Threshold
81 min
Medium intensity
Four nine-minute efforts at 87-96% of CP, just below threshold, with the cadence climbing from 70 to 80, 90 and 100 rpm and five minutes between.
Matteo Cigala
Coach, Cigala Cycling
Threshold
81 min
Medium
7 / 10
Intermediate
Indoors
INTERVAL BY INTERVAL
The workout
Written as a share of critical power, so it fits every rider. In Vekta it becomes your watts, with the W′ cost shown before you ride.
Matteo Cigala
Why this workout
The breakdown
Inside the workout
Matteo Cigala's sweet spot workout sits just below threshold, building aerobic fitness and muscular endurance, with the cadence rising every interval.
After a 15-minute warm-up come four nine-minute efforts at 87–96% of CP, with five minutes at 44–67% between them. The first is ridden at 65–75 rpm, then 75–85, 85–95 and finally 95–105 rpm.
The power target holds while the cadence changes, and the low-cadence efforts build muscular strength and pedalling efficiency. It suits a commute, an indoor trainer or a group ride. One hour 21 minutes in total.
In Vekta, every target follows the rider's current CP, derived from real riding and updated daily.
Threshold
Stimulus
Intermediate
Workout level
Indoors
Best ridden
Road,
Indoor and e-racing,
DISCIPLINE
The stimulus
Threshold, explained
Sustained work at the edge of critical power, to move the edge.
Intervals of eight to thirty minutes at or just under critical power, the highest intensity the body can hold in a steady state. Over-unders, stochastic threshold and long sustained blocks all belong here; what unites them is time close to CP without draining W′.
Critical power is the number every other target is written against. Raising it by ten watts raises the ceiling of every climb, time trial and breakaway, and it is the adaptation that responds most reliably to structured work.
These sessions feel controlled rather than desperate. If you are gasping in the first block the target is too high; the goal is to finish the last interval at the same power as the first. Two a week is plenty.
Threshold work is where an accurate CP pays off: a stale CP makes the session either a tempo ride or a VO2 session. Vekta recalculates CP from every ride, so the targets track the athlete's current state rather than a test from spring.
In Vekta the intervals are set as a percentage of the athlete's live CP and converted to watts on their head unit. After the ride the session is classified, and the CP model updates if the effort showed a new ceiling.
Free for coaches. Test with your whole roster during the trial.