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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Physiol.
Sec. Exercise Physiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1536874

Short-time cycling performance in young elite cyclists: related to maximal aerobic power and not to maximal accumulated oxygen deficit.

Provisionally accepted
Eva Maria Støa Eva Maria Støa 1*Bent Rønnestad Bent Rønnestad 2Jan Helgerud Jan Helgerud 3Jan - Michael Johansen Jan - Michael Johansen 1Ingvild Tronstad Andersen Ingvild Tronstad Andersen 2Torkil Rogneflåten Torkil Rogneflåten 2Anders Sørensen Anders Sørensen 2Øyvind Støren Øyvind Støren 1
  • 1 University of South-Eastern Norway (USN), Kongsberg, Norway
  • 2 Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Elverum, Oppland, Norway
  • 3 Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: To explore the relationships between performance variables and physiological variables in a short-time (2-3 min) cycling time trial (TT) on a cycle ergometer. Methods: Fifteen young elite cyclists (age: 17.3  0.7 years, maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max): 76.6  5.2 mLkg-1min-1) participated in this study. Maximal aerobic power (MAP), maximal anaerobic power (MANP), time to exhaustion at 130% of maximal aerobic power (TTE), maximal accumulated oxygen deficit (MAOD) in the TT, anaerobic power reserve (APR) and lactate threshold (LT) was tested. MAP was calculated as VO2max / oxygen cost of cycling (CC), MANP was determined as mean power output (W) during a 10 second maximal cycling sprint test, and MAOD was calculated as (VO2 demand - VO2 measured) ∙ time. APR was calculated as the relative difference between MAP and MANP. Results: There was a strong correlation between MAP and TT time (r = -0.91, p < 0.01) with a standard error of estimate (SEE) of 4.4%, and a moderate association between MANP and TT time (r = -0.47, p = 0.04). Neither MAOD, TTE, LT nor APR correlated with TT. Conclusion: MAP was highly correlated with TT with a SEE of 4.4%. Since neither TTE nor MAOD correlated with TT, this indicates that these two variables do not play a significant role in differentiating short-time endurance cycling performance. We suggest training for improving MAP and, or MANP to improve short-time endurance cycling performance.

    Keywords: cycling time-trial performance, Maximal aerobic power, maximal anaerobic power, oxygen cost of cycling, Maximal accumulated oxygen deficit

    Received: 29 Nov 2024; Accepted: 23 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Støa, Rønnestad, Helgerud, Johansen, Andersen, Rogneflåten, Sørensen and Støren. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Eva Maria Støa, University of South-Eastern Norway (USN), Kongsberg, Norway

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