WHO THIS IS FOR
IS THIS YOU?
The self-coached amateur planning a year
You have a sportive or target event and want to know how to organise the months around it.
The rider who peaks too early
You feel great in March and flat by July. Season structure is probably the fix.
THE ROADMAN VIEW
The Roadman view
When Dan Lorang sat down with Anthony on the podcast and talked through how he builds a season for Roglič, the framework was surprisingly simple: pick the race, count back the weeks, assign a purpose to each block, and protect the recovery. There's no magic in the pro version — the pro version just has fewer distractions pulling you off the plan.
For most amateurs the struggle isn't understanding the framework — it's executing the base phase honestly. Base training feels too easy. You're not suffering. Your Strava kudos are thin. But this is the phase where you build the aerobic engine that everything later sits on. Cut it short or ride it too hard and your build phase lands on a foundation that isn't ready.
Season structure is a decisions problem, not a fitness problem. You're deciding in advance when to be easy and when to be hard, and you're not letting a good weather day or a competitive group ride override those decisions. That discipline is what separates riders who peak on their target day from those who peak in April by accident.
EXPERT EVIDENCE
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
- Dan LorangHead of Performance, Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe
Season structure starts with the race calendar and works backwards. The phases are not invented — they're defined by the physiological adaptations needed in sequence. Base builds the aerobic capacity that absorbs high-intensity work; build converts that capacity to race-specific fitness; peak expresses it.
Hear it: Roglic's Coach Builds A Training Plan For Amateur Riders | Dan Lorang - Joe FrielAuthor of The Cyclist's Training Bible; co-founder of TrainingPeaks
The annual training plan is the most important planning tool a self-coached rider has. You don't need to fill in every session in January — you need the phases, the durations, and the A-events locked in so that daily decisions have a framework to sit inside.
Hear it: Joe Friel's Cycling Training Plan Structure | Roadman Cycling
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
DO THIS WEEK
Lock in your A-events first
Put your one or two most important events on a calendar. Everything else serves them. B-events are useful training races; C-events are rides you complete without tapering for them.
Count back from the A-event
Reserve 2–4 weeks for the taper. Before that, 8–10 weeks of build (threshold and VO2max). Before that, 12–16 weeks of base. If you don't have 22–30 weeks, shorten the base first, not the build.
Plan deloads into each phase now
Within each phase, schedule a 30–40% volume reduction every third or fourth week. If you don't put these in the calendar they don't happen. They're not optional recovery — they're when the adaptation from your previous weeks actually arrives.
COMMON MISTAKES
WHAT CYCLISTS GET WRONG
MISTAKEJumping into build intensity in the first week of January.
FIXJanuary belongs to base for most Northern Hemisphere riders. Hard intervals on an undeveloped aerobic engine either under-deliver or get you injured.
MISTAKESkipping transition between cycles.
FIXTwo to four weeks of unstructured riding after an A-event resets motivation and lets accumulated fatigue clear before the next base phase. Skip it and the next cycle starts depleted.
MISTAKEHaving five A-events and trying to peak for all of them.
FIXPick two, three at most. True peaks require tapering — you can't taper five times a year and still build fitness between events.
FAQ
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How long should each training phase be?
When should I start base training for a June event?
What do I do between seasons?
Can I do multiple A-events in one year?
What if my work or life disrupts my plan mid-season?
Should I use a training app or software to structure the season?
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