Cross-Sectional Differences in Race Demands Between Junior, Under 23, and Professional Road Cyclists

Abstract

Purpose: To compare the race demands of junior (JUN), under 23 (U23), and professional (PRO) road cyclists. Methods: Thirty male cyclists, divided into 3 age-related categories (JUN, n = 10; U23, n = 10; and PRO, n = 10), participated in this study. Race data collected during the 2019 competitive season were retrospectively analyzed for race characteristics, external, and internal competition load. Results: Higher annual and per race duration, distance, elevation gain, Edward’s training impulse, total work, and work per hour were observed in PRO versus U23 and JUN, and U23 versus JUN (P < .01). PRO and U23 recorded higher mean maximal power (RPOs) between 5 and 180 minutes compared with JUN (P < .01). Edward’s training impulse per hour was higher in JUN than PRO and U23 (P < .01). Accordingly, JUN spent a higher percentage of racing time in high internal intensity zones compared with U23 and PRO, while these 2 categories spent more time at low internal intensity zones (P < .01). Conclusions: JUN races were shorter and included less elevation gain per distance unit compared to U23 and PRO races, but more internally demanding. JUN produced less power output in the moderate-, heavy-, and severe-intensity exercise domains compared with U23 and PRO (RPOs: 5–180 min). U23 and PRO races presented similar work demands per hour and RPOs, but PRO races were longer than U23.

Differences in Training Characteristics Between Junior, Under 23 and Professional Cyclists

“…Annual total work resulted lower in JUN compared to both U23 and PRO, mainly due to a lower annual duration. Total work per hour did not significantly differ between the three groups, however, JUN reported largely lower values with a P value near to alpha level compared both to U23 (P = 0.135) and PRO (P = 0.085) The same external workload differences among these three categories have been observed in races [8]. The lower total work per hour observed in JUN cyclists could be a natural consequence of their lower capacity to produce PO between 5 and 180 min compared to U23 and PRO [8,9].…”

“…Accordingly, JUN spent more percentage training time at medium and high internal intensities (70-79 %, 80-89 % and 90-100 % HR peak ) compared to U23 and PRO, while U23 and PRO accumulated more percentage of time at low intensities (50-59 % and 60-69 % HR peak ). A similar difference in the intensity distribution across these three categories was observed in races, suggesting that training volume and intensity of each category has been adapted to their respective race demands [8]. The same approach was reported in two studies by the same research group [5,11], which compared race demands and training characteristics of professional men and women road cyclists.…”

“…The fact that U23 accumulated more time between 3.01 and 3.75 W•kg −1 compared to PRO, while the opposite happened between 3.76 and 6.00 W•kg −1 , could be due to a higher capacity to produce PO after prior amount of total work (i.e. superior fatigue resistance) in PRO compared to U23 [8].…”

“…However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have reported training characteristics of JUN cyclists yet [7]. In a recent study, the cross-sectional differences in external and internal race demands between JUN, U23 and PRO have been investigated [8]. They showed a progressively increase of volume parameters per race (distance.…”

How do world class top 5 Giro d'Italia finishers train? A qualitative multiple case study

“…In the last years, there has been a rapid increase in the capacity to capture real-time data through portable mechanical power meters. This has led to a deeper understanding of both race demands [2][3][4] and parameters associated with competition outcomes in road cycling 4,5 . However, there is a paucity of study reporting training characteristics of professional road cyclists with only few studies reporting the professional cyclists training data as a mean of the sample considered [6][7][8] .…”