The team have been up in the mountains of Italy for a pre-Giro d’Italia Women training camp.
With over 14,000 meters of climbing in this year’s race, it’s one of the most mountainous editions ever, making altitude training key.
But why do so many athletes head for the mountains ahead of a Grand Tour? Team coach Enrico Campolunghi accompanied our Italian contingent of Giada Borghesi, Carlotta Cipressi, Barbara Malcotti, Katia Ragusa and Silvia Zanardi at the camp.
“Training at altitude allows the body to strengthen the oxygen transport mechanisms by producing more erythropoietin and therefore more red blood cells,” explains Campolunghi. “These are used to transport oxygen to the muscles and tissues. A training camp at altitude is important for the major stage tours because it allows you to sustain the efforts and fatigue of an eight or nine-day race.”
Greater aerobic resistance and better oxygen transport around the body then allows for faster recovery.
“In the first week, we focused on adapting to altitude [Livigno sits at 1,800 meters above sea level] by doing endurance bike rides at low intensity,” Campolunghi continues. “Then, in the second week, we started the bike work and increased the hours of training as all the athletes demonstrated excellent adaptation to the altitude.”
With climbers, puncheurs and sprinters all at the camp. Campolunghi adapted the training for each athlete’s requirements, with a particular focus on the pillars of performance that make a well-rounded athlete.
“The atmosphere was good, and we were all very committed to our goals,” says Barbara Malcotti. “We had a lot of time on the bike, but we also could relax, take a coffee and go hiking in the mountains, which was perfect for the mindset.”
These moments of downtime were coupled with other areas of off-bike focus.
“Another important focus was given to nutrition and daily rest after training,” says Campolunghi. “Every week, we also had two sessions in the gym with rebalancing work, unloading, and strength recalls with appropriate loads for each rider.”
After three weeks at altitude, we are ready for a Grand Tour summer.
“The athletes saw their performance improve in the second and third week,” says Campolunghi. “This motivated them to train with greater concentration as we laid exciting groundwork for the Giro.”
