UAE Team Emirates: Off-Season
Built on the publicly documented winter methodology of UAE Team Emirates-XRG (2025/26). The press reports that the world's #1 team trains fewer hours than mid-pack pros. The team's principle running through every session: accumulate more time at a high % of the target zone (not 4 hr @ 60%, but 3×1 hr @ 70%). It is their method, not a tested rule — the one trial of where to sit inside the easy band, in runners, found the top of it bought nothing extra.
The assistant adapts these sessions to your event date, days and fitness — then drops the whole block on your calendar. One conversation, no blank calendar.
Structured Z2
The foundation — not unstructured miles but intervals in upper Z2 (70–75% FTP).
Year-round intensity
2–3 hard sessions a week, even in winter — short (20–30 min) but at real race power.
Strength
On-bike torque (low cadence / high power) plus gym. The gym is the part the evidence backs — for late-race power and efficiency, not VO2max.
- —2–3 intensity blocks, spaced at least every other day.
- —Only one true rest day (the coffee ride). 'Recovery' days are still 3–4 hr endurance rides.
- —Intensity is short and sharp: 20–30 min of real work, Z2 around it.
- —Amateurs shouldn't copy it 1:1 — pros recover professionally. A realistic target is 2 intensity sessions a week, the rest Z2.
The sessions
Compiled from publicly available sources — cycling press and the UAE Team Emirates riders' public Strava files. A reconstruction, not the team's official training plan.