Tom Steels: The importance of track training

Tom Steels: The importance of track training

If you are in Ghent during the month of November and you go to the Eddy Merckx Center, you have a very good chance of finding the Etixx – Quick-Step guys training hard and preparing the new season. What is the purpose of track training for road riders? We asked this question to Tom Steels, legendary former rider and current Etixx – Quick-Step trainer and sports director, who leads this project since 2012.

There are a few reasons why we train on the track.

One of them is that the conditions here are always good, constantly at 20° degrees, dry and warm.

We can always use the gym here at the track, so the combination of power and bike training is perfect.

Definitely in the winter and coming out of a tough road season, the riders tend to lose their flexibility first, so it's important to do these winter trainings.

Early November we plan the training schedule for everyone together with the team's physiotherapist.

This implies power training and core stability.

In the beginning, the bike part is rather limited because the riders have to enroll to this, to being on that track, but as the weeks go by we do more and more specific trainings and exercises on the track, like the one behind the derny: 2x40 minutes behind it, pure speed and turns.

You can see week after week that everyone makes important steps.

This is something that is really essential for them, we are talking about the basics of cycling here, about the importance of learning how to develop your skills, and you can notice a big difference here.

We do these trainings on ground with all the riders where this is possible; for instance, the riders who don't live in Belgium train in their own countries.

But most of the Belgian riders come to Ghent to these trainings, and it's good to bring them together.

We do this twice a week, so for them it's good that they can train together on these days rather than all the time individually.

We started with the track training four years ago, when they could barely ride on the track.

The technique is totally different than that for a normal bike; for instance, you have to keep pedaling as you have no brakes, so it’s important for them to learn how to anticipate, because you can’t use your brakes.

They are more alert, and even learning to ride in one line behind the derny is a good thing. Having a fixed gear means they cannot shift gears, so they all have to give the best for themselves.

Everyone is excited about coming here for the trainings, they all really love it.

Without any doubt, when there's bad weather and cold outside, they appreciate this even more.