Tadej Pogačar's coach Javier Sola has lifted the lid on the Slovenian's key improvements after his dominant 2024 season, crediting changes in his training programme including strength training and high intensity efforts.
Sola was present at the UAE Team Emirates training camp in Spain on Tuesday where Pogačar confirmed his 2025 goals, with the Spring Classics and a Tour-Vuelta double leading his ambitions.
Pogačar was already ranked number one in the world heading into 2024 but proved almost unbeatable during the season, adding wins at the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Il Lombardia, and the World Championships to his palmarès.
Sola said "We haven't made serious changes" to how Pogačar trains but did single out several areas where he and the team made improvements.
"Obviously, he has a good background. Basically, we introduced a little bit of strength training in the gym," Sola said.
"Also, he has improved his body composition compared with other years, working more with the TT bike this year. There's also a little bit more high intensity. He's older, getting more experience, so it's a moment to try to push it a little bit.
"It's not something crazy. Probably we did a bit more high intensity in some periods and also the strength training I think for him has been key. On the bike and off the bike."
Sola said there are still areas to improve going forward, though he said he can't predict how much better Pogačar can get for 2025 and beyond.
Getting stronger and working more on intensity for the spring Classics are among the goals for this season.
"I think that he can still improve a little bit, but I cannot predict how much. I don't have a crystal ball, as they say," Sola said.
"But we will see, we work every day, and obviously we try to make some goals every year to keep motivated. We'll see the range of improvements then. Obviously, it's more important that he's still motivated to keep improving and keep winning races.
"I think that, in strength training, he can still progress. So, we are focusing on that now, this precision, including a little bit more compared with last year. Also, I think especially for the Classics, we try to do a little bit more intensity, and we will see that he can manage the load and keep everything. This is a process, and every year we improve something."
Jeroen Swart, performance coordinator at UAE Team Emirates, was also on hand to talk about Pogačar's continuing rise. Swart also confirmed that the team no longer uses the controversial carbon monoxide rebreathing technique to measure athlete performance.
He noted that the team had found "some deficits" in Pogačar's "maximal torque production" which was "addressed to some extent" by strength training, though he can still "maybe make some small gains there".
Swart also said that the breakthroughs made in understanding cycling nutrition have also helped.
"Nutrition has evolved hugely in the last 10 years. 10 years ago, everyone was consuming 60 grams of carbs an hour and thinking, 'Oh, that's close to the upper limits'. Now we're doing 110-120 grams an hour as standard," he said.
"That means that the fuel available to riders is so much greater, and that we see in the overall ability of the riders to do these high-intensity efforts for much longer durations, as Javier pointed out, he did more high-intensity training.
"High-intensity training has been a big area that's evolved in terms of the research in the last year, there have been dozens of papers virtually in that sphere alone. And so, we've implemented that quite successfully, too. It's very multifaceted, but they've been particular areas where we've made some key steps, and that shows quite nicely."
