RODRÍGUEZ-MARROYO, J. A., J. GARCÍA LÓPEZ, C. AVILA, F. JIMÉNEZ, A. CÓRDOVA, and J. G. VILLA VICENTE. Intensity of Exercise according to Topography in Professional Cyclists. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 35, No. 7, pp. 1209-1215, 2003.
Purpose: The aim of the study was to analyze the intensity of effort made by professional cyclists in the different mountain passes climbed during the 1999 and 2000 Vuelta a España.
Methods: During the ascent of high mountain passes of different categories (special category (HMS), and 1st (HM1), 2nd (HM2), and 3rd category (HM3)), the response of the HR was analyzed according to three intensity zones: zone 1(Z1, above the ventilatory threshold (VT)), zone 2 (Z2, between VT and the respiratory compensation threshold (RCT)), and zone 3 (Z3, above the RCT).
Results: The values are presented as mean ± SEM. Values of HR were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in HM1 (160 ± 1 beats·min-1) compared with the other types of ascents. When we compared the different passes, the intensity decreased in the following order: HM1, HMS, HM2, and HM3. The average time that cyclists spent in Z3 was significantly higher in HM1 (10.7 ± 1.4 min) with respect to the other categories. The time in Z2 was significantly higher in HMS and HM1 (43.1 ± 1.5 and 44.3 ± 3.1 min) than in HM2 and HM3 (21.6 ± 1.1 and 11.9 ± 1.1 min). The percentage of total time spent in Z3 was significantly higher in HM1 and HM3 (21.2 ± 2.9 and 17.3 ± 1.9%) than in HME and HM2.
Conclusion: The ascent of mountain passes is an activity involving intense effort which is reflected in the time cyclists spend in Z3 and Z2, and is related to the category of the mountain passes involved.
Road cycling is considered a typical endurance sport (6,8,15,20,22) because of the great number of kilometers and the long duration of the races. The average duration of stages varies from 259 to 288 min during the 22 ± 1 competing days of any one of the three great tours (9,17). The total time during the three continuous weeks of competition in the last decade is approximately 102 h in the Tour de France (17) or about 99 h in the Vuelta a España (9), facts that support the characterization of road cycling as an extreme endurance or ultraendurance effort (9,17).
Monitoring sports effort with reliable, precise, and comfortable individual telemetric pulse-meters (14,21) makes it possible to continuously register the HR in each of the stages of cycling races. This parameter has been used to determine and control effort intensity in training and competition (2-4,10,25) because of the overall linear relation that exists between oxygen consumption and HR up to high intensities (1,25). The effort intensity (or load) that competition places on the cyclist has been studied by analyzing the HR records in the most important cycling races by stages, namely the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España (9,17,22).
The global result of a stage cycling race seems to be determined mainly by the ability of the cyclist to perform in two disciplines, i.e., time trials and ascent of mountain passes (15,18,23,24). Padilla et al. (23) analyzed the professional cyclist's effort in time trials, i.e., preliminary (7.3 km) short (28 km), or long stages (49 km). Others, such as Lucía et al. (18) or Fernández et al. (9), have analyzed the effort made by a cyclist according to the type of stage, classifying them as flat, middle mountain, or high mountain according to the topographic difficulties cyclists have to face. However, the behavior of effort according to the type of mountain ascended has yet to be described.
The aim of this study is to isolate and analyze the intensity of effort made by professional cyclists according to the category assigned to the mountain pass ascended in the route book.