As Team Columbia-Highroad’s camp in Mallorca moves into its final phase, riders are showing clear signs of collective progress in their training and overall fitness.
But as team owner Bob Stapleton points out, training is only only one of several key reasons why Columbia-Highroad holds the camp.

“The real goal of a training camp is to reinforce proper conduct and proper techniques in riders off-the-bike behaviour, as well as physically checking in with the athletes. We also want to reconnect them socially, because they’re rarely all together. So we try and have training camps like this with big groups, not just once but at least twice a year.”

At the same time, checkups are made on riders’ nutrition and new material and equipment is introduces.  As Stapleton says, “we remind them of the tools the team disposes of and how to use them. It’s fun and enjoyable, but at the same time, we are evaluating them, to check they are doing the training we expect of them. You could say that we’re seeing whether they’ve done their homework!”

The training camp hotel on the south side of Mallorca is located outside the nearest town - but it’s not been deliberately chosen because it’s so isolated.

“We don’t come here to keep the guys from sneaking off out for a beer, they’re all serious athletes,” Stapleton insists. “Rather, it’s a good location, there’s generally good weather, there’s great riding round here -  and it’s good value for money. On top of all, that logistically it’s practical because of the workout rooms there are, there are rooms where we can do core fitness and testing, and there’s lots of space outside for parking our trucks. The more we can keep that sort of logistical stuff simple, the more we can focus on the things that matter.”

The length of the training camp is 12 days. That’s enough for a solid block of training, with perhaps one rest day, but not so much that  riders start to get homesick or exhausted. “Any longer and the value of what we acheive would degrade pretty quickly,” Stapleton points out. “You can see, in any case, that we’re keeping them busy all through the day, and that goes for the staff too. The managers will be down here training in the gym at 7 a.m and we were meeting up until 10 pm at night.”

“The goal for each rider is to be happy, tired and have clear goals when they leave.”

For riders joining Columbia-Highroad in 2009 like Maxine Monfort, training camps are also their first major point of contact with their new team-mates.

“For me a training camp is like a big wake-up call for the whole year,” Monfort says. “And at the same time I’ve quickly appreciate some special things about this squad. Columbia-Highroad’s line-up has many different nationalities and I can already see that the riders don’t form cliques as a result of that - which is great.”

The Belgian says it is tough to go back to training camp after three months at home in the off-season, but feels it’s part of the job too.

“Psychologically it’s the point when you really kick off your year. You get your new jersey and your new bike. It’s always motivating. My last team jersey was red and this one’s yellow and white, it feels pretty strange when I look down at my arms and see those different colours!”

“In terms of fitness, before the camp riders like me will have done a lot of endurance work. Here I am doing more specific stuff, the higher-intensity kind of training. Training camps are big change from when I was a pro, but one for the better,” comments team sports director Tristan Hoffman. “Back then they didn’t exist at all. Eight or nine of us who were friends off the bike would go off to the Canary Islands or southern Spain for a couple of weeks in December. But we’d pay for the hotel out of our own pocket, go back home and then meet up in February at the first race.”

“I can’t even remember how we got any new equipment or kit. It was all very badly organised! For me as a director, the advantage of a training camp is that you can talk with the riders a lot more than you would do at a race, where you’re usually very busy.”

“Here you’ve got time to sit round the dinner table and chat, get to know them more as people. The same goes for the other sports directors, you get a good chance to exchange experience. All of that is vital for working well with them later in the year.”

And as the training camp progresses, there are clear signs of progress on all fronts. For example, Columbia-Highroad’s men’s team was initially split into three training groups,  with one group specifically for riders recovering from illnesses or injuries.

owever all the ill riders have got better, making it only necessary for there to be two training groups, not three. Racing is looming closer and closer - but Columbia-Highroad are ready to hit the ground running.