It’s only pain

Eddy Merckx once said, ‘The race is won by the rider who can suffer the most.’ It’s hard to argue against 525 professional victories including all the Grand Tours and Monuments, but was Merckx right? Does the key to success lie in how well we can cope with pain?

‘I’d say there’s an element of truth to that,’ says Neal Henderson, head of sports science for Wahoo, the US-based company that owns training platform The Sufferfest. ‘I’d use the term “exerciseinduced discomfort” as opposed to pain. Pain is something that’s actually causing