Cross-country cycling is the most popular mountain biking discipline and involves prolonged off-road cycling over a variety of terrains [1]. Such terrain is unique and has resulted in sections of technical and non-technical climbing, descending and level riding. While several studies have characterised the physiological profile of successful mountain bikers [2, 3], no study has yet examined the relative importance of various sections of a cross-country course. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the distribution of pace adopted by elite male cyclists during a UCI Mountain Bike World Championships and ii) determine if better performers adopt different pacing strategies to that of less successful performers. Methods Data was collected on 30 of the 75 male cyclists performing in the Elite category of the 2009 UCI Cross- Country Mountain Bike World Championships (Canberra, Australia). This event involved 7 laps repeated laps of a hilly 6.47 km circuit (45.29km). In order to determine split performance times a video analysis system recording at a frequency of 25 Hz was synchronized with the official timing system (Omega, Swatch Group, Swiss). The video analysis system included eight digital cameras located at various positions on the course. The timing splits were specifically positioned so as to separate the course into sections of technical (T) and non-technical (NT), climbing, decenting and rolling/flat cycling. Distinctions between these sections were determined by two national cross-country mountain bike coaches. Groups were separated into high performing (TP; top 10 finishers), mid-performing (MP; middle 10 placing 21-30) and lower performers (LP; bottom 10 placing 41-50). Results The lap and overall finishing times for TP, MP and LP are shown in table 1. Performance time over each lap was significantly different between all groups. The third lap was the fastest lap in all groups. The lap times for TP were significantly more consistent than MP and LP. The variability in performance time over sections of each lap (i.e. SD) was significantly lower in the TP compared with the MP on laps 4, 5 and 7, and LP on laps 4 to 7. TP were significantly faster than MP and LP on all sections apart from the technical descending (Fig. 1). Compared with the MP, the TP group made the greatest proportion of time on the technical climbing and technical rolling/flat (Fig. 1). Discussion/Conclusion This study has indicated that the global pacing strategy (i.e. velocity over each lap) during the 2009 World Mountain Bike Championships was significantly more even in high-performing, compared with middleperforming and lower-performing cyclists. The TP group performed better of all terrain however, the majority of time was saved on the technical climbing and technical rolling/flat sections.
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