Health status, heat preparation strategies and medical events among elite cyclists who competed in the heat at the 2016 UCI Road World Cycling Championships in Qatar.

Purpose: Assess the health status and heat preparation strategies of athletes competing in a World Cycling Championships held in hot ambient conditions (37°C, 25% relative humidity, wet-bulb-globe-temperature 27°C) and monitor the medical events arising during competition.

Methods: 69 cyclists (~9% of the world championships participants) completed a pre-competition questionnaire. Illnesses and injuries encountered by the Athlete Medical Centre (AMC) were extracted from the race reports.

Core temperature up to 41.5ºC during the UCI Road Cycling World Championships in the heat.

Objective: To characterise the core temperature response and power output profile of elite male and female cyclists during the 2016 UCI Road World Championships. This may contribute to formulating environmental heat stress policies.

Methods: Core temperature was recorded via an ingestible capsule in 10, 15 and 15 cyclists during the team time trial (TTT), individual time trial (ITT) and road race (RR), respectively.