Improving your sprint isn’t just about raw power — it’s about timing, positioning and how well you can deliver watts when it really counts. 

Many riders train endurance and climbing but neglect the short, explosive efforts that can not only help the racer get into breaks and get on the podium, but also help the non-racer improve climbing on steep gradients and increase ligament and tendon strength in the legs. 

Mentally too – this stuff toughen you up.

Just make sure you do them in an old jersey – wouldn’t want to throw up all over that nice new bit of kit!

Now, if you have Cavendish-like fast twitch muscles, designed to deliver explosive power on demand, no problem!

But what if you don’t? 

The key here is teaching your muscles and nervous system to fire fast, not just hard. That means training at very high cadence, with full recovery between efforts, so that every effort is truly maximal.

Over time, these sessions improve neuromuscular coordination, peak power and your ability to repeat hard efforts. 

One other good thing about sprint training, especially for those out there with very little time to train: sprint training can induce similar or even greater improvements in aerobic capacity (VO2max) and overall endurance compared to much longer, steady-state cardio sessions, making it a very time-efficient training method.

Top Tip:

Most riders think they have to start a sprint in a hard gear and then build up speed – but this means a low cadence is unavoidable. I made this mistake often when sprints in races, and would match the gear of the guy with the big legs – bad idea, the sprint would be over in the first 5 seconds.

Instead – starting the sprints from a rolling speed of around 25km/hr – use a lighter, easier gear to get up to speed quickly, then, staying out of the saddle, work your way through the gears til you are at full speed. It should be only 1-2 gear changes ideally, not 10!

Also, try ‘Builder Sprints’: Instead of looking to go from a slow speed to maximal effort in just ten seconds, do it over 25 – 30 seconds and build into the effort. The last 10-15 seconds will then be a full power, frothing at the gills, and really hurt – exactly what you need! 

Example workouts: 

1. After warming up, do 6 x 30 second Builder Sprints  from a rolling start, with 2-3 minutes easy spinning between each. As you get fitter, make it just 60 seconds between.

2. Do 3 mins at Tempo (85-95%), 2 mins at Threshold (96-105%), then add on the 30 secs builder sprint. Go easy for 4 mins, then start again. Try 4 of these, and then, if you have any energy left, try 4 x 20 second Builder Sprints, with just 1 minute between sets.

These should be done on the flats for maximum control over the effort – but if you are experienced, you can do these on hills also. 

On Hills:

1. 90 seconds spinning, very easy, then 20 seconds all out high cadence spinning sprint. Repeat til exhaustion. 4-6% incline ideal.

2. On a shorter hill, say 2km, do 300m easy, 100m Tempo, 100m sprint. This will be 4 sprints over the 2km.

Good luck!