form

1 - how does Gilbert achieve his great form? Smart training, proper planning, and sensible goal setting. When you think of La Vuelta, keep in mind Gilbert didn't contest that race with any illusions of being a GC contender unlike Nibali, Mosquera, Schleck, etc. He showed his "form" with some fantastic stage wins that suited his characteristics. Those aside, he probably saved himself somewhat....he finished over an hour-and-one-half behind Nibali..

2 - Despite that, after a 3 week stage race even if you sandbagged a few stages, I'm betting that the vast majority of those riders had CTL on the north side of 150. With that kind of load, I'd expect they'd get as much rest, including time away from the bike, as absolutely possible between events. And it would be out of necessity as I have to believe that training load means those riders might well need medications just to sleep properly with the accumulated fatigue.

3 - The WC RR course suits someone like Gilbert who loves to attack, is excellent on shorter climbs, and still has a fast finish to win sprints in smaller groups (as opposed to full bunch sprints). Different courses for different horses. If there was a 30 minute climb in the WC course, then we'd be speaking of different riders being favorites.

4 - Knowing what a pro does doesn't mean we punters can replicate it. You could of course try it but I'd wager such a training load would crush most mere mortals (aka....non genetic phenoms & those of us with real lives, responsibilities, and families). Oh and I doubt Gilbert and others spend weeks on the beach when the season ends. Maybe a week or two off, but you'd lose too much by putting the bike away for months in the fall/winter as so many weekend warriors do.

dancen

on your # 2 reason..
are you saying you think gilbert didnt ride atfer the tour of spain?? how long was he off the bike before he resumed training?

i wish we had a pro here on the forum that could tell us exactly what a rider does during a one, or two week training period, or maybe even a month training period leading up to a big race.

say tour de flanders
.
sure they race 1 day races on sat. or sundays the month leading up to the race, but what is done the others days of the week? everyone guesses.anyone really know?

volume should be over with, so is it intervals? how long ? 1 minute, 2,3,4 10minute intervals? how much rest between? how many days? 20 minute intervals? how many? motorpacing? how fast and far? be really nice to hear what a pro does after he puts in his mega miles november-janurary and races his low key races.

we only can guess.

then when gilbert is soooooo fit, per the commentators, what did he do that was different than the other guys that rode the one day classics, the tour of spain like he did?

mega miles only gets you so fit.. its the intervals thats the icing..

palo batteni said one time in an article he does 30 second intervals very very hard, but they never say the key.. how many .. how much rest.. how many days a week. how far out from a big race..

be awsome to hear how a pro really trains and gets really fit.

The information you seem to be looking for is basically an exercise in using a tool such as the PMC. Essentially that's how you manage the careful balance of form/fitness/freshness as they relate to key events and races.

While I'm not privy to a pro tour rider's training plan, I believe they'd be using periodization to full advantage and with training that reflects such a method. If you are familiar with Lydiard's training philosophies, then you should already have a good idea of what that entails.

You might find this link helpful if you haven't already read about it:

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/cycling/what-is-the-performance-management-chart.aspx

FWIW, and putting aside any angles/comments about potential usage of PED's, I don't think the pro riders have any silver bullets. It doesn't hurt less, rather they just go faster (and longer since their job is basically riding bikes FT)