Roete, A. (Annemiek) (2021) Training and race characteristics and the relationship to performance in professional female cyclists. thesis, Sport Sciences.
Full text available on request.Abstract
Introduction: Women’s road cycling is developing rapidly together with technological developments. Despite these developments, the optimal training leading to successful performance in professional female cyclists is not yet known. To optimize the training of professional female cyclists to develop performance further, the first aim of this study was to examine if differences existed in training, races or overall between highly successful and less successful seasons in a dataset of professional female cyclists. Secondly, we aimed to examine if the performance capacities differed between highly successful and less successful seasons. Lastly, this study aimed to determine if and how strong the relationships were between the overall cycling done in a season and the seasons’ performance capacities. Methods: Field data of a professional cycling team was collected over a 7-year period. Forty-three seasons of 14 cyclists (average seasons per cyclist: 3 ± 1, age: 24 ± 4 years) were included, encompassing 11.010 sessions (9.036 training, 1.974 races). Seasons were classified as either CAT.1 or CAT.2 based on the amount of ProCyclingstats points relative to the number of races (CAT.1 ≥ 5 points per race, CAT.2 < 5 points per race). Load and intensity distribution were quantified. Mean Maximal Power (MMPs) were determined over various durations (range: 5 s – 180 min) as a marker of performance capacity. A multilevel random intercept model followed by pairwise comparison was used to determine if differences existed between CAT.1 and CAT.2 riders. For those load parameters missing less then ten percent, the relationship with the MMPs were assessed by a Pearson regression correlation. Results: CAT.1 riders did more hours on the bike compared to CAT.2 (p < 0.01) while intensities did not differ (p >0.05). CAT.1 compared to CAT.2 riders achieved higher MMPs over 60-s, 3-, 10-, 20-, 60-min (range p: <0.001 – 0.02). Relationships were found between the MMPs of 60 s through 60 min and overall hours cycled or overall sRPE, as well as 3 between the MMP over 180 min and the overall hours cycled (range r: 0.32 – 0.60; range p < 0.0001 – 0.05). Conclusions: Those performing best had a higher training load and a variety of higher MMPs. It seems that shorter duration MMPs are not related to training load while most of the longer duration MMPs improve with a higher training load. These results suggest that the limiting factor in some of the less successful riders might be the total training load in a season. Keywords: women, elite, power output, heart rate, professional cycling,
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Elferink-Gemser, dr. M. and Lamberts, prof. R. and Erp, dr. T. van |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 13 May 2022 14:24 |
| Last Modified: | 13 May 2022 14:24 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3314 |
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