Sprint (The Modern Training Approach of Vojtěch Hačecký)

The cycling world is in awe as the “old man” Mark Cavendish keeps winning in a discipline built on speed—something traditionally thought to belong to younger riders. Did you also think that snap in the pedals fades with age? Think again. Speed can be trained—and it still has its place, even as you get older.

The fact that Cavendish went a few years without a win and now he's back on top probably has just one explanation: Quick-Step. Because if we look at his numbers—his 5- and 15-second max efforts—they’re similar to those from his prime. He never posted dramatically higher values, even back when he was 23 and winning stages at the Tour de France with Columbia High Road. He’s a smaller rider, so aerodynamics play a big role in the equation. With his nearly flawless riding position, he doesn’t even need massive power numbers.

The difference between winning and losing on the road often comes down to the team. Very few riders have been able to win sprints without strong team support—Freire, Svorada, or even Sagan managed to force their way to the front using other teams’ lead-outs. But Cavendish has his own, and with Mørkøv as lead-out man—arguably the best in the world. Cav knows this well. He’s always valued his domestiques and showed his appreciation with thoughtful gifts.

So, I don’t see any kind of miraculous resurgence. Even when he wasn’t winning on the road, he was still competing at a high level on the track. Age hasn’t caused any dramatic decline or loss of power. What changed is likely his mindset—and mental game matters immensely for sprinters. One bad season, a couple of crashes, a few missed sprints, and a sprinter can lose confidence. Even if the numbers are there, the belief might not be.

But here’s the thing: a road sprinter isn’t a sprinter in the purest sense. A sprint at the end of a six-hour race isn’t a pure fast-twitch sprint. If you want to see real sprinting, you have to watch the track—like how the 100m sprint exists in athletics, the track has the equivalent in the 200m flying start.

Sprinters also come in types—explosive ones like Cav, and the diesel type who lack that instant kick but can maintain high speed over longer distances, like Alexander Kristoff. Sprinting today has shifted dramatically toward raw power, and the Norwegian trains accordingly—heavy strength work in the gym to maintain his power, but it comes at the cost of pure top-end speed.

Peak power is essentially the maximum coordinated production of energy. That coordination is what tends to decline with age. A sprinter might still be able to produce big watts, but not at a high cadence—so their absolute top-end speed suffers.

Cavendish, on the other hand, has the “kick”—that explosive acceleration. He doesn’t have monstrous power, but his compact position, similar to Caleb Ewan’s, allows him to gain speed through aerodynamics. Cav is one of the few who can accelerate from 65 km/h, open a gap, and stay ahead. But even he is beatable—his weakness in the climbs is well-known, and that’s where you can crack him. We saw that at the Giro.

No one can quantify it precisely, but fast-twitch fibers become less active with age. One theory is that cognitive decline plays a role—the brain simply stops recruiting them. But this can be trained and stimulated even into older age—well into the 60s. Several studies have shown that prescribing sprint training twice a week to older cyclists improves not just performance, but also cognitive function and memory.

So yes, sprint training still makes sense even for older riders. Provided, of course, that the cyclist is healthy—has had a medical check-up including stress ECG and blood pressure response testing. High-intensity training carries risk, and if someone isn’t monitoring heart function, cholesterol, or blood pressure, it can be dangerous. But for healthy individuals, sprint training brings a host of performance and health benefits.

There’s a saying: “If you don’t train speed when you’re young, you’ll never have it.” That’s not entirely accurate. What young cyclists develop best is coordination. It’s easy to teach kids high cadence, quick reactions, and acceleration.

Training absolute speed—if we define it in the physics sense, as how fast you're actually going—is possible even at an older age. You just have to approach it differently and not neglect coordination. We come full circle: maximum speed is the maximum coordinated energy output. So focus on coordination with the young, energy production with the older.

Cavendish is old school. He trains by doing series of motor-paced accelerations, 15- to 20-second sprints from high speed. Or when the team meets at spring camps, they train lead-out drills. He’s used to that from the track, too, where you need to launch from high speeds. That’s how you develop real speed.

You can’t develop speed during racing season—it’s built in winter. That’s why Cav spends his off-season on the track. It helps maintain his coordination, because the track won’t allow sloppy pedaling, at least not at the speeds he’s riding. Track sprinters do the same: extremely light gear ratios, trying to spin their legs “from the hips.”

An experienced amateur might ride 4–5 times a week. If they want to focus on sprinting, one session should be dedicated to sprint-specific work: coordination, starts, accelerations. Like pros, 15-second max efforts followed by 3–5 minutes of easy pedaling. A good setup is to find a road that dips slightly downhill—use the descent to pick up speed, then sprint into the opposing rise and try to hold your speed.

If you want to sprint, you must strength train. And you need to do it year-round, just like the pros. You can’t maintain peak strength or power output through cycling alone. Just five or six reps at max effort with heavy weights is enough to maintain strength during the season. It’s also beneficial for hormone regulation and growth hormone release. The focus should always be on dynamic strength—getting muscles to produce energy fast.

In fact, sprint training might be even more useful for hobby riders than pros. Even though amateur races don’t always end in sprints, there are lots of attacks—and attacking is sprinting. The better you are at reacting to others and not blowing up, the more energy you’ll have left for the finish. And if it does come down to a sprint in a small group, having a good one is a serious advantage. You can get faster after 50 or 60. It’s never too late. You just have to have the right mindset.