Maximal Energy Expenditure in Professional Road Cycling (P255)

Abstract

The workload demands in professional cycling races have previously beenestimated indirectly through monitoring heart rate (Mujika and Padilla2001, Jeukendrup and Van Diemen 1998). However, this method does nottake different variations due to the influences on heart rate, forexample: cardiovascular drift, rider position, or the ``day to day{''}variation. On the other hand, the mechanical power output that isproduced by the cyclist to propel the bicycle may be the most directindicator of exercise intensity being considered as an absolutevariable. In many studies, research has focused on timetrial protocolsin order to determine the relationship between peak power output,lactate threshold and time trial performance, the power requirements inthe 4000-m individual and team pursuits or seasonal changes in power ofcompetitive cyclists (Broker et al. 1999, Paton and Hopkins 2005).However, just a few number of scientists have studied the measurement ofmaximal power output in mass start races (Vogt et al. 2006).