This week, I wanted to share a lesson I learned from none other than Tour de France stage winner, Matej Mohorič, that has completely shifted the way I approach training. It’s all about deconstruction—and how breaking things down to their core components can unlock a new level of performance.

When you’re building your training plan or preparing for a big event this year, one of the first steps is deconstructing the demands of the event. Let’s take an example: if you’re targeting L'Étape du Tour this July, there are a few key challenges you’ll face. Among them, we have:

Three big mountain passes, each over 20 minutes in duration.

Loads of Zone 2 riding in between those climbs.

So, typical training logic would focus on mimicking these specific demands, right? You’d spend a lot of time working on sweet spot efforts (88-91% of your threshold) and threshold efforts to ensure you can power up those mountain passes on race day.

But here's where it gets interesting: talking with Matej Mohorič opened my eyes to going even deeper into the deconstruction process.

Let’s use the example of 10-minute efforts. If you want to get good at them, sure, you could just do a lot of 10-minute efforts, and you'd definitely improve—but there’s a ceiling. You can only do so many of these before you hit a wall, as they’re fatiguing.

Now, here’s the game-changer. If we break down what a 10-minute effort actually demands, we get a much clearer picture of how to train smarter. Key factors of a 10-minute effort include:

Lactate clearance: The ability to clear lactate builds as you go.

Sustained power output: Maintaining consistent effort without burning out.

Muscular endurance: The strength to keep pedaling at high intensity over time.

If you target each of these demands individually, you can actually build a much more effective training stimulus. For example, Matej pointed out how shorter, repeated 30-second efforts (at high intensity) can help with lactate clearance—because they push your lactate values higher than a single long effort would.

Instead of just doing endless 10-minute efforts, we’re isolating specific aspects of the effort—like lactate clearance, muscular endurance, and sustained power—and developing them individually. It allows for more volume in training without hitting the fatigue ceiling too quickly.

This type of strategic deconstruction doesn’t just apply to long mountain efforts, either. Whatever your target event is, take the time to break down the specific demands and see where you can create the best stimulus for improvement. You’ll end up working smarter, not harder.

I’ve personally started applying this method to my own training, and I’m already seeing better results—more focused, more targeted, and with less burnout.

If you’re preparing for a major event this year, I’d highly recommend taking a moment to deconstruct it. What are the demands? What can you isolate and improve upon separately to elevate your performance?

This small shift in approach could be the difference-maker.

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