Physiological Correlations With Short, Medium, and Long Cycling Time-Trial Performance

Purpose: Several studies have demonstrated that physiological variables predict cycling endurance performance. However, it is still unclear whether the predictors will change over different performance durations. The aim of this study was to assess the correlations between physiological variables and cycling time trials with different durations.

Methods: Twenty trained male cyclists (maximal oxygen uptake [VOmax] = 60.5 ± 5.6 mL/kg/min) performed 4 separate experimental trials during a 2-week period. Cyclists initially completed an incremental exercise test until volitional exhaustion followed by 3 maximal cycling time trials on separate days. Each time trial consisted of 3 different durations: 5 min, 20 min, and 60 min performed in a randomized order.

Results: The main results showed that the physiological measures strongly correlated with long cycling performances rather than short and medium time trials. The time-trial mean power output was moderately high to highly correlated with peak power output and VO (r = .61-.87, r = .72-.89, respectively), and was moderately to highly correlated with the lactate threshold Dmax method and second ventilatory threshold (r = .52-.75, r = .55-.82, respectively).

Conclusions: Therefore, trained cyclists should develop maximal aerobic power irrespective of the duration of time trial, as well as enhancements in metabolic thresholds for long-duration time trials.