If we use running to draw a comparison with road cycling, then track cycling would be the equivalent of the 100- and 200-meter sprints, which place the most importance on a cyclist's short-term anaerobic explosive power.
An ITT, on the other hand, is like the 1500-meter and 3000-meter middle-distance races. It requires a cyclist to stay within their lactate threshold for the entire duration—the mixed-oxygen zone between aerobic and anaerobic—using their true FTP Power and pursuing ultimate aerodynamics to complete the endurance ride.
As for the mass-start road races that stretch for one or two hundred kilometers, they are undoubtedly marathons. Most of the time, the cyclists maintain an aerobic pace within the peloton.
But the demands on a cyclist's abilities in a mass-start race are the most comprehensive.
