Decrement in Professional Cyclists' Performance After ...

“Decrement in Professional Cyclists’ Performance After a Grand Tour” by Rodríguez-Marroyo JA, Villa JG, Pernía R, Foster C International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance © 2017 Human Kinetics, Inc.

Note. This article will be published in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. The article appears here in its accepted, peer-reviewed form, as it was provided by the submitting author. It has not been copyedited, proofread, or formatted by the publisher.

Section: Original Investigation Article Title: Decrement in Professional Cyclists’ Performance After a Grand Tour Authors: Jose A. Rodríguez-Marroyo1, José G. Villa1, Raúl Pernía1, and Carl Foster2 Affiliations: 1Department of Physical Education and Sports, Institute of Biomedicine (IBIOMED), University of León, León, Spain. 2Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse, USA. Journal: International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance Acceptance Date: March 7, 2017 ©2017 Human Kinetics, Inc.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2016-0294


Decrement in Professional Cyclists’ Performance After a Grand Tour Manuscript Type: Original Investigation

Downloaded by Univ of Wisconsin La Crosse on 03/29/17, Volume 0, Article Number 0

Jose A. Rodríguez-Marroyo1, José G. Villa1, Raúl Pernía1, Carl Foster2 1

Department of Physical Education and Sports, Institute of Biomedicine (IBIOMED), University of León, León, Spain. 2 Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse, USA. Correspondence: Jose A. Rodríguez-Marroyo Department of Physical Education and Sports University of León 27017 León, Spain Phone +34 987 293022 Fax +34 987 293008 e-mail [email protected]

Running Head: Competition Load during Cycling Abstract Word Count: 249 Text Only Word Count: 3482 Figures: 3 Tables: 4


Abstract Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze professional cyclists’ performance decline after, and the exercise demands during, a Grand Tour. Methods: Seven professional cyclists performed two incremental exercise tests, 1-week before and the day after the Vuelta España. During the race the exercise demands were analyzed on the basis of the HR. Three intensity zones were established


according to reference HR values corresponding to the ventilatory (VT) and respiratory compensation (RCT) thresholds determined during the pre-race test. In addition, exercise demands for the last weeks of the Vuelta were recalculated: using the reference HR determined during the post-race test for the 3rd week and averaging the change observed in the VT and RCT per stage for the 2nd week. The reference HR for the beginning of the 2nd week was estimated. Results: A significant (P-value range, 0.044–0.000) decrement in VO2, power output and HR at maximal exercise, VT and RCT were found after the race. Based on the pre-race test, the mean time spent daily above the RCT was 13.8 ± 10.2 min. This time decreased -1.2 min·day-1 across the race. When the exercise intensity was corrected according to the post-race test, the time above RCT (34.1±9.9 min) increased 1.0 min·day-1. Conclusion: These data indicate that completing a Grand Tour may result in a significant decrement in maximal and submaximal endurance performance capacity. This may modify reference values used to analyze the exercise demands. As a consequence, the high-intensity exercise performed by cyclists may be underestimated. Keywords: fatigue, overraching, professional cyclists, heart rate, training load.


Introduction Different studies1-7 have informed us of the extraordinary physiological characteristics of professional cyclists. Successful riders are characterized by high VO2max (70-85 ml·kg-1·min-1)1-6 and power output, between 400-550 W (i.e., 6.0-7.5 W·kg-1) during ramp protocols.2 Also, a large capacity to sustain high intensities during prolonged submaximal work has been reported. For


example, the ventilatory (VT) and respiratory compensation (RCT) thresholds have been measured at ~70 and ~90% of VO2max, respectively,1-3 and a gross efficiency of ~24% has been reported.7 These remarkable physiological responses allow cyclists to face the demands of their competitions. Professional road cycling involves various racing formats, such as one-day or multi-stage races. The length of this last competitive format may range from 5 to 21 days. The most common type of races during cyclists’ season are the 5 to 10-day stage races (~70% of the season’s total competition kilometers),5 although the three-week Grand Tours (Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España) are considered the most challenging events. It has been suggested that the Grand Tours represent a natural model likely to produce overtraining syndrome.8 Endocrine and hematological responses8,9 and oxidative and muscular damage10,11 over the course of these races have been reported. The exhaustive exercise performed by cyclists might determine the pattern of effort distribution during the tours.5,6 Indeed, a consistent finding of many studies3,5,6 is the decline in heart rate (HR) and the time spent at high intensity5,6 across the duration of the Grand Tours. Previous studies that have used HR for quantifying cycling demands usually take into consideration the effort spent in different HR defined intensity zones, which are based on laboratory determined physiologic thresholds.1,3,5,6,12 The assessment of these thresholds is usually performed some weeks prior to the race, during a period of normal training.1,3,5,6,12 Therefore, it seems conceivable that a modification of these markers during the course of the Grand Tours might


have an effect on the exercise demands analyzed in cyclists. To our knowledge, no previous study has focused on analyzing the effect of participating in a Grand Tour on different physiological parameters (e.g., VO2max, ventilatory thresholds). Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the performance decline after, and the exercise demands during, the Vuelta a España on the basis of laboratory tests obtained within 1-week before the race and, uniquely, on the day after the race.


