TdF Physiology

[elapid]

For those interested in the science behind the TdF, I have attached a paper by Lucia, Earnest and Arribas from the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports in 2003. The last four pages are in the next post.

Things I found interesting were the unique decrease in testosterone and cortisol after a 3 week GT, VO2 max discussion, and that no tested cyclist had a hematocrit above 48% in the 1980-1986 TdFs.

 

[elapid]

 

[Not Riding Enough]

Thanks. Printed for later reading not on a screen.

 

[Eldrack]

Excellent article, thanks for posting. Interesting to see Bahamontes putting out 6.1 W/kg all the way back in 1958! I think I'll take some time to read this one in detail.

Edit: Interesting to know that the EPO era started in 1987-1990 when it's more commonly quoted as the early 90's.

 

[BigBoat]

The real biggy in Grand Tour racing is FTP power per kilo (all out 1- hour average watts.) This wins big time in stage races like the Tour because of the "5 Mount everests" they go over. You need a super duper high V02 max to get a high FTP... heart rate means little to nothing in relation to riding intensity in a 3 week race... Watts and power output is the stress. LOL

Funtional threshold power is the real biggy because it is sort of the ceiling before you start actually burning matches during long road races and stages. If you have to pedal at 400 watts to follow wheels and your still at 100% FTP while the guy next to you is at 112% FTP he's at close to V02 max and using way more energy.

There is no way you could finish the Tour with a 70 V02 max. LOL, I have that high right now and I'm 15 pounds overweight and I'm not exactly Floyd Landis.

 

[BigBoat]

Excellent article, thanks for posting. Interesting to see Bahamontes putting out 6.1 W/kg all the way back in 1958! I think I'll take some time to read this one in detail.

Edit: Interesting to know that the EPO era started in 1987-1990 when it's more commonly quoted as the early 90's.

epo was actually first extracted in the late 70s but was not developed and mass produced until much later.

 

[Not Riding Enough]

Thanks again for posting this. It is interesting reading. I like these kind of literature reviews for people like me without the time or the knowledge to interpret the studies.

It is surprising to me that time trial specialist may have lower VO2 max (<70). I had assumed they would be on par and the difference in the mountains was just weight. Although Big Mig did have a higher V02 max. I'm not sure I really understand the gross mechanical efficiency and cycling economy ratio that apparently makes up for lower V02 max in TTers.

I also thought it was interesting, if I understand it correctly, that while spinning pedals fast (100revs/min) is theoretically less efficient it can have better blood flow to the muscles.

 

[Not Riding Enough]

I'm not sure I really understand the gross mechanical efficiency and cycling economy ratio.

http://home.hia.no/~stephens/effiperf.htm

Here is a link that helps me to understand a bit more. It is written pretty much for the layperson) although it does reference a Coyle study which may not be popular here).

There are other seemingly good articles on the site too for the non-experts.

 

[elapid]

http://home.hia.no/~stephens/effiperf.htm

Here is a link that helps me to understand a bit more. It is written pretty much for the layperson) although it does reference a Coyle study which may not be popular here).

There are other seemingly good articles on the site too for the non-experts.

Thanks - good link.

 

[CoachFergie]

Copyright?

 

[elapid]

Copyright?

Authors, paper and journal have been referenced and less than 10% of the issue has been posted. No copyright problems.

 

[BigBoat]

Thanks again for posting this. It is interesting reading. I like these kind of literature reviews for people like me without the time or the knowledge to interpret the studies.

It is surprising to me that time trial specialist may have lower VO2 max (<70). I had assumed they would be on par and the difference in the mountains was just weight. Although Big Mig did have a higher V02 max. I'm not sure I really understand the gross mechanical efficiency and cycling economy ratio that apparently makes up for lower V02 max in TTers.

I also thought it was interesting, if I understand it correctly, that while spinning pedals fast (100revs/min) is theoretically less efficient it can have better blood flow to the muscles.

NO DOUBT you need a higher physiological V02 max than 70 to do anything in a TDF Time trial.... More like 95-100.

You'd be lucky to make the timecut with a V02 max less than 78 or so.

 

[Not Riding Enough]

NO DOUBT you need a higher physiological V02 max than 70 to do anything in a TDF Time trial.... More like 95-100.

You'd be lucky to make the timecut with a V02 max less than 78 or so.

Well I guess the paper is 6 years old and based on mostly older studies. Do you reckon that the differences between the types of riders would still be about the same or would the "medical improvements" tend to push them to be all the same?