The Man who transformed Sagan
He does not want to be considered the savior of Peter Sagan, insists Francisco Patxi Vila three times. This modesty honors him but the fact is there: since he started working with the Spanish coach, Sagan has finally unveiled the extent of his immense talent. Vila explains how.
4th in Milan Sanremo, 30th in E3 Harelbeke, 10th in Gand Wevelgem, 4th in Tour of Flanders, 23rd in Paris Roubaix. This is not the record of an average rider but that of Peter Sagan at Spring of 2015. Deeply below his level and salary (four million a year). So, after Roubaix, Tinkoff-Saxo sacked Bobby Julich, the former rider, hired for a few months as ... Sagan coach. On Monday, the quadruple green jersey was awarded a new coach: Patxi Vila (40), new in the team. As a rider at iBanesto and Lampre and a former employee of Specialized, he quickly impressed by his physiological and psychological knowledge. The Spaniard was therefore asked to take care of the Slovak talent. A year later, he returns to his collaboration with Sagan.
"The first few days I had several long conversations with Peter, by phone," says Vila in excellent English. I wanted to meet the man and the athlete. Four years after my retirement, I still feel like a rider and I try to stay close to them. I do not play tough professors: I try to explain to them why we are complying with such training. What is the positive effect. So I convince them.
Peter felt bad, after this failed spring, but I did not upset his pattern abruptly: at 25 years old, he already had a great track record, acquired thanks to his talent. Everything was not bad. So I studied for hours the wattages of the months and previous years to assess his evolution. I noticed some changes and I questioned him to see if they stemmed from his physiological evolution or bad accents in tactics, technical, food ... I then set up a first program: after a month of rest, an easy first month followed by an altitude training camp in Lake Tahoe, before the Tour of California. "
Successfully: Sagan won Two stages and the overall standings. "We saw each other for the first time. I stood speechless. Because of his victory in the ITT of 10 kilometers but especially his performance at Mount Baldy. It is
a seven-kilometer, with an average of 8.7 per cent at an altitude of 1,900 meters. Peter finished sixth at only 47 seconds from Julian Alaphilippe and Sergio Henao, but ahead of Zubeldia, Gesink, Kennaugh, TenDam ... Real featherweights, while Peter weighs 77.5 pounds. His past wattage had already impressed me but there, it was phenomenal. I realized that I had to tinker a Ferrari. Just deal with the finishes. "
THE POWER
But what was really under the hood and how did Vila increase these resumes? "When most of the riders are out of breath, he can still whistle, but he does not get extraterrestrial figures in his physical tests on the reels. Six or seven Tinkoff riders reach higher wattages. But in a race, on the road, he pulverized the others. Peter defies all physiological laws. I can not quote numbers but where a rider can develop a certain wattage for a scientific maximum of x minutes before being saturated, Peter holds five more minutes. But only in the race, because his competitive spirit takes over and he is able to go higher, driven by his winning spirit."
Previously, from the Slovakian championships in June 2014 until the Tour of California, he had only won a stage of Tirreno Adriatico. Rather thin for a man who had collected 65 wins for four and a half years, without any monument, certainly. The explanation of this long shortage? "He has focused too much on his weaknesses in training, so for two years he has eroded his strengths: his solid foundations and, by aging, his maximum power during a sprint or an attack. Peter still reached high wattages but it took more and more time to peak. For lack of strength in his legs, he lost some of his explosiveness. "
Vila therefore began to adjust the Ferrari engine. "We came back to the basics: pedaling, a lot and for a long time, because the more the base of the pyramid is wide, so his endurance, the higher is the point. To take it up, I made him train in fitness room three or four times a week, to recover his power and explosiveness. This is the most important change. Peter was good at fitness but it is the quality of the exercise that counts. By lifting light weights but at a steady pace, he activated the muscle fibers and did not increase his muscle volume.
The Slovak had another reason to go to the gym. In California, Vila and Peter Lagrou, the Tinkoff Flemish sports doctor, understood why in a finaly, after six hours of racing, Sagan stalled: he had an imbalance in the hip muscles and right leg: Of a fall, some nervous signals were disconnected. This instability induced him unconsciously to turn the knee outwards. He suffered from inflammation and could no longer fully exploit his potential. Especially in the finals, when his nerves, tired, had even more trouble sending signals to the right muscles. Muscle strengthening and trunk stabilization exercises partially solved the problem before the Worlds and after an intense week at Lagrou's office on the coast in November, Sagan was able to work his muscles properly again. The World Champion continues to observe this program to the letter.
26/07/2016
Jonas Creteur
Sportmagazine.be