CoachingAnswer

WHAT IS A GOOD VO2 MAX FOR A CYCLIST?

By Anthony WalshRoadman CyclingUpdated 26 May 2026

WHO THIS IS FOR

IS THIS YOU?

The rider who just got tested

You have a VO2 max reading from a lab, smart trainer or wearable and want to know what it means.

The masters cyclist tracking decline

You're over 40 and want to understand what's realistic to maintain or improve.

THE ROADMAN VIEW

The number means different things depending on where you are. For a complete beginner, 45 ml/kg/min is a solid starting point. For a serious club racer who's been training for five years, it should probably be higher than 55. Context is everything, and the benchmark that matters most is your own direction of travel — are you progressing or declining?

What the research shows clearly, and what Anthony has heard from coaches including Dan Lorang, is that most adult cyclists are performing well below their VO2 max potential because they've never specifically trained at those intensities. Grey-zone riding doesn't stress the system hard enough to drive maximum cardiac output. You need efforts of 4–8 minutes at genuinely high intensity — and most riders avoid exactly those.

The other useful number is the rate of decline with age. Without targeted high-intensity training, VO2 max falls roughly 1% per year after 30. With consistent VO2max intervals, masters cyclists can slow that to close to zero — and Joe Friel's work on the podcast makes the case that athletes who keep training hard into their 50s and 60s can maintain values that were competitive in their 30s.

EXPERT EVIDENCE

WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY

Joe FrielAuthor of The Cyclist's Training Bible; endurance coach for over 40 years
Athletes who maintain high-intensity training into their 50s and beyond show significantly smaller VO2 max decline than those who drop to steady aerobic work only. The ceiling is mostly use-it-or-lose-it — and the specific sessions needed to preserve it are short, intense, and often avoided.
Hear it: The Training Secret To Going FASTER After 40 | Joe Friel
Dan LorangHead of Performance, Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe
The gap between an amateur's actual VO2 max and their trained potential is almost always a training distribution problem. Too much moderate riding, too little work at the top end. Fix the distribution and the number climbs, often significantly.
Hear it: 13 Years Of Coaching Pros: What Amateurs Don't Know

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

DO THIS WEEK

Get a baseline reading
A lab VO2 max test is definitive. Smart trainers (Wahoo, Tacx) and wearables (Garmin, Polar) estimate it from training data — useful for tracking trends even if the absolute number varies. Test every 3–4 months to track progression.
Target your VO2 max training zone
106–120% of FTP in watts. Efforts of 4–8 minutes. Two sessions per week max. Your heart rate should reach near-maximum in the final 90 seconds of each effort. If it doesn't, power is too low.
Track relative, not just absolute
If your weight changes significantly, your relative VO2 max (ml/kg/min) changes too without a real change in aerobic capacity. Track both your absolute value and your weight-relative number to understand which lever is moving.

COMMON MISTAKES

WHAT CYCLISTS GET WRONG

MISTAKEAccepting a low reading as a genetic limit.
FIXMost amateur readings are suppressed by years of under-training the specific system. Add targeted VO2max intervals before concluding the ceiling is fixed.
MISTAKEComparing your VO2 max to professional cyclists.
FIXPro values (75–90 ml/kg/min) are extraordinary outliers. Compare to age-matched amateurs at your training volume, not to Tadej Pogačar.
MISTAKETracking only VO2 max and ignoring FTP.
FIXVO2 max sets the ceiling; your lactate threshold (FTP) determines what fraction of that ceiling you can sustain. Both metrics need specific training. Raising VO2 max without training threshold leaves performance on the table.

FAQ

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is a VO2 max of 50 good for a cyclist?

For an untrained or recreational rider, 50 ml/kg/min is solid. For a trained amateur who rides 8–12 hours a week, it's below typical benchmarks — suggesting either under-training of the high-intensity system or significant room to improve with structured work.

Do wearable devices accurately measure VO2 max?

Wearable estimates correlate reasonably well with lab values at a population level but can be off by 5–15% for individuals. Their real value is tracking relative changes over time from consistent conditions — treat them as trend indicators, not absolute measurements.

How does VO2 max compare to FTP?

VO2 max is your aerobic ceiling — maximum oxygen uptake. FTP is the sustained power you can hold for roughly an hour, expressed as a percentage of that ceiling (typically 70–85% of VO2 max power). Raising VO2 max creates more headroom for FTP to grow into.

Does altitude training improve VO2 max?

Altitude training increases red blood cell mass and haemoglobin, which improves oxygen delivery. The VO2 max number improves modestly post-altitude for most athletes, but the effect declines within 3–4 weeks of returning to sea level. It's a supplement to training, not a substitute.

At what age does VO2 max decline fastest?

The decline accelerates after 50–55, but starts in the 30s without specific high-intensity maintenance. Sedentary individuals lose ~1% per year from their 30s. Consistently training athletes see much smaller losses — some maintain near-peak values well into their 50s.

RELATED EPISODES

HEAR THE CONVERSATIONS

7 Fixable Reasons Your VO2 Max Is Low | Roadman Cycling

The Training Secret To Going FASTER After 40 | Joe Friel

Get Faster After 40: Masters Cycling Training | Roadman Cycling