Individualized optimal strategy in team pursuit for track cycling.

In track cycling, performance in the team pursuit depends on the mechanical and physiological abilities of each member of the team, but also on the choice of racing strategy. Athletes must cover the 4000 m of the race, sharing the effort between them in successive relays. This raises the question of the optimum strategy.

Impact of menstrual cycle or combined oral contraception on elite female cyclists' training responses through a clustering analysis of training sessions.

Objectives: (i) To classify training sessions of elite female cyclists according to an intensity index based on a longitudinal follow-up using multiparametric data collected (ii) to measure the effect of estimated menstrual cycle (MC) phases and oral contraceptive pills (OC) phases on the athletes' training responses on each type of training identified.

Method: Thirteen elite French cyclists were followed up over 30 months and 5,190 training sessions were collected and 81 MC/OCs full cycles analyzed. Power sensors and position devices captured training data , which was summarized into 14 external load variables.

Strength capacity of lower-limb muscles in world-class cyclists: new insights into the limits of sprint cycling performance.

This study aimed to determine the relationship between the torque-generating capacity in sprint cycling and the strength capacity of the six lower-limb muscle groups in male and female world-class sprint cyclists. Eleven female and fifteen male top-elite cyclists performed 5-s sprints at maximal power in seated and standing positions. They also performed a set of maximal voluntary ankle, knee and hip flexions and extensions to assess single-joint isometric and isokinetic torques.