Team Sky Training Camp in Mallorca, Spain

Gear Fisher and Dirk Friel are working with Team Sky this week at the team’s winter training headquarters in Mallorca, Spain. Team Sky has rented an entire hotel for two months and relocates team staff to this Mediterranean island in order to prepare for the 2012 season.

Unlike most teams, Team Sky has found that having one base of operations in a warm climate for two months allows them to rotate in and out smaller groups of riders which have similar objectives and race programs. This is in contrast to most teams that have shorter training camps, but ask all 30 riders to attend at the same time.

The riders in attendance this week have a focus on the stage races and include names such as Bradley Wiggins, Kanstantsin Siutsou, Lars-Petter Nordhaug, and Colombians Rigoberto Uran and new signee (and 2nd in the 2011 Tour of Utah) Sergio Henao. Since this group of riders is focused on stage racing, they are incorporating a lot of climbing into their rides. Other than rest days the team is doing 5-6hr training rides with specific targeted 20-30 minute efforts.

 

   

The daily routine is repeated almost exactly the same day to day with breakfast served until 8:30 a.m. Breakfast choices include: oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, muesli, eggs, ham, bread, fresh squeezed orange juice and of course great espresso coffee
Almost as quickly as breakfast ends the riders are prepped and ready for their daily training ride at 10am sharp. Training ends around 3-4pm and recovery is the number one goal, starting with a recovery drink, shower and then a quick meal before their daily massage.

Lunch choices include a salad (arugula, tomatoes, mozzarella, olive oil/balsamic dressing), quinoa, chicken, vegetables and rice. After lunch riders retire to their rooms as well as have meetings with the coaching staff, sponsors and directors. Of course they also upload their SRM data to their TrainingPeaks accounts and let the coaches know how they felt and responded to the day's training.

 
Dinner is served at 7:30 p.m., and options include soup, salad, stew, fish, beef, rice, chicken, vegetables, and dessert (rice pudding, fruit, yogurt, and cookies). Unlike the stereotypical cycling ritual of having massive amounts of pasta, Team Sky finds nutrient-dense foods such as salad, fruit, vegetables, and lean protein options to keep the riders fit and trim without wasted calories during training camps. The diet changes during stage races where a higher carbohydrate diet is necessary to replace glycogen stores.Team Sky also travels with a team chef who literally runs the entire hotel kitchen. This helps the team know they will always have a consistent high-quality diet created by a world-class chef.      

Once dinner is finished the riders retire to their rooms for a full night's rest. The staff members however have busy evenings and late nights, with meetings to discuss the next day’s training, review of training files, calls to the rest of the team members not attending camp, e-mails with race directors, sponsors, equipments suppliers and all the other details necessary to run a professional cycling organization of more than 100 individuals.

TrainingPeaks co-founders Gear Fisher and Dirk Friel will be wrapping up Team Sky training camp in Mallorca, then heading to Italy to work with Team Saxo Bank before hopping a plane to Manchester to meet with British Cycling. Don't forget to subscribe to our blog, "Like" our Facebook page, or follow us on Twitter to keep getting their "on the ground" reports on working with some of the world's very best cycling teams.