Saddling up on the high seas - the cyclists powering 50-mph yachts

The races return spot crossed head-to-head events that are divided into 2 parts.

The first portion - nan Louis Vuitton Cup - determines which of 5 challengers will look this year's defending champion Emirates Team New Zealand successful nan second, nan America's Cup itself.

Races return astir 25 minutes and this twelvemonth commencement successful August and extremity successful October.

Endurance is nan cardinal metric for cyclors, who request to beryllium capable to consistently nutrient a precocious wattage during nan races themselves and support their shape crossed 10 weeks.

"We conscionable want a immense reliable motor for nan 3 months that we're going to beryllium racing," Van Velthooven says.

"Big days are large days and easy days are still large days because they still request heaps of power. It's relentless."

The UK's Ineos Britannia team, led by Sir Ben Ainslie, mightiness not person recruited master cyclists to their unit for illustration immoderate of their rivals but they person nan adjacent champion point - an affiliation pinch nan Ineos Grenadiers cycling team, formerly Team Sky and victor of 7 Tours de France.

Matt Gotrel is portion of Ineos Britannia's crew. This twelvemonth will beryllium his 2nd America's Cup, but his first arsenic a cyclor alternatively than grinder. A erstwhile Olympic golden medal-winning rower, having been portion of Great Britain's 8 astatine Rio 2016, Gotrel has recovered it a "big challenge" to train a different musculus group, moreover if recreationally he considered himself a cyclist already.

"As rowers, we had an upside-down pyramid [body shape] before, but it's flipped astir now," Gotrel says.

As grinders, his unit would purpose to nutrient 400 watts of powerfulness complete 20 minutes. As cyclors they are now "well northbound of that".

Training for nan past 2 years has predominantly taken spot connected nan roadworthy aliases successful nan gym, alternatively than connected water. Volume blocks tin dwell of 4 to six-hour-long rides, 3 times a week, interspersed pinch high-intensity intervals connected a fixed motorcycle and weight training.

Gotrel, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, compares powering nan boats successful a title to a cycling clip trial, but pinch repeated sprint efforts throughout.

"You want to person a really bully aerobic guidelines wherever you tin beryllium astatine arsenic precocious a powerfulness arsenic imaginable without producing excessively overmuch lactate, and past you person your large spikes and request to beryllium capable to retrieve from those," he says.

The relationship to Ineos' cycling squad has been a "massive" assets for Gotrel and his chap cyclors, enabling them to stock training and nutritional penetration connected a training campy successful Spain together.

"I had a chat pinch [sprinter Elia] Viviani astir immoderate sprinting technique, and past location are Filippo Ganna and Dan Bigham who person been really bully connected immoderate of nan strategy and fuelling things and what they did to push connected nan hr record," says Gotrel