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Road gradient and cycling power: An observational study in male professional cyclists
Pedro L Valenzuela1, Manuel Mateo-March2, Xabier Muriel3
1Research Institute of Hospital 12 de Octubre (imas12), Physical Activity and Health Research Group (PaHerg), Spain. Electronic address: https://twitter.com/pl_valenzuela.
Objectives:
To investigate the influence of road gradient on cycling power output in male professional cyclists, and to determine whether cyclist typology (i.e., flat or climbing specialist) moderates this influence.
Design:
Observational study.
Methods:
Ninety-eight professional cyclists (27 ± 6 years; 53 flat and 45 climbing specialists). We collected power output data during both training sessions and competitions over 10 years (2013-2022). We determined the maximal mean power values attained for efforts lasting 1, 5, 10 and 20 min, during both level cycling and uphill cycling (average slope< or ≥5 %, respectively), as well as the average road gradients on which cyclists attained their maximal mean power.
Results:
Maximal mean power values were higher during uphill cycling than during level cycling for all effort durations (difference ranging between 0.4 and 3.6 %, all p < 0.003). This finding was confirmed for flat and uphill specialists separately (p < 0.003 for both), with a similar increase in maximal mean power values between level cycling and uphill cycling in the two typologies except for longer efforts (≥10 min), in which maximal mean power values tended to increase more in climbers. Participants attained maximal mean power at an average slope of 6.0-7.3 %, with no differences between effort durations or cyclist typologies.
Conclusions:
Professional cyclists attain higher maximal mean power values on steep than on level road gradients regardless of their typology, with an average gradient of 6-7 % appearing optimal (or at least the most common) for achieving the highest maximal mean power values.
