- I'm out here in Italy and I'm wildly excited,
not just because the sun is shining and it's warm,
I'm not wearing a single thermal layer,
but I've been invited to come out and ride
with Elia Viviani at the Montichiari velodrome.
And I'm pretty excited, 'cause it's been a while
since I was on the track.
(thumping bass music)
Elia Viviani is undisputedly one of the world's
fastest sprinters with a prestigious palmares
across the road and the track.
In his spare time he's also been working with Bikevo,
a startup software company for training,
and its because of them that we've been invited out here
to Italy and the Montichiari velodrome
to get up to speed with Viviani.
He is the defending Olympic omnium champion on the track,
and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
is just around eight months away.
So let's get in there and see how his training's going.
(rhythmic rock music)
Right, Elia.
We've made it finally to the velodrome.
I've managed to blag myself a bike,
and I'm quite looking forward to gettin' on the track,
because it's been a little while since I rode.
2012 is the last time I rode on the track,
apart from when I penny-farthing.
I've got a few questions I want to ask you.
So when it comes to the start of the year
and you're planning out all of your season goals,
how does that look?
Do you plan it all in one big calendar,
or do you aim for certain small targets at a time?
- Yeah, the training is the main part,
but it's also the last things you want to plan.
You plan the goal, and then you go back to see
how you can arrive there on the top
of your shape and everything.
You go in the specific training schedule
when just you know which one is your goal.
The biggest goal in the season, every season,
it is Tour de France.
This year it is the Olympics,
so in Olympics year and back 2016
when I won that gold medal,
and then is the best feeling you can have as an athlete.
So it's quite easy to understand which one can be the goals,
but is not really easy like that to plan arrive there
in the best shape you can have, the best body, fit,
in that moment.
So it's all about planning, doing everything perfect
and hope nothing go wrong, because you need to
be ready all from that.
- You mix road and track phenomenally well.
You win on the road all year long and you win
on the track as well.
How do you do that?
What're the big things?
How long does it take?
Tell me everything about it, I want to know it all.
- Yeah, the big problem from the track is
I don't race a lot on the track,
so that's mean I can train a lot,
but I don't, when I go on the track for racing,
I don't have really some point like on the road.
On the road you do 80-90 race days per season,
so on the track I never go more than 20 days.
Likely is on my natural because
from when I am 11, 12, I do both.
Every week I just do my training on the track
and I really feel okay to jump
from track bike and road bike.
Yeah, the technical part I just try to
use the same position, then that help me
to don't have something traumatic when I jump
from one bike to the other bike.
But mainly, track is part of my normal preparation,
also for the road.
Also when you don't see me from long time
to don't race on the track, but I'm train on the track.
Because it's something I really need, also for my sprint,
and that help me a lot.
- So these days, with all the training software available,
do you think it's possible to accurately predict
when you'll be in top shape and when you won't be?
You know, how you'll feel on that day?
- Yeah, absolutely.
So, in that plan, when you understand, when you realize
which one is the goal that need to be the moment,
the period where you need to be on the top.
So normally as a pro rider you just thinking about
two periods with really, really high shape,
where you have your main goal.
Some season you can plan three,
but is never really works well
because all the preparation you need to do
to arrive on the top is really
a long period of preparation.
And you need to plan also a rest period
in the middle of season.
So normally, yeah, I try to choice always two period
where can be a period of month, a month and half,
where you try to be always there.
- So you mentioned having a rest.
For younger riders watching this video,
is the rest for your body, physical rest,
or is it for mental rest?
- I think it's more mental because if you think the body,
all the long season you work every day,
so probably the body can go still.
Also when you feel tired it's more with the head,
because you arrive at the hand one piece,
or probably you gain your goal, or you lose that.
So is the head that decide if you are tired or not.
So, mainly.
So for sure that you can go extreme with the body,
but when you do rest, it's good for everything
because with the body you start
from probably a lower level,
but really more motivated to gain more fatigue.
And that is really important.
I think in the last few years, well y'know
the modern cycling is not just about few month,
it's from January to December.
So the rest is even more important.
Because you need to listen your sensation,
your feeling, but, yeah,
rest is part of the training, for sure.
- Training has changed loads.
Like I started cycling in the 90s,
and I'm pretty sure, judging by how old you said you were
when you started cycling, it was also the late 90s as well.
How much has changed for you and what modern methods
have you experienced over recent years
that have made an affect on how you ride?
- Yeah, mainly, not just the cycling,
but also the preparation is all more specific.
So I turn pro in 2010 and already from the last ten years
a lot of change.
I think that technology in the last few years
is really a big part of our training,
of our season, because with all the days we have,
power, heart rate, speed and cadence,
and all you have in this computer,
you can just analyze everything and try to doing better.
- Making little changes.
- Yeah, it's not a complete change,
because a rider is a rider.
The technology help the cycling, but the base of cycling
are always the same.
- It's always a traditional sport,
it's always happening on the road.
- Absolutely.
- I've always thought that I was pretty quick at sprinting,
even on the track.
How well, though, do I compare to the current
Olympic omnium champion?
Right, let's get up there.
It's been a while since I've been on the track.
After a brief roll around the banking,
mainly so I could have a chat and enjoy
the feeling of speed that you get
when not riding a penny-farthing on a track,
we're going for a one lap race,
from a rolling start.
So roll around for one lap, and then start
with 250 meters to go.
- [Man Standing On Track] Three, two, one, go.
Go, go, go, go!
(heavy bass music)
One more to go guys, one more to go!
Go, go, go, go!
(suspenseful music)
(shouting)
- Well, clearly if I want any chance
of beating Viviani, I am going to need to train.
Let's take a little look at the Bikevo app,
which Viviani aided the development of
by using his personal training data
from the run-up to his gold-medal winning
Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Bikevo is an algorithm-based software
that has the ability to adapt to user-generated data,
to then create tailor-made bespoke training programs
that are available in the palm of your hand.
Simply download the app and set up your season.
You do this by running through three pages of data input,
which mainly outline your training history,
your available training time,
the dates of the events you're training for,
and then finally the types of events
that you're going to be riding.
Once you've done this, you will need
to complete that critical power testing protocol.
And that will assure that accurate sessions
are prescribed to you.
But even this can be done within the app.
To get a little bit more background information,
we were able to talk to Davide Cassani,
a well-known professional rider from the 1980s and 90s,
now a highly regarded coach.
But more importantly, one of the key players at Bikevo.
Could you explain a little bit about
the origins of Bikevo and how the data from Elia
was fed into the app and how that then
is relayed on to other riders?
(speaking Italian)
Elia, a massive thank you for taking
the time out of your training to show us
how to ride the track again,
remind me how hard it was.
- You're welcome.
- Talking all things training, all things software
and everything.
Good luck for 2020.
I look forward to watching you at the Olympics.
- Thank you.
- Get on and train.
Go.
- I go. - Go!
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