Tapering in cycling: How to taper and peak for race day

The easiest way to reduce volume is usually to shorten rides rather than remove every session. A two-hour endurance ride might become an hour. A 90-minute interval session could become 50 or 60 minutes with fewer repetitions. What you don't want to lose is the intensity.

If your normal training includes threshold, VO2 max or race-pace work, keep small amounts of it. The hard efforts become shorter and the overall workload falls, but your legs still get regular reminders of what riding hard feels like.

This is also where knowing your cycling training zones is useful. A taper isn't the week to turn every ride into Zone 1. Keep the easy riding easy, but leave a few harder efforts in the mix.

Keep the intensity, lose the fatigue

Imagine your normal interval workout contains five hard five-minute efforts. During the taper, you might do three rather than five, with plenty of recovery between them. The intensity is still there, but you're doing much less work.

That's a better way to think about tapering than simply "training less". You're giving your body more chance to recover while still keeping some harder work in the week.

Above: during a taper, shorter indoor rides can keep some intensity in your legs while giving you more time to recover.

How long should you taper before a cycling event?

For many cyclists, a taper of 7–14 days is a sensible starting point. Research also supports successful endurance tapers lasting up to 21 days.

There isn't one correct duration for everybody. The harder and longer your training block has been, the more recovery you may need before your target event.

A practical way to approach it is:

• 5–7 days: often enough if you're carrying relatively little fatigue, training at lower volume or preparing for a less demanding event
• 8–14 days: a sensible range after a bigger training block or before an important race, gran fondo or sportive
• 15–21 days: worth considering after very high training loads, a long hard block or before a major target event

Your training history is important too. A rider training four or five hours each week won't be carrying the same fatigue as somebody coming off 15-hour weeks.

Longer isn't automatically better, and if you back off too much for too long, you may start feeling flat rather than fresh.

Anyone who has backed off training before an event may recognise that odd mid-taper feeling: your legs don't suddenly feel sharp. They can actually feel heavy for a few days. Don't panic and dash out for an emergency interval session. Give the recovery a chance to work.

What type of cycling taper works best?

You'll sometimes see tapers divided into three broad models: step, linear and exponential. The names sound more technical than the actual difference.

A step taper cuts your training volume straight away and keeps it at roughly that level until the event. If you normally ride ten hours, for example, you might drop directly to five or six.

With a linear taper, you gradually do less as race day approaches. You might ride eight hours, then six, then four.

An exponential taper also reduces your training over time, but the volume drops more quickly at one stage rather than coming down in equal steps.

Research has found that both progressive and step tapers can work. For a recreational racing cyclist or sportive rider, there's little reason to become obsessed with drawing the perfect mathematical curve through your final fortnight.

Don't get too hung up on the model. Cut the workload enough to recover, keep some intensity in your legs and aim to arrive at the event fresh.

What does a cycling taper week look like?

A taper week should look reassuringly familiar. You still ride, you still include some intensity and you still follow your normal training rhythm where possible. There's simply less of everything.

Here's an example for a rider preparing for a Sunday race or sportive after normally training around 8–10 hours per week.

This is just an example, not a plan you need to follow exactly. Move the sessions around to suit your normal routine and how well you're recovering.

Tuesday gives you some harder work without leaving much fatigue behind. Wednesday keeps the legs moving, then Thursday adds another few short harder efforts before backing off again.

Saturday's opener ride deserves a little explanation because riders can respond quite differently to the day before a race.

Should you ride the day before a cycling race?

For many riders, yes. A short, easy ride with a handful of brief harder efforts can leave the legs feeling more responsive the following day.

Those efforts are often called openers. They aren't a workout and shouldn't leave you tired. You might include a few efforts of 30 seconds to a couple of minutes, separated by plenty of easy pedalling.

Finish feeling as though you could comfortably have done more.

Other riders perform better after a complete rest day. If you already know that your legs feel terrible after resting completely, race weekend isn't the ideal time to test the theory again. Use what you've learned from training.

If fatigue is still present earlier in the week, replace an easy endurance session with rest or a short recovery ride. The whole point of the taper is to arrive fresh, so don't be afraid to drop a ride if you need the recovery more.

How should you taper for a sportive or gran fondo?

If a sportive or gran fondo is one of your main goals for the season, it's worth giving it a proper taper, particularly when the event is long, mountainous or likely to take several hours.

The same basic rules apply: reduce volume, retain some intensity and avoid anything in the final week that leaves you unnecessarily tired. Your final long ride generally belongs before the taper begins.

Use the extra time during taper week for the less glamorous parts of race preparation instead. Check your bike, clothing, nutrition and travel arrangements. Our pre-race cycling checklist can help here.

It's much easier to sort out a bike problem, forgotten piece of kit or nutrition plan at home than on the morning of the event.

Do you need a full taper for every race?

No. If you race regularly, fully tapering before every event would leave very little time for actual training. This is where partial tapers are useful.

For a lower-priority race, you might reduce training for only two or three days beforehand. Drop a hard workout, shorten an endurance ride and arrive reasonably fresh without losing too much training time. The bigger taper is better saved for the events that really matter to you.

The same applies if you have several sportives lined up through the season. Treat some as part of your training or as secondary goals, then taper properly for the one or two where you really want to be at your best.

Otherwise, a summer packed with events can quickly turn into taper, race, recover, repeat, without much opportunity to build fitness between them.

Common cycling taper mistakes

1. Cramming in one last big training session

Fitness doesn't arrive overnight, and a hard workout a few days before your race is unlikely to make you any fitter by race day. The fatigue it creates, however, can arrive almost immediately. Once the taper starts, accept that the training block is under the belt.

2. Cutting all intensity

Reducing volume doesn't mean turning every remaining ride into easy spinning. Keep some short efforts at the intensities you've already trained. Reduce the number of repetitions and shorten the sessions rather than removing harder riding completely.

3. Doing almost nothing

Rest does have its place, but complete inactivity for an extended period isn't necessarily better. Unless you're ill, injured or simply too tired to ride, keep some normal riding and movement in your week.

4. Panicking because you feel tired

Tapering doesn't guarantee that you'll wake up three days later feeling in top form. Fatigue can take time to disappear, particularly after a hard training block. Heavy legs early in a taper don't mean you've suddenly lost fitness.

If you've been feeling unusually tired for longer than the taper itself, however, it may be worth looking at the signs of overtraining and excessive training load rather than assuming a few easy days will solve everything.

5. Changing everything at once

Race week isn't the time to start experimenting. New shoes, a different saddle position or even a new breakfast can all wait until after the event. Stick with the bike setup, kit and nutrition you've already tried in training, rather than discovering several hours into your ride that something doesn't agree with you.

How to know if your cycling taper is working

Don't expect to feel stronger every single day of your taper. What matters is how you're feeling overall as race day gets closer. General tiredness should begin to ease, your short harder efforts should feel controlled and you should finish your rides feeling as though you still have something left.

You may also find yourself with more energy than usual, which is a good sign, but try not to spend all of it on extra riding. This can be harder than it sounds, particularly when the weather is good and you're used to training regularly.

Tapering is only the final part of a much longer training process. If you're planning your next target and want to work backwards from race day, our guide to cycling training plans explains how to structure the weeks and months leading up to your taper.