s what I think.”
Time trialling: read more
Elite cyclist, full-time worker: finding the right balance to stay at the top
How they used to train: Jacques Anquetil’s time trial training
10 Pin your number on right
“Lately, mostly, the bus driver or one of the soigneurs pins my number on when I’m on the rollers. The skinsuit is always a mess to get on and you can destroy the number, so I say: ‘First I put my skinsuit on and then when I have it on you can put the number on right.’”
11 Wake up
“The secret is to get awake, take a small shower. [Sometimes] you just want to lie on bed and recover and get the best out of recovery because the best recovery is just sleeping, just doing nothing. But find a bit of rice, a piece of chocolate, some sparkling water, and then the body is more switched on.”
Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Jack Elton-Walters hails from the Isle of Wight, and would be quick to tell anyone that it's his favourite place to ride. He has covered a varied range of topics for Cycling Weekly, producing articles focusing on tech, professional racing and cycling culture. He moved on to work for Cyclist Magazine in 2017 where he stayed for four years until going freelance. He now returns to Cycling Weekly from time-to-time to cover racing, review cycling gear and write longer features for print and online.
-
'She should show a bit more respect' - Lotte Kopecky responds to Demi Vollering comments
The pair seemingly had one last fractious year together at SD Worx-Protime in 2024
By Tom Davidson Published
-
'Our costs are going up but customers can’t pay more': Community bike shops are making cycling affordable, but can they afford to keep the doors open?
Not-for-profit setups designed to make cycling accessible are feeling the pinch - but the communities they're designed to serve can keep them alive
By Isobel Duxfield Published
-
How to prepare for the return of time trials (whenever that may be)
The 2020 time trial season has been unusual to say the least.
By Alex Ballinger Published
-
Cycling time trials: how to get started and training for best results
Want to try entering some cycling time trials? Here's everything you need to know about what the events entail, how to enter and how to prepare
By Michelle Arthurs-Brennan Published
-
How to pace a long time trial (video)
Pacing is key when it comes to time trials: go off too fast and you'll fade, hold too much back and you'll be disappointed with your time. Here we look at pacing, efficient use of energy and nutrition strategies to help you perform to your best
By Hannah Reynolds Published
-
Elite cyclist, full-time worker: finding the right balance to stay at the top
Just how do you hold down a full-time job and compete at the highest level? Stephen Shrubsall meets the ordinary people who’ve dared to dream big
By Henry Robertshaw Published
-
How they used to train: Jacques Anquetil’s time trial training
Jacques Anquetil’s records speak for themselves, but it was his talent for racing against the clock that really set him on the road to creating history
By Jack Elton-Walters Published