WHO THIS IS FOR
IS THIS YOU?
The gran fondo first-timer
You've trained well but have no pacing reference for 5–7 hours of effort.
The rider who always blows up in the final 40km
You go out hard with the fast group and pay for it every time in the last hour.
THE ROADMAN VIEW
The Roadman view
The most expensive mistake in any gran fondo or long sportive is going out with the fast group at the start. It feels fine for the first 30 minutes — everyone is fresh, the roads are closed, the adrenaline is up. Then hour four arrives and the riders who went out steady start passing you. Anthony has ridden enough of these events to know: ego at kilometre 10 costs you at kilometre 130.
Pacing a gran fondo is genuinely different from pacing a shorter ride. Fatigue accumulates non-linearly — the effort required to hold the same power at hour five is roughly 15–20% higher than at hour one. That means the power you hold early has to be conservative enough to account for the drift later. 70–75% of FTP in the first hour feels almost too slow. That's the correct feeling.
The other lever most riders underestimate is nutrition. Even perfect pacing falls apart without consistent fuelling. You can't outride a calorie deficit over 160km. Treat feeding as a session-within-the-session: 60g of carbohydrate per hour minimum, starting at 30 minutes, regardless of whether you feel hungry.
EXPERT EVIDENCE
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
- David MillarProfessional cyclist with 20 years of experience in time trialling
The discipline of pacing long efforts is holding back when everything in you says go. The riders who finish strongest are almost always the ones who felt frustrated by their own conservatism in the first half.
Hear it: Time Trial Faster with David Millar | Roadman Cycling Podcast - Sam ImpeyWorld Tour nutritionist
Nutrition failure is more common than pacing failure as the cause of a blown gran fondo. Riders who go out hard accelerate their glycogen depletion and then compound it by not eating enough in the first hour. By the time they feel the problem, it's too late to fix.
Hear it: Eating for Race Weight: Cycling Nutrition with a World Tour Coach
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
DO THIS WEEK
Set a power ceiling for the first 90 minutes
Cap your effort at 75% of FTP — roughly zone 2–3 — for the first 90 minutes regardless of what others around you are doing. If you don't have a power meter, ride at a pace where you can speak in short sentences.
Eat every 30 minutes from the gun
Set a timer on your head unit for every 30 minutes. At each alarm, take a gel, banana, or bar. Don't wait until you're hungry. By hour three, your gut doesn't want food — but your legs need it.
Lift effort on climbs from the halfway point
From the midpoint of the event, allow effort to climb to 85–90% FTP on the ascents. This is where you use what you've saved. Ride the descents and flats at recovery pace to refuel between pushes.
COMMON MISTAKES
WHAT CYCLISTS GET WRONG
MISTAKEGoing out at race effort because the start feels easy.
FIXCap the first 90 minutes at 75% FTP. If it feels too slow, that's correct — you're pacing for 160km, not 30km.
MISTAKESkipping feeding in the first hour because you don't feel hungry.
FIXStart fuelling at 30 minutes. Hunger is a lagging indicator — by the time you feel it, you're already in deficit.
MISTAKEUsing heart rate to pace the climbs.
FIXHeart rate lags during hard efforts and drifts upward when fatigued. Use power or RPE to pace the climbs, especially in the second half.
FAQ
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What percentage of FTP should I ride a gran fondo at?
Should I ride with a group or pace myself?
How do I know if I've gone out too hard?
How much should I eat in a gran fondo?
Can I use perceived exertion instead of a power meter?
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