Many of you love sprinting and/or like to practice sprinting on a regular basis for Zwift racing. I have been coaching many of you on sprinting technique, which of course is important. However, I noticed that many cyclists have a tendency to solely focus on their Max Power and trying to match or beat that number.
While it’s fun to chase Max Power, that number is not the best way to track real progress in your sprinting ability.
Why 5-second power is a better measure
A single peak watt (often just a 1 second sample) can be a bit fluky. It might catch the perfect part of your pedal stroke with ideal conditions. 5-second power (the average over a full 5 seconds) gives a much more reliable and repeatable picture of your true neuromuscular power and explosive capacity.
This is the kind of power that actually translates to race winning moves: closing a small gap, launching an attack, or delivering that final kick to the line. Track your best 5s power over time (you can see it easily in Intervals.icu), and you’ll get a clearer sense of your progress.
If you mostly race in Zwift, focus on speed, not just raw power
This is especially important for those of you who do most or all of your racing virtually. In Zwift, the finish line (or the sprint segment) is all about who crosses first, not who produces the highest wattage number.
Raw power matters, but speed is what wins. Factors like your momentum coming into the sprint, your position in the draft, cadence, body position while sprinting, and how efficiently you accelerate all play huge roles. A rider who carries more speed into the final 200-300m can often beat someone who “only” has slightly higher peak power.
The best practice method: Repeat sprint segments
A fantastic way to train this is to pick a specific sprint segment in Zwift and hammer it over and over.
Here’s how to do it effectively:
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Choose a short, flat or slightly uphill or downhill sprint segment that takes roughly 10–20 seconds for you to complete.
- My favorite is Makuri’s Sprinters Playground. There are also the classic sprint banners in Watopia, Richmond, or other fast routes. Look for ones that are pure speed efforts rather than long grinds.
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Do it at the end of an endurance ride or workout to make sure you are warmed up properly. You can always do a sprint dedicated session too.
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Ride to the start of the segment with good momentum. It is important to do this without any group draft or power ups, to create the same exact environment that can provide an “apples to apples” future comparison if you are going for speed (for 5s power it doesn’t matter).
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Go all-out through the entire segment, trying to beat your previous best time (not just power).
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Recover fully (easy spinning for several minutes) and repeat several times (3-4 if at the end of a ride/WO or 8–10 times if during a dedicated sprint session).
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Focus on:
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Exploding hard a little before the start of the segment
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Maintaining high cadence (especially if seated or transitioning out of the saddle)
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Staying aero (in the drops if you are able)
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Building that “feel” for carrying speed
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Over time, you’ll see your segment times improve, and that directly correlates to better race finishes. You’ll also naturally build better 5-second (and 10–15-second) power as a result.
Pro tip: Record a few of these sessions with video if you can. Watching how you position yourself on the bike, explode and shift gears help you dial in technique.
If you are serious about improving your sprint, do this kind of dedicated speed work 1–2 times per week, and combine it with some strength work off the bike if possible. Your sprints in actual races will feel sharper, more repeatable, and way more competitive.
having said that, I’d have a floor/minimum power of around 200% of FTP for the duration. So for example if the sprint is 15 seconds, the first 5 seconds would be higher than 200% and possibly higher than the remaining 10 seconds, but the whole sprint would not dip below 200%. Punchy riders and sprinters will blow the 200% by a very large margin (>400%), and this is why it is important for the non-sprinters to drop the sprinters before the finish of a race. That is physiology/genetics. But having said that, every rider can improve their sprint abilities. Plus, sprinting is fun!!