UAE Team Emirates at the Vuelta: How to Build Cycling Endurance

UAE Team Emirates line up for the Vuelta

The Vuelta a España is the 81st edition of Spain's three-week Grand Tour, and this year it starts outside Spain: a 9.4 km individual time trial through the streets of Monaco on Saturday 22 August. From there it threads through France and Andorra into Spain, finishing in Granada on 13 September after 21 stages and two rest days. Its published route covers roughly 3,283 kilometres with about 58,000 metres of climbing — the relentless up-and-down that decides a Grand Tour.

The UAE Team Emirates cycling team have named an eight-rider squad led by Pogačar, the reigning world champion and a five-time Tour de France winner, alongside João Almeida, who finished runner-up at the last Vuelta. It is Pogačar's first Vuelta since 2019, his Grand Tour debut, where he won three stages and reached the final podium as a 20-year-old. The rest of the line-up — Jay Vine, Pavel Sivakov, Pablo Torres, Kevin Vermaerke, Domen Novak and Ivo Oliveira — is built to protect the leaders through those mountain days.

What actually builds cycling endurance

The reassuring part: the engine those riders run on is the same one you build, just at a smaller scale. Endurance is trainable at any level, and the starting point is simply moving enough. The World Health Organization recommends adults get 150 to 300 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week, plus muscle-strengthening work on two or more days — hit that, and you already have the base a first long ride sits on.

The single most useful idea in endurance training is riding at a steady, conversational pace — what coaches call Zone 2. It sits at roughly 60 to 70 per cent of your maximum heart rate, easy enough to chat while you pedal. It feels almost too gentle — which is why people skip it — but it is where the real adaptations happen: more of the tiny "engines" (mitochondria) inside your muscles, more of the fine blood vessels that feed them, and a better ability to burn fat for fuel. Most riders build their base across two to four of these steady sessions a week. A short, sharp HIIT workout once things are ticking over adds the top-end fitness for a climb or a sprint.

A simple week to build cycling endurance

You do not need a pro's schedule to make real progress. A beginner-to-intermediate week that fits around a job looks something like this:

The long ride is the one that matters most, and the golden rule is patience: add no more than about 10 per cent to it each week, so a 60-minute ride becomes 66, then 72. That gradual build lets tendons, not just lungs, keep up. Two short strength sessions a week (squats, hinges and core, all in our exercise library) protect your knees and add the power a hill demands. Prefer the whole plan written for you? Our personal trainers can build one around your week.

How quickly can you build cycling endurance?

Faster than you would expect for fitness, slower than you would like for strength. Most people feel noticeably stronger aerobically within four to six weeks of consistent riding, as the heart and blood adapt fast. Tendons, joints and true climbing power take months, which is why the honest answer to how to build cycling endurance quickly is this: ride consistently, protect the long ride, and don't make every session hard. Consistency beats intensity.

Training for the climbs

The Vuelta is famous for its brutal, steep finishes, and hills are where road cycling gets genuinely rewarding. The best climbing training is specific: find a hill of three to eight minutes and ride it at a controlled, hard-but-repeatable effort, spinning a lighter gear rather than grinding a heavy one. Four to six of those, once a week, build the exact strength and pacing a climb needs. No long hills nearby? An indoor bike with the resistance turned up does the same job.

Bring the Vuelta indoors at GymNation

You do not need Alpine passes to train like the peloton — you need consistency, and a room of people on the same pedals makes it easier. Our indoor RPM cycling classes pack the climbs, sprints and steady blocks of a real ride into 45 coached minutes, so weather and traffic stop being excuses. Find your nearest club across our gyms in Dubai and let the Vuelta be your reason to start.

Sources:
uaeteamemirates.com
cyclingnews.com
pressbee.net
who.int
highnorth.co.uk

The opinions shared in the GymNation blog articles are solely those of the respective authors and may not represent the perspectives of GymNation or any member of the GymNation team.