We felt that this experimental model might allow us to gain insight into the reasons behind the pattern of exercise intensity distribution observed during the Grand Tours. Methods Subjects Seven professional cyclists (mean±SD, age 25.6±1.5 y, height 176.6±6.4 cm, body mass 67.3±7.4 kg) belonging to Continental Teams of the International Cycling Union participated in this study. All the subjects were experienced professional cyclists (3±1 y), cycling between 30,000 and 35,000 km per season in training and competition. All were non-contending riders, in that they did not compete for the general classification but sought stage victories or sub-awards. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects. The protocol was approved by the local Ethics Committee, and conformed to principles identified in the Declaration of Helsinki. Procedures The study was carried out over three different cycling seasons to allow data accumulation in a sufficient number of subjects. In each of the seasons, the cyclists performed an incremental test 1-week before beginning the Vuelta a España and another test the day after the end of the race. The test was performed on a cyclosimulator (Cateye CS-1000, Cateye Co. Ltd., Osaka, Japan) using the cyclists’ own bicycle. The test was preceded by 10-min warm-up at a self-selected


intensity. The initial test speed was 32 km·h-1 (~125 W) increasing by 1 km·h-1 (~15 W) every minute until volitional exhaustion.4-6 Pedalling cadence was kept constant at 80-90 rpm. Each test was performed under similar environmental conditions (22 ºC and 30-40% RH) and at the same time of the day (10.00-13.00 hours). The power output (PowerTap, CycleOps, Madison, USA), HR response (Polar Xtrainer Plus, Polar Electro Oy, Kempele, Finland) and breath-by-breath


respiratory gas exchange (Medical Graphics System CPX-Plus, Medical Graphics Corporation, St. Paul, MN, USA) were continuously recorded during the test. In addition, during the last 10-s of each exercise stage the Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) was recorded using a modified Borg (0-10) scale.13 Maximal HR and VO2max were recorded as the highest values obtained for the last 30-s period before exhaustion. The maximal power output was determined as the highest power output maintained for a complete stage, plus the interpolated workload from incomplete stages. Maximal blood lactate concentration (Lactate Pro, ARKRAY Inc., Kyoto, Japan) was measured from an earlobe at the second minute after the end of the test. Finally, the VT and RCT were identified separately by 2 researchers according to the criteria of Davis.14 The opinion of a third researcher was included when the first two researchers disagreed. The Vuelta included 21 consecutive daily stages with two days of rest. The mean distance covered per stage was 155.5±48.5 km at altitudes of 0-2257 m above sea level. Cyclists completed ~2, ~46 and ~52% of total the distance during time-trial, flat and mountain stages, respectively. During the race the exercise intensity and competition load were analyzed on the basis of the HR and session RPE. HR was recorded every 5-s during every stage of the race. Three intensity zones were established according to the laboratory reference HR values corresponding to the VT and RCT determined during the pre-race test:1,3-6,12 zone 1, below VT; zone 2, between VT and RCT and zone 3, above RCT. These zones were used to calculate the physiologic load (TLHR).3-6,12


Session RPE was obtained using the category ratio (0-10) RPE scale ~30 min following the end of each stage.13 The physiologic load (TLRPE) was calculated from time and session RPE.13 Additionally, the weekly race monotony and strain based on HR and session RPE were obtained.13 Cyclists’ leg muscle-pain was recorded every morning, when they arose using a categorical scale (0-10).15 Verbal anchors associated with 0 and 10 were identified with not pain at all and extremely


intense pain, respectively. Exercise demands based on HR were recalculated for the 3rd and 2nd week taking into consideration the HR values corresponding to the VT and RCT during the postrace test and by estimating these HR from the within-individual change observed in the cyclists, respectively. Based on previous studies,3,5,6 which reported a linear decline of the HR throughout the Grand Tours, the change in HR at VT and RCT was averaged per stage. This allowed us to estimate the reference values for the beginning of the 2nd week. Statistical analyses The results are expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD) and the relationships as mean (90% confidence interval, CI). The assumption of normality was verified using the Shapiro-Wilk test. When a non-normal distribution was found, data (i.e., leg muscle-pain, session RPE and the relative change in the HR at the RCT) were log transformed for analysis. A paired Student’s t-test was applied to establish differences between the pre- and post-race tests, and to compare the exercise intensity and TL analyzed using the data from the first test or taking into account the data from second test too. The magnitude of difference was expressed as a standardized mean difference (ES). Cohen’s d was calculated as indicator of ES, values of 0.80 were rated trivial, small, moderate, and large effects, respectively. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures was used to compare the exercise intensity and physiologic load throughout the weeks of the Vuelta. When a significant F value was found, Bonferroni’s test


was used to establish significant differences between means. The overall change in the exercise intensity and TL throughout the race was assessed using within-individual linear regression. A substantial trend was considered if the 90% CI did not overlap zero. The relationship between variables was determined using Pearson correlation coefficient (r), and considered as almost perfect, r >0.9; very large, 0.7-0.9; large, 0.5-0.7; moderate, 0.3-0.5; small, 0.1-0.3 and trivial,


1.75 associated to high TL (~375 AU or ~1375 AU using the method-based on HR or session RPE, respectively) during a prolonged period may provoke overreaching. Conclusions In summary, the present data showed a decline in incremental exercise performance (~10%) after completing a Grand Tour. The fatigue accumulated by cyclists over the race affected both their maximal and submaximal endurance performance capacity. This may modify reference values used to analyze the exercise intensity. As a consequence, the high-intensity exercise performed by cyclists was different when HR corresponding to RCT and VT from the pre-race or post-race were used. The exercise intensity analyzed taking into consideration the post-race test increased over the race. Overall, exercise intensity in zone 3 increased by ~8% (~20 min) while in zone 2 and 1 decreased by ~3% (7 min) and ~5% (13 min), respectively.



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Figure 1. Percentage of total time spent in the intensity zones. Zone 1, below ventilatory threshold (VT); Zone 2, between VT and respiratory compensation threshold (RCT); Zone 3, above RCT. Week II, results corrected according to the HR values corresponding to the ventilatory thresholds assessed during the post-race test. *, significant difference with 2nd week (P

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