Waidhofner Radmarathon Training Plan & Preparation

Course & Elevation

The race starts in Waidhofen an der Ybbs and loops through the Lower Austrian Iron Road region and the Ybbstal Alps - quiet, low-traffic roads through scenic valley terrain, heading out via Ybbsitz toward Gaming. At kilometre 16.5 the course hits its first Category 3 climb, the Zogelsgraben, just under 4.7 kilometres long. After the descent and a section through Gaming, the second categorised climb follows at kilometre 35: the Grubberg, around 4 kilometres, immediately trailed by a short, uncategorised kick around kilometre 39. That puts essentially all of the course's roughly 760 metres of climbing inside the first 40 kilometres.

The remaining loop back through Lunz am See, Göstling and Hollenstein to Waidhofen stays rolling - more than half the route is flat - but without another named climb. It's a closed loop with a balanced elevation profile: whatever is climbed gets given back by the finish. That structure sets the Waidhofner Radmarathon up as a race decided early and confirmed late - the selection is made on the two climbs, then held or clawed back over the open kilometres that follow.

Pacing Strategy

The pacing decision falls on the Grubberg, the second climb at kilometre 35: it arrives with the Zogelsgraben already in the legs, runs for about 4 kilometres, and rolls straight into a short additional kick around kilometre 39 - whoever still has something left there controls the race. The classic trap sits earlier: riders often go too hard on the Zogelsgraben at kilometre 16.5, since it's the first real shake-out of the field. Overcooking that effort shows up either on the Grubberg or, worse, afterward - on the more than 55 flat-to-rolling kilometres back to Waidhofen, where there's no more climbing left to hide a bad decision and no shelter from the wind once the group splits.

Because nearly all of the course's climbing sits inside the first 40 kilometres, the smarter approach is to save matches specifically for Zogelsgraben and Grubberg and manage the long closing loop at group pace rather than racing it solo.

12-Week Preparation

For the Waidhofner Radmarathon's 97.5 kilometres, age-group riders can expect an effort duration of roughly 3 to 4.5 hours depending on group pace. The effort character is mixed: two categorised climbs totalling around 8.7 kilometres call for sustained aerobic climbing with short, harder surges, while the rolling remainder of the course - more than half of it flat to gently undulating - rewards group tactics, drafting, and repeated short efforts over the rises.

The race-deciding sections are the two climbs, Zogelsgraben at kilometre 16.5 (just under 4.7 kilometres) and Grubberg at kilometre 35 (around 4 kilometres plus a short additional kick at kilometre 39) - both fall close together in the first half, after which the outcome mostly comes down to who still has reserves left for the long, exposed loop back through Lunz am See and Göstling.

Training should prioritise repeated climbing intervals of 12 to 20 minutes at Category 3 effort, including back-to-back sets with short recovery to simulate the Zogelsgraben-Grubberg double. Add long endurance rides of 3 to 4 hours to prepare for the wind-exposed rolling closing kilometres over full distance, plus group rides with pace changes, since the flat sections of the course are typically ridden in a pack rather than solo.