Stroke Analysis
The key findings from the study suggests that professional cyclists do indeed have a different pedal stroke than elite and club cyclists. Some of these differences included:
• Professionals had higher proportion of positive force throughout their pedal stroke, ranging between 1.5 to 3.3% more of the pedal stroke compared to elite and club cyclists.
• Professionals also had tendencies towards a lower maximal torque than elite and club cycles at all three power outputs of 200, 250, and 300 W. combined with the above finding of greater positive force proportion, this suggests that the professional cyclists had a smoother and more even pedal stroke, with less need for a single massive peak burst of torque.
• Professionals also had a greater ability to unweight their legs during the upstroke phase, with lower minimum torque at all three power outputs compared to elite and club cyclists.
• In terms of the different joints involved in peddling, the main difference across fitness groups appears to be a progressively greater range of motion in the ankle with higher competitive levels, along with a greater degree of hip flexion.
What I found most interesting was that the professionals seem to have a smoother and longer power phase of their pedal stroke, which required them to have less of a peak burst of torque. This may mean that a single pedal stroke is distributed across more muscles, such that there is less risk of any particular muscle being overly stressed and fatigued.
In terms of the findings of lower minimum torque in professional cyclists, one interesting point to consider is that this may be due to a trend of a slightly lower body mass and therefore likely the lower limb mass in the professionals, rather than to any systematic changes in the pedal stroke itself. The authors found that, in comparing the results before and after preseason in the professionals, no changes in minimum torque was observed when changes in weight through the preseason was factored in.