Before we get into the key components of sprinting, let’s first paint the picture of what exactly a sprint is in the sport of road cycling. There will always be a series of efforts that lead into and ultimately affect the end result of a sprint finish. Be it a 200km stage of racing, a sub-90-minute criterium, or a short group ride with your friends, road cyclists looking to put out a strong finish still need to build abilities that reach beyond sprinting. While extremely difficult to master, the engagement of the actual sprint lasts less than 20 seconds. This means that much of the development of a great sprinter goes into building the abilities to ultimately set themselves up for success in this very short moment of an event.

Now that we understand that sprinting in road cycling is largely about being able to manage all of the efforts leading up to the sprint, and still perform your final maximal explosive effort, let us introduce the 5 core components of a great sprint.

1. Fatigue resistance

Starting from the top down, building good fatigue resistance is foundational to executing a big sprint in any competitive scenario. This is why we’ve created EF’s Dynamic Threshold Power™ testing protocol, because the sport of cycling isn’t about what your best fresh effort is; cycling is about what you can do at the end of a series of strenuous events. Building great fatigue resistance will vary based not only on the level of resistance an athlete needs to build up, but also on their genetic makeup.

We often hear people say things like “that person has great endurance,” referring to an individual that can go at a hard pace for a long period of time, or do a big effort at the end of a hard day in the saddle. This describes someone who has developed great fatigue resistance for their level of cycling. So why do we refer to the “level of cycling?” Simply because building fatigue resistance for a 1-hour event and building fatigue resistance for a 5-6-hour WorldTour race — despite sharing some similarities — vary vastly in training execution.

How can you start increasing your fatigue resistance today? There are a variety of ways to approach this challenge. Here is one example from one of our Team EF coaches:

Analyze the efforts on the ride or in the race that you want to do well at, and turn those same efforts into repeatable intervals. For example: If your group ride is an hour long and has 4 challenging 5-minute sections leading into the sprint, go out and do 4 x 5-minute intervals at a rate of perceived exertion that you feel matches the intensity on your ride. This will give you the foundation to show up to the finish line in good shape to open up a big burst of energy for the line.

2. Positioning

Positioning in a sprint is incredibly important, and it is a difficult skill to master. In professional cycling we often see teams exhaust their entire roster simply to position one rider in the right place at the right time. A sprinter’s main objective is to hide from the wind and conserve as much energy as possible while staying close to the front in the final kilometers approaching a sprint.

There are two core principles of positioning for all sprinters: Staying out of the wind and not getting boxed in.

A) Staying out of the wind

Catching even a small amount of wind next to your competitor who is neatly tucked into the draft can cost you upwards of 100 watts of power. This difference is a critical factor in the explosiveness of the sprint. Additionally, the increased amount of required force on the pedals results in an increased amount of lactate in the legs and greater muscle fatigue. If you remain out of the wind, you will conserve energy and will be able to open up a more explosive sprint when the moment is right.

B) Avoid getting boxed in

Finding free space and a clear path to the finish line is a key factor in a sprinter’s end result. While staying nicely tucked in the draft is the most energy-conserving option, sometimes being too conservative allows an athlete to get swarmed by other riders, leaving no space to actually sprint to their full potential. The best way to avoid being boxed in is to ride confidently approaching the finale and constantly move to where you see potential openings. This skill takes practice, but once mastered it will yield appreciable results. Remember, if you see an opening, somebody behind you sees it too, and you want to be the first one there. Put simply, fill the gaps and race to defend your exit strategy: if you can’t execute your sprint because someone is in your way, it doesn’t matter how fast you are. Sprinting is about being explosive and fast, as well as positioning.

3. Timing

For many athletes, timing is the most difficult skill to perfect because it requires a high level of intuition and self-confidence. Sprinters who have mastered the art of timing their sprints can be near impossible to beat. What exactly is a sprinter looking for when it comes to timing? The short answer: the best place to exchange energy for speed, the place where the speed created results in well-timed momentum.

Sprinters hunt this very specific feeling as the finish line — or town line sign — approaches. A sprinter looks for the moment when the efforts of their acceleration will be rewarded with the maximum amount of velocity in the approach. Note that this can be changed by the actions of other riders, the wind, approaching corners, and even the road surface itself. While there is no standard rule for timing, because it changes in almost every sprint, working on your timing craft — on your own or with a coach — will make you a better sprinter. Going fast is important, but going fast at the right time is where the magic happens.

Sprint timing is about perfecting the run into the draft on the riders in front of you, the grade of the road, the wind direction, distance to the line, and your own sprinting characteristics. A rider with excellent acceleration will wait until the line is close, while a rider with a high speed that can be maintained for a long duration will initiate the sprint a long way from the line and hold competitors on their hip.

In a criterium, seasoned sprinters will use a prime during the race to practice their finish run. This gives them a “trial” to think about positioning from the last corner, which side of the road to use, and timing of the acceleration and top-end speed of the effort. When the real finish comes, the rider has a better instinct on how to execute.

4. Neuromuscular recruitment

We hear people say “just stand up and go as hard as you possibly can” when they talk about sprinting. The limiting factor here is how hard you can go. While one of the contributors to this is muscular strength, which we’ll discuss in the next point, the second biggest — and most commonly overlooked — contributor is the amount of neuromuscular recruitment an athlete can apply to their sprint. Getting more muscles involved will make you a more explosive rider and ultimately make your sprint faster.

5. Strength

Arguably the most important component for a sprinter is strength. Pure, raw strength. At the highest level, we sometimes see the strongest sprinter caught out of position, unable to utilize their potential. Contrary to this scenario, when two riders are head-to-head and have a clear run at the line, the physically stronger rider is usually going to win. Increasing your pure strength should be done off the bike, in the gym. Team EF Coaching’s Premium membership includes a comprehensive strength program developed with two-time Olympian Hugo Barrette to help riders use strength training to complement, rather than inhibit, their cycling performance.

Remember, strength is a component of power, and contributes to the rate of force development. The stronger the athlete is, the more force they can produce; but sprinting is not only about force, it is about how quickly you can produce that force. A true sprinter is an athlete who can make lots of force very fast